(Week 37)
I've been saying since Thanksgiving that this little guy tap is dancing on my cervix and while a wiggles and wobbles a bit, he has seemed to be anything but head down. I asked our birthing instructor what exercises and positions I should try to encourage him to turn when I found out that he should be settling head down about week 30. I even talked to two of my doctors about it and asked if they could tell where his head was. One half-heartedly probed my belly at 32 weeks and said, "It's hard to say, he could be head up but he's just going to move around anyway". At 34 weeks I saw a different doctor in the practice who probed by belly unprompted and stated "I could be wrong, but I think he may be breech, let's order an ultrasound for your next appointment".
So I brought Blaine with me to the 36wk appointment because I was convinced we were breech and figured we'd need to talk to the doctor about our options. Before the ultrasound I asked the doctor to feel around and guess what was what since we'd been playing the guessing game for weeks. She gets a puzzled look on her face and says "I'm usually really good at this, but in this case it's really hard to tell. It's almost like your baby has two butts. -silly grin- Do you have names picked out yet, because Butthead might work." I lost it in a fit a giggles, Blaine became very quiet and didn't really talk the rest of the visit. Apparently her lack of professionalism didn't sit well with him.
Turned out I was wrong about my guesses on which bits were what, but I was right about the fact that we were indeed breech. Our options were to schedule a C-section at 39 weeks and wait and see if he turned by then, or attempt an external version procedure to try to turn the baby at 37 weeks which could result in an emergency C-section, but if successful could allow us to carry to full term and attempt a natural birth.
Seeing as how the biggest risk seemed to an early C-section which was also to outcome if we didn't do anything I opted to try the version.
The next 7 days were just a blur. We went on a whirlwind shopping spree trying to ensure we had all the necessary essentials just in case we were bringing home baby in a week. We also did our best to wrap things up at work as much as possible. It was stressful and exhausting, but in the end I had the bags all packed and the nursery.. well... at least stocked with diapers before we headed to the hospital.
(I'm opting to omit my two-headed baby dream, but you can imagine it was a bit disturbing)
Blaine was nervous and worried for me. He'd talked to his coworkers and the three that had gone through this procedure all ended giving birth that day and said it was painful and they'd never attempt it again. Maybe I was being naive, but I just wasn't worried. I figured that any pain couldn't be worse than labor and delivery and if we delivered that day, well that just meant I didn't have to endure any more the oh so comfortable ninth month. I just didn't see any horrific down side.
Thursday March 17th (St. Patrick's Day) : We checked into the maternity ward all decked out in green and grinning ear to ear. I got strapped with monitors to check the baby for about an hour and hooked up to an I.V. then my doctor showed up. She checked everything out on the ultrasound, lubed up my belly and got ready to start.
I grabbed her hands, looked her straight in the eye and said "Now, your good at this right?". She was a bit taken aback, but then smiled and reassured me that she was, although she warned us that baby may be stubborn and my pain threshold could be limiting as well. I made her promise me not to be a hero and force anything that could hurt the baby then I popped in my ear buds and lay back to relax with Graceland as my soundtrack.
Blaine held my hand and watched as the doctor kneaded by belly like pizza dough until she had hold of baby's head and butt then started massaging him around in a circle. It was uncomfortable but I was able to breathe through it. Unfortunately baby jut wasn't having any of it. She turned him back to where he was and got set to try again clockwise. I asked for extra lube and the she dove in again. This time she got him half way then had the nurse hold him in place while she took a break reset her grip and started again. I won't lie - it was intense. We started shouting at baby "come on little bugger" "you can do it" "almost there baby". That got us around the corner then he just slipped into place. My doctor raised a hand and I gave her slimy hand a high five.
It had hurt, but no worse than a brutal back massage or a bad case of the stomach flu and it only lasted a few minutes. More importantly IT WORKED! The toughest part was the side effects from the meds they gave me to relax the uterus to keep me from having contractions. That stuff had me shaking like a leaf. It had been extra hard trying to relax with my lips shivering and teeth chattering, but that wore off in about an hour and as I felt better baby started wiggling up a storm and his heart rate improved with mine.
We were released with instructions to count his movements closely and watch for signs of early labor then we headed out to a pub and met a big pile of friends to celebrate the rest of St. Pats.
Now, a few days later I'm happy to say that I really feel much better, and best of all I CAN WALK AGAIN! Apparently he had been sitting on my pelvis at some awkward angle and that's what had been causing the painful waddling limp I'd been preforming for about 6 weeks. The only down side, is now that he seems to fit a bit better, he's taking full advantage and stretching his limbs, and wiggling all his little fingers and toes all the time. It's reassuring, but it's completely distracting and occasionally exhausting. I'm having trouble focusing on anything beyond my dancing belly.
But, it won't be long now! Only two weeks to my due date so no matter what happens now, this part should all be over within a month. Then the world gives me full permission to focus 100% on this little guy for at least 3 months.
