Wireless uterine contractions monitoring system for pregnant women using a low-cost integrated sensor network

In this article, we propose a wireless uterine contraction monitoring digital solution for pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy using low-cost electromyography sensors. The solution is intended to detect abnormalities, reduce premature birth issues and provide a safe and controlled system, especially for first-time pregnant women. The pandemic and remote location have significantly decreased prenatal care. In Peru, for instance, a large population of pregnant women resides in villages and locations where obstetric care is not offered. Transportation and lodging costs as well as the fear of contracting a virus have increased health and pregnancy complications with the proposed solution, we aim to mitigate these issues by proposing a safe, simple, wireless, low-cost and reliable monitoring solution. The solution includes four components: 1. An electromyography sensor that records contractions and sends them to the smartphone via Bluetooth; 2. A mobile application that sends the data to the cloud; 3. The registration of information in the database 4. Alert and notification system. Preliminary results show that the solution was able to meet the crucial obstetric care offerings and the waiting time to have a first contact with an obstetrician.