37 week clinic visit

This appointment was one of the best so far. The reason~ I had a doctor who spoke half in English. I can't tell you what a relief it was to be able to communication semi effectively. I had even painstakingly translated questions out that I needed to know too, which was still useful as there were words he wasn't familiar with (like induce).

Being Saturday morning, it was quite busy in the clinic. After doing the usual (weight- 20gms gain, blood pressure and pee) I went in for the ultrasound. Baby is big now. The scan was measuring over 3000gms this week, which is a 500gm difference from last week. Which means there must have been an error last week and makes me glad that Pi is still growing well as per the textbook. He too, thought that Pi was big, but realised that it is because of Pi's genetics.

I had another cervix exam- closed. Boo. After all the walking that I have been doing too. Needless to say I was quite disappointed, especially as it means that maybe Pi is not baked yet. I have been doing a little bit of research though, and it seems a cervix can go from closed, to full blown labour in a few hours, so at this stage I am not worrying about it.

My Strep B test came back negative. So happy with that. I also asked about what was low with my blood test. Apparently I am low in platelets- the things that clot blood. He said that as long as my blood pressure is normal, then its not a major problem as long as they keep it in mind. Good to know. Luckily, they didn't need more blood this week.

I also asked about how long they will wait until they induce me. I got the impression that they actually don't like to induce (Fantastic!), but after 40 weeks they will keep monitoring and see how the baby is. As long as Pi is healthy, I go the impression that they will let Pi bake until at least 41 weeks. Hopefully Pi decides to show naturally before then though. Hopefully a few days early...

After was the non stress test again; which I was happy that Pi was dancing about as normal.

We completely forgot to ask for the tour, but maybe we will try again this weekend. The appointments are getting a bit more expensive. It was about 4000yen out of pocket this time- and that is including the discount voucher. Perhaps it is all the extra tests that they do...

All in all though, a very successful visit!


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Oh, that reminds me: On April 1st, 2014 the GST rose to 8%, which means that the price of doctors vistits also rose. Luckily, the city council has also adjusted their vouchers too, so instead of getting 3000yen off per visit, it is now 4000yen off. All I had to do was go back to the town office and trade my left over vouchers for new ones. Super easy.