MARTINEZ, Calif. — A California housewife who is representing herself against charges that she stabbed her psychologist husband to death with a paring knife asked for a postponement of her murder trial Tuesday, the second delay in less than a week due to the defendant's illness.

"I'm sick and I think I'm getting bronchitis," Susan Polk told the judge in a scratchy voice Tuesday morning.

Jurors were just about to be called in for a third day of Polk's cross-examination of her son Gabriel Polk, who is a witness for the prosecution and the one who found his father's lifeless body on the couple's $1.85 million estate in October 2002.

Instead, the panel was given the morning off while the judge made arrangements for a doctor to examine Polk.

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"I don't want to waste the entire day if we don't have to," Judge Laurel Brady told the defendant, with the expectation that testimony would proceed by the afternoon.

But when Polk returned to court Thursday afternoon, she announced to the judge that she had been given antibiotics for her sore throat and inflamed sinuses, but did not believe she could go on.

She requested a postponement until Monday to get "some bed rest."

"I was up half the night coughing," Polk said. "This is a murder trial and I want to be at my best."

The judge, also recently afflicted with a sore throat and scratchy voice, called the lengthy delay an "unreasonable" request and ordered Polk to return Thursday to resume cross-examination.

The judge excused the panel without informing them of Polk's illness.

Last Thursday, Polk delayed trial, and her son's testimony, for a day when she arrived to court complaining of a sore throat.

Gabriel, 19, has distanced himself from his mother since the death of his father, Felix Polk.

Polk, 48, claims she wrestled the knife away from her husband and stabbed him in self-defense, fearful that he would kill her first.

Polk says she suffered years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her therapist-turned-husband who was 25 years her senior.

Gabriel disputes his mother's defense. He testified that Polk is delusional and had been planning to kill his father for years. The eldest of the three Polk children, Adam, 23, will be the prosecution's next witness.

The couple's middle son, Eli, 20, has stuck by his mother's side and will testify in her defense when she begins her case.

Assistant District Attorney Paul Sequiera said he hopes to finish his case by next Friday, March 24.

If no further delays hinder the trial, Susan Polk could begin her case as early as March 27.

She faces 25 years to life if convicted.