A patient in her second pregnancy, having had one previous uncomplicated term birth, presents to the labor and delivery unit at 38 weeks and 4 days of gestation. She is experiencing regular, painful uterine contractions. Her vital signs are within normal limits. Cervical examination reveals 7 cm of dilation and 100% effacement with the fetal vertex at 0 station. External electronic fetal monitoring displays a baseline heart rate of 140/min with moderate variability. Over the next 20 minutes, the tracing shows recurrent, abrupt drops in the fetal heart rate to 90/min, each lasting approximately 40 seconds before returning rapidly to baseline. These drops vary in their timing relative to the peaks of the uterine contractions. What is the most appropriate next step in management for this patient?
- Assist the patient into a lateral decubitus positionCevap
- BPerform a cesarean birth
- CAttempt a vacuum-assisted birth
- DContinue routine labor monitoring
- EBegin an oxytocin infusion