The Stubborn Baby

7/28/16

Well, this baby girl is being a little stinker. For the past few weeks we have known that she was transverse, or lying sideways. The OB didn't seem too concerned about it and seemed to think that she would turn. But last Friday she did a vaginal exam for the first time and what she thought was the head at the cervix...was not. So, she did a quick ultrasound and discovered that baby's head is in the upper right side. Then yesterday she had them do a more thorough ultrasound and we found out that yes she is for sure breech--bum down. I'm at 37 weeks and was pretty sad to hear that since it's hard to get them to turn at this late in the game.

I had hoped that Chris would be able to go to that appointment yesterday, but he didn't and the OB ended up setting up an appointment at the hospital to do an external cephalic version TODAY. I agreed to it at the time because she seemed like she was really in a hurry to try it out. (And she has a way of convincing me to do things even though I'd really like to learn more first.) But when I came home and started talking to Chris and family and friends, I started feeling more nervous about it. They gave a lot of suggestions that could turn the baby without having the risks of the version. Of course there's always those witch dr type stuff, but there was also some exercises and chiropractic practices that I thought seemed sound. We looked up a lot of stuff and talked and prayed about it. I asked Chris to give me a blessing and a couple of the feelings I had were that 1) the Lord's will is what I should be asking for and 2) we need to make a decision and go with it. We both felt that we needed to present a decision to the Lord. So we decided we would go to the hospital and talk more with the OB to understand why she wanted to do a version so soon. (I wanted to try out a few more things before we went to the extent of a version.) We prayed about it and both of us felt good.

However, this morning before we went to the hospital we called in and talked with the OB. And to be honest, it was a pretty frustrating conversation for me. I feel like she doesn't really care about us and what we want. That she's only got one way of doing things and she's gonna say whatever she can to persuade us that it's the right choice. I think it was good for Chris to be in on this conversation because it helped him to see why I get so frustrated after appointments with her. I want her to give me my optionS, not just the option that she wants or that is fastest for her. I want her to educate me and help me to feel like I'm the one making the decision and she's just presenting the facts to help me.

Well, the conversation went something like this. I wanted to wait until Monday to do the version. She said I was dilated at a 2 (which I already knew) and didn't want to risk me going into labor over the weekend. (The chances of me going into labor at 37 weeks? I doubt are very high, especially with my history of a late pregnancy, but whatever.) Chris was concerned about the risks of the procedure. We had talked to friends that said it was very painful. She says, "Oh no, it's not painful to the baby." That's NOT what he was asking. She said her rate of success with this procedure is 80%. Online it said only about 58% of versions actually work in turning the baby. And my friends that had the procedure done were a testament of this statistic. She says that there's really no other way to get the baby to turn. Even though I've researched and talked to people and MANY have been able to get their baby to turn by other methods.

Basically, she just didn't want her schedule messed up. We had to make the decision right then and there (our appointment was about 20 minutes away...) So we decided to go with it. On the way to the hospital we both felt frustrated with the OB. But even through those feelings, I still felt good about having the procedure done. (I just had a greater desire to switch Drs lol)

We checked in at 7am and got all our paperwork done. We then were taken to the back where I was hooked up to some monitors and given an IV. The nurses were really nice and very informative; answering all our questions and such.  When the OB arrived, I tried not to be cold, but you could tell there was some tension there. And I think she tried to loosen it by saying emphatically, "I just LOVE doing versions. They are so fun!" OH GAG. So fake. And no, it didn't make me feel any better about the procedure.

She then did an ultrasound and the baby was still breech--head in the upper right side and bum down. They gave me a couple shots; one to relax the uterus and one for pain (which made me feel really weird--like my mouth and lips were getting bigger, not swollen, just bigger. And really dizzy too!). Then she lathered up my belly and started pushing. It was super uncomfortable, but not nearly as painful as I had imagined. After about 10 attempts she just threw her hands up and said baby's just not budging. I was pretty disappointed and almost felt like saying, "push harder! That wasn't even that painful. I can take it." But I did see how stubborn her little head was and didn't want to put her in danger.

They then monitored me and the baby for a couple more hours and then we were good to go. I've since been trying EVERYTHING under the sun to get baby to move. The OB scheduled a csection for me on August 9th. It was while I was kinda loopy so I didn't think about it until after, but that's the day Caitlin gets home from her mission! I'm hoping to turn the baby before then and have an appointment with a chiropractor on Monday. I'm doing a bunch of exercises and a lot of upside-down stuff lol and just praying that this baby will turn!