A method of utilizing a maternal-fetal monitoring system to monitor the physiological properties of both a maternal patient and a fetus. A series of ECG electrodes are placed across the maternal patient's abdomen and receives ECG input waveforms across sixteen separate channels. The sixteen channels of information are processed using an ICA algorithm to generate a series of ICA output waveforms and a transfer matrix. Following the current epoch, the transfer matrix is applied to the input waveforms on a continuous basis. The conditioned input waveforms are displayed immediately following the first epoch and prior to the expiration of a subsequent epoch. The transfer matrix for the second epoch is combined with the transfer matrix for the first epoch to generate an updated transfer matrix. Various filtering operations on the transfer matrix coefficients may be used to find the updated transfer matrix before the end of the current epoch.