A method of utilizing maternal-fetal monitoring system to monitor the physiological properties of both a maternal patient and a fetus. The method places a series of ECG electrodes across the maternal patients abdomen and receives ECG input waveforms across a plurality of separate channels. The method processes the channels using an ICA algorithm to generate a series of ICA output waveforms. The ICA output waveforms are analyzed for each individual epoch to determine which of the channels include a maternal signal or a fetal signal source. Based upon the determination of which channel includes the fetal and maternal signals, further processing is carried out on the ICA output waveform on the identified channel to obtain physiological properties for the patient and the fetus. During the next epoch, the same signal processing occurs, such that the system can identify the fetal and maternal signals even as the fetal and maternal jump channels from one epoch to another.
