So this past week my ob informed me that I will need to go for non-stress tests twice a week until delivery. I’m 30 weeks so that’s potentially 8 to 9 weeks of these things, twice a week! Has anyone else here had to do so much testing? On the fun side, my baby’s head is down already and the ob said she could see hair growing on its head on the ultrasound 
I’ve been doing them twice a week since week 31. I think the worst part about it is just the hassle of driving in to the hospital twice a week. The tests themselves are fine–you just lie there while they monitor you and then do a quick ultrasound for the biophysical profile. It is fun to see those ultrasounds so often. 
I did twice weekly tests starting at 32 weeks; before that it was once a week. It is a lot of work, but the weeks will go by fast!
ya, it does seem like a lot of work, especially having to go to the hospital so often! hopefully I’ll be able to combine them with other appointments though I am looking forward to seeing the baby so often
I did them twice a week from week 32 as well. I “only” had ultrasounds once a week then. Lots of monitoring, but it was good to have reassurance that our little guy was doing well.
I heard NSTs in the USA take a long time. Ours were 15-30 minutes depending on how active he was.
did any of you guys have to do an amniocentesis?(around 37 weeks, to determine lung maturity) That’s kind of a freaky test(given the slight risk of miscarriage, etc.) and though I’m nowhere near that I hope that it’s not a standard test for all D’s! (if they induce early, due to the size of the baby)
ugh! I hope they don’t take too long-I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. I haven’t heard anything about amniocentesis yet, I hope I don’t have to have one of those as well…
I didn’t have an amniocentesis (in Hungary). I delivered by c-section one day after completing the 38th week. So I guess they just assumed that his lungs were mature.
My perinatologist also suggested the amino at 37 weeks. I know that I’ve had diabetes for almost 15 years, but I REALLY hate needles (jokes on me, huh!). I let him know that it’s still early (currently 21 weeks), but I was not leaning towards accepting his recommendation. He cracked a smile and said that we could cross that bridge when the time got closer, but that it was recommended and not necessary. I would chat with your dr. about the pros and cons and see what they say.
For me they usually first do the biophysical profile–which is the quick ultrasound where they look for fetal movement, practice breathing motions, and measure the amniotic fluid. If baby is moving and “breathing” it only takes about 5-10 minutes. Then they hook up the fetal monitor and leave me on for 20 min. That’s it unless the monitoring is nonreassuring (which can just be because the baby is asleep), in which case they might leave you on longer. So on a good day it’s 30 minutes total. Often I spend longer in the waiting room than I do on the actual test!
Starting at 32 weeks I had to do a NST once a week and an ultrasound once a week. (I am not almost 37 weeks). It is a pain going to hospital twice a week but also feels reassuring.
At my hospital the NST’s take about 20-30 minutes depending on how active baby is-yesterday I had one that lasted almost 2 hours because he was moving around so much and they couldn’t get a complete picture!
I’ve been doing NSTs since 28 weeks but only once a week and U/S every 2-3 weeks to monitor growth and condition and position of the placenta. I had a scare at week 28 when I broke out into a rash on my breasts and tummy, was running high sugars and baby wasn’t moving very much. Turned out that baby was experiencing an arrhythmia which has since corrected itself. I’m now at 35 wks and my C-section is in 3weeks…baby is very big, breach and my placenta hasn’t move off my cervix.
I seriously can’t think of any reason why they would do an amnio at 37weeks since the baby’s lungs are usually good to go at 36weeks. I would be very concerned about an amnio putting me in labor at 37 weeks.