Contractometer

Times and plots contractions during labor.

Run this program by calling ?contractometer.m?

When a contraction starts, click the mouse on the upper left green 'Contraction Start' button. This will start the clock in the upper right, and a horizontal red line will rise over time indicating the duration of the current contraction on the left graph.

When the contraction stops, click on the upper left red 'Contraction Stop' button (formerly the green 'Contraction Start' button). The duration of this contraction will be added to the plot on the left. If this is not the first contraction then the interval between the start of this and the previous contraction will be added to the plot on the right.

Data are stored in a text file, 'contractionTimes.txt' in the current directory.
The file is updated every time the user indicates a start or end of a contraction. This means that the user can quit the program (and quit MATLAB) and resume to it without loss of data.

Data in 'contractionTimes.txt' are stored as date strings followed by a return character. Successive lines indicate contraction start and stop times. Contractions are separated by a blank line (return character).

The only way the user can clear the data is to remove (or rename) the file 'contractionTimes.txt'.

The user can edit contractionTimes.txt with a text editor (if, for example a button is pressed inadvertently, or times need to be added manually after driving to the hospital). The program is not robust with respect to errors in the text file, so be sure that the data are entered in the proper format (e.g. no extra characters, or extra lines at the end of the file).