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Wait, wait, wait...
I cannot believe I forgot to mention this, but after all the drama with the placenta, this baby is breech. BREECH. As in, butt first in the birth canal, must turn before a vaginal birth can take place. I was calm about this initially, as was the OB, but as the appointments have continued and 002 continues to remain in the same position, all parties have become a bit more nervous.
At 30 weeks, the OB blew it off. At 32 weeks, she said she was sure the baby would turn. At 34 weeks, she started to seem a little more nervous, and now at my appointment on Monday, 35 and a half weeks, I have an ultrasound scheduled to confirm the breech position and discuss "options". Since last week, I've started doing yoga poses, on hands and knees with my head resting against the floor and my butt in the air while I sway it from side to side, hoping to dislodge the baby and encourage him or her to flip. I poke and prod and try to manually shove his or her head out of my ribs and toward the bottom of my stomach.
I'm pulling out all the stops. I'm getting the ironing board from the basement, and I plan to hang upside down on it while leaning it against the couch. I'm listening to my hypnobirthing cd and reciting to myself that my uterus is flexible enough and large enough to allow the baby to turn. If Monday's ultrasound shows the same position, I'm calling some acupuncture experts. I'll try moxibustion, I'll do cartwheels, I'll run laps, I'll even beg the baby to please cooperate. My OB thinks that trying to manually turn the baby is pretty ineffective, but we'll probably try that too.
I'm frustrated, I can't lie. I find myself feeling irrationally annoyed at this baby when I again yelp at the hard head pressing itself into my rib cage. It feels like you have a bruise and someone keeps poking your bruise in the same spot again and again and again. The baby kicks me hard in the organs and the cervix and in all kinds of tender places at the bottom of my belly. I keep having contractions and sharp pains that make me double over, and I suspect it is this wonky position.
The one thing I'm wondering, though, is that if I'm doing all of these things together to get the baby to turn, what happens if he or she turns and then I continue doing the exercises because I can't be 100% certain the baby has turned, and then he or she just keeps turning and turning and turning. Should I do the exercises until I suspect 002 has turned and then stop? But what if Monday's ultrasound shows I'm wrong?
Do you think Tom Cruise would lend me his ultrasound machine? Should I harass my OB daily and demand ultrasounds? Maybe I should freaking STOP OBSESSING over this and get to nesting?
Friday, November 14, 2008
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10 comments:
Try a chiropractor (recommended to you by someone you trust) who does Webster technique to turn babies.
I assume you've seen www.spinningbabies.com?
Word verification = topiptin, which somehow seems appropriate.
I'd say do whatever you feel like doing. If trying to turn the baby makes you feel better about what happens if the baby doesn't turn, do it.
I'm with liz, do what makes you feel best about the situation.
Sending you , turn, baby, turn vibes!
OMG, I am getting you that accupuncturist's number.
Ok I just want to say that my daughter was breech up until the week before I delivered! She only came 3 days before her actual due date! So don't give up hope!
Stacy
Gee is this babe keeping you on your toes! I hope it turns and then stays...I have a great visual of the baby doing tumble turns in your uterus like swimmers do when they get to the end!
Ohhh, frustrating!!! I don't know, I think I might still agitate for a vaginal birth even if the baby were to stay breech. It's definitely not impossible; OBs just tend to prefer not to do it.
I can't speak highly enough of moxibustion, though! My first was breech, albeit early on, and the clinic I had her at offered acupuncture and moxibustion right there on-site. I just had one maybe 30-minute treatment for that (went in a few other times, too) and then the practitioner told me to go home and lay on my left side for a few hours. I felt a lot of movement and then had another ultrasound the next day that confirmed she'd turned! It was seriously like magic. I know it doesn't always happen in the first treatment, but it definitely works. I've had people tell me that she probably would have turned anyway, and she may have, but not an hour after the treatment. :)
Also, I think I read that the exercises you do for turning don't really work in reverse - meaning that once the baby goes head-down, the exercises themselves won't baby back... because the baby's head is the heavy bit, or baby finds their spot in the pelvis or something? I don't remember the details.
One more thing (gosh, long comment, sorry) - after finishing my hypnobirthing course I went online looking for more materials and found a course called hypnoBABIES - same idea, just a little more in-depth, I thought. Anyway, they have a CD called "Turn Your Breech Baby" that they sell for $15.95 that might be worth it. The website is www.hypnobabies.com and it's in their store under CDs for Expectant Mothers.
Good luck! I'll say a prayer that baby scoots around soon - I think baby will!
Offspring was breech, and I had an "external version", which is medico-speak for the doctor turning her.
It's true that a lot of babies, once turned, will turn back, but the odds are about 40% that they WILL turn, and 60% that they stayed in correct position.
The one thing that I will tell you about my version is that it was externally painful. I didn't have any contracting afterwards, but I had very tender abdominal skin with lots of bruising. It was mildly discomforting, but that was pretty much it. Offspring stayed turned.
Whatever route you choose, best of luck with it. May it be successful, and may it be painless!
Acupuncture worked for a friend of mine, she got her twins to get in position that way.
All good placenta thoughts now being turned into good baby turning thoughts!
I'd try whatever it would take to get the baby to turn if it were me.
Accuputure and the chiropractor sound good. Never heard of the other method that was mentioned but if it would work it'd be worth it.
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