Turn, Baby, Turn

I guess I should have said *spoiler alert* for the heading, but as you can tell, Little Miss is still breech.  I suppose she is just way to comfy to turn around.  Mike and I got to see her in the ultrasound, which is always sweet.  Her heart beat was very strong, so she is staying healthy in my belly.  We discussed our options of what our next steps would be, which caused some anxiety because there are so many what-if scenarios. 

The doctor said she could still manually turn her tomorrow, and if that was successful, they would induce me to avoid her turning back again.  That sounded like the most promising option until she starting going over the possible risks.  She said my placenta is on top of Kylie, when ideally it should be located behind her.  This poses a problem, because in order to turn her, there is a ton of mashing on the top of my belly, which means mashing on the placenta, which means it could tear easily or break away from its position, which means emergency c-section.  She also that it’s possible the cord is wrapped around a limb or something else causing Kylie not to be able to turn herself, so if they make her turn, it could cause her a lot of harm.  She then went on to say that manual turns are not super successful and don’t always outweigh the risks.  Pass.

The next option is to schedule a planned c-section and power through.  Pass.

The next option is to wait it out another week, like we had planned, to see if she miraculously turns herself.  She has until next Wednesday for my last doctor’s appointment.  If she has turned, we will keep our induction date for Thursday and go in bright and early to have Kylie the way I would prefer.  If she hasn’t turned, Thursday will turn into c-section day instead of induction day.  So we’re back to where we started….just waiting on her to turn for another week. 

38 Weeks - One More to Go

Just when I started getting antsy that we still had a lot to buy before Kylie arrives, my work threw me a wonderful surprise shower.  They are quite a sneaky bunch, and they even had Mike in on it.  I don’t know how they all kept it from me, but they did an amazing job with everything.  I got all the last minute stuff I was stressing over, and it made me relax to know that we officially have everything we need.  I really do have the best co-workers in the world!

I went to the doctor last week to have my regular weekly check up and also to have an ultrasound performed to get an estimated weight of Little Miss.  The doctor wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to be too big, since Bryson was quite a large surprise.  During the ultrasound, it was determined that she weighs approximately 6.14 pounds at 37 weeks.  They say babies can gain a pound a week, so wish me luck!  She’s going to be big like her brother, I suppose. 

Now for the kicker.  She decided to flip from the last week’s appointment, so she is now head up – which is the exact opposite of where she should be.  The doctor said that they would check me again next week (tomorrow), to see if she decided to flip back to the right position.  If so, great…that’s progress!  If not, they will try to manually turn her.  Sounds scary, huh?  I think so.  This requires me to be admitted to the hospital “just in case” something goes wrong and they have to conduct an emergency c-section.  Getting scarier?  Yes.  The process takes place by my doctor, and possibly another person, mashing on my belly in an extremely slow circle to get her to turn around.  IF this is successful, they send me home so she can work her magic and focus on moving down.  IF this is not successful, I suppose they will try again on my induction date.  What pleasant news. 

Don’t get me wrong, there was good news, too.  She is very healthy and active still.  Her heart rate was in the mid-140s (her usual).  She is officially full term and could come out healthy any day without having to stay in NICU.  See, lots of positives.  It was just the code words: emergency c-section/manually turn/admitting to the hospital “just in case” that made my visit not so comforting. 

The doctor was kind enough to give me some exercises to try to get her to turn.  I tried the first one, which entailed putting one end of an ironing board on the couch and the other end on the floor (like a slanted plank).  I was instructed to lie on the board, head down, on my back, for 15 minutes.   That sounded simple enough.  Of course, I didn’t take into account my 30 pound belly crushing my spine and all the weight being shoved into my diaphragm so that I couldn’t breathe.  Oh, did I mention I’m having contractions periodically?  Yep, I got several of those during this brief stint of voodoo torture.  I reached my breaking point around minute 4 when I started crying.  About minute 10 Mike suggested I throw in the towel and try later.  That seemed like a great idea.  Next, I didn’t take into account the proper way to exit out of this unnatural slant, so I grabbed Mike’s hands so he could lift me up.  At some point, I lost feeling in my legs, I thought my spine snapped in half, I attempted to roll off the board sideways when leaning up was too painful, and then this retched animal sound came from within I don’t know where, but it was loud.  That was the most pain I’ve been in since my Bryson contractions.  I think I terrified poor Little B, and Mike had to take him out of the room for a few minutes while I regained my composure.  It was quite the adventure.  I don’t think I moved the rest of the night and the majority of the next day.  Thanks, Doctor S.  That was a great trick.

So hopefully tomorrow will bring better news and she has decided to turn on her own.  Stay tuned….