Soft sensors comprehensively monitor pregnant women without wires Laboring mothers have been wearing the same cumbersome, polyester fetal-monitoring belt for decades. Not only can these belts slip out of place, requiring constant adjustment, they -- along with the array of other wires taped to the mother for monitoring -- tether the mother to the bed, limiting her ability to walk around or move freely in ways that are more comfortable. Now an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is replacing all the belts and wires with three small, thin, soft, flexible, and comfortable wireless sensors.