34 weeks

I'm 34 weeks along today. Went for my weekly non-stress test. Since the baby hasn't been terribly active, I've been eating plenty of junk, er, breakfast, before going into my appointments in the hopes that baby will get really busy kicking and moving, making the NST go quicker. Don't want any more of those 2 hour tests like I had 2 weeks ago.

So I went in for the test and they found the baby's heart beat right away. But no movement. They brought me in some juice to drink and she made a few movements, enough to move her around and make it hard to read the heart rate. Then she stopped making any movements again. So after 2 hours they gave up. Note to self: next time, take a book.

I didn't think much of it since there had been some movement, but then Dr. Brazus came in and told me that she wanted me to drive to Women's Hospital and have the Maternal Fetal Medicine people do a scan (another ultrasound). She assured me she would tell me if she was terribly concerned and she wasn't--just precautionary.

I don't think any of this would have really phased me except that less than a year ago I watched a dear friend go to the hospital for decreased movement and even though they'd found a heart beat at first, she ended up having a stillbirth at 35 weeks. So needless to say, I got really scared. Oh, the thoughts that can run through your brain.

So I drove to Women's Hospital but was instructed to first stop and get something to eat on my way. NOT hungry, but ate anyway. They took me back and hooked me up for an ultrasound. Again, there was the heartbeat right away. Reassuring. They saw she was breathing. Good. Then they had to wait to see if there was movement. Longest half hour of my life. At first the ultrasound tech was quite chatty, pointing out body parts, and making some small talk. But she was really quiet as she would wait for movement. And wait, and wait. Finally you could see the baby's lips move in a sucking motion as if she had a pacifier in there. It was something, but the tech wanted to see more movement. Finally a stretch with her arm, finally a kick in my ribs. Ouch. Beautiful!

Oh the relief. The doctor came in to say she passed her test and everything looked fine. He reassured me that with the large amount of extra fluid I have, that there could be times that she would be doing backflips and I may not feel anything.

The last thing I brought up to the specialist was telling him that Dr. Brazus had suggesting talking to him about scheduling my delivery. He said they could set up the delivery for 39 weeks which is what they typically do, but he also said he didn't think I'd go that long. Because of the extra fluid and my increased size, my body may think that I'm further along than I really am and I might deliver ahead of schedule. But he decided to schedule me for Tuesday, April 14. The nurse still had to call the pediatric surgeon to make sure that was okay with them. Kathy, a nurse, called me at home a couple hours later to confirm that I was "on the books" for April 14. At 6 a.m. Yawn.