A nonstress test is a safe, painless way to check on a baby's well-being before it is born. Two small monitors are placed on your abdomen and held in place using elastic belts. These are attached by cables to a larger machine, the electronic fetal monitor. One of these monitors records your contractions on some special paper, called a strip or tracing, while the other records your baby's heart rate. The test normally takes about 20 to 60 minutes. Occasionally, additional testing time is necessary. Your care givers will look at the baby's heart rate tracing to see how the baby is doing and to see if more testing is needed.