I
have no qualms about my age. I’ll say it
loud & proud: I am 35 years old!
Granted, it helps that I don’t necessarily look 35. However, 35 is the magical cut-off age for
pregnancy. If you are 35 or older and
pregnant, the doctors will stamp all your paperwork with the following phrase:
Advanced Maternal Age. The nurses did
warn me about it when we went in for our first pre-natal appointment. They also told me that it wasn’t that big a
deal – especially since I am just at the cutoff - and most likely the only way
it would affect this pregnancy is that we would have to go to a genetic
counseling session.
We
did the genetic counseling, which was actually rather informative. They went over the variety of potential risks
of being “older” and pregnant and offered us various tests that we could do in
order to determine the likelihood of any major issues (i.e. down syndrome, etc.). The only extra test we did this time around
that we didn’t do with G was a blood test where they tested for any chromosomal
abnormalities. The bonus to that test is
that they are able to also determine gender out of it, so we’ve known the
gender of this kid since 13 weeks!
Now
I am 38 weeks and apparently another “fun” extra is that towards the end of pregnancy,
the doctors want you to go in for regular monitoring (at least Kaiser does,
couldn’t tell you about other doctors). They
called me last week and said that I needed to start coming in for NSTs. I had no idea what that even meant, so I
looked it up. NST = non-stress
test. Basically, they give you a button
to push every time the baby moves and hook you up to some machines to monitor fetal
movement and any contractions. Once a
week they also do an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid. Of course, I ended up stressing out about the
“non-stress” test because it’s essentially the same test that made them decide
I needed to be induced for Guinevere.
Fortunately, the first test went well and they didn’t send me to labor
& delivery! Unfortunately, I now
have to go in twice a week for regular NSTs.
Good thing I’m off work now and have time for all these doctor
appointments!
Turns
out I’m having some contractions; nothing regular or painful or anything to
send me to l&d. They said to wait
until the contractions were regularly 3-5 minutes apart and painful enough that
I can’t walk/talk through them before going to the hospital to deliver. I suppose the advantage of having to go in
regularly for monitoring is that now I know exactly what the difference between
a contraction and just the baby moving. These
pre-contractions, really just feel like it could be the baby stretching out in
my belly. But now I know different.
Want
to see my “fun” take home gift from the NST?
(you know you do!)
My
very own straps! I have to bring these
with me each time I go in for the test.
I guess it saves them money from having to use new ones each time and I
get a “fabulous” souvenir to stick in the baby book.
I never ever ever would have guessed you are 35. The whole advanced maternal age thing is the only thing that freaks me out about being so old.
ReplyDeleteAside from a notation on your chart, and a few extra steps, so far it hasn't been that bad. I talked with my OB about having babies when I turned 30 and she said as long as you do it by 40, chances are good that everything will be fine.
DeleteWow. I am 36 and we really want to have another, but it is just not happening as fast as we'd like... so, yes... all of this sort of stresses me out. I have a lot of friends my age still having babies, so I guess a lot of 35+ women still have babies... lol.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my circle of friends didn't really get started on the baby train until our 30's, so most of us are having our 2nd (or 1st) in the 35+ range. It seems pretty common these days. :)
DeleteI got to have NST every week with Axel for like three weeks. It was annoying that the test supposedly only took 20 minutes, BUT since I was at the bottom of importance in labor and delivery it usually took closer to two hours. All because I was HUGE. I had extra fluid, but they were worried that he was growing too fast. At least it's a good time to take a nap! :)
ReplyDeleteOh no! I've found they tend to average closer to an hour than the 30 minutes they claim it will take, but I don't think I've been stuck there 2 hours yet. Since I have to push a button every time the baby moves, I can't just doze off, though, so I always remember to bring my book and/or phone.
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