Update

Time is flying by! I finally did my phlebotomy externship in March, which was 2 days a week for 4 weeks. The externship was at San Francisco General Hospital, and boy did those 4 weeks fly by! I think I was about 28 weeks pregnant when I started, so was pretty tired, and the drive up to SF plus full days of being at the hospital really wore me out. I enjoyed it though, and am glad to be done. I have sent off all my information, so should get my license soon - yay!

I am now 35 weeks pregnant and feeling it. My belly has really grown over the last 2 weeks, and I am feeling more tired now.

I have non-stress tests twice a week where they check the baby's heart rate, movement and monitor for contractions. This little rascal takes forever to pass the tests. They want to see 3 periods of movement where the baby's heart rate increases by 15 BPM for I think 10-15 seconds. This little ones wriggles around, but doesn't get her heart rate up, so I spend an hour in there for each appointment rather than the 20-40 minutes they tell you it should take. A few times she's just slept through the whole thing, with pretty much no movement and just a steady heart rate. She moves plenty when I'm at home, so I'm not too worried. The nurses end up using a "Vibro Acoustic Stimulator" on her, which is the same device people who have larynx problems hold to their voice box to allow them to speak. It makes a sound that wakes up the baby (and essentially gives them a fright), so the heart rate goes up, and they wriggle around plenty. Once she gets buzzed, she wakes up, wriggles around, and passes the test, and it's gotten to the stage now that as soon as they establish her baseline they will just buzz her immediately rather than waiting 45 minutes to decide she's not cooperating AGAIN :) Hopefully this means we'll have a nice, quiet baby on our hands! Either that, or a stubborn one...

At today's obstetrician appointment, the doctor locked in a c section date. I'm hoping for a vaginal birth this time around, but given we can't be sure if the previous stillbirth WAS due to a cord accident, the OB isn't keen to let me go too late. And because I've had a previous c section, they won't induce labour because the risk of a uterine rupture is much higher. So unless she comes on her her own, I'll be delivering by c section on Friday, May 14, at which point I'll be 38 weeks and 4 days. I don't mind it being a bit early. While I would prefer to avoid another c section, my number 1 priority is to deliver a healthy baby, and the sooner the better!

We're keeping our fingers thoroughly crossed that everything goes well!