Tag Archives: transverse baby

Baby girl, the gymnast

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We’re knocking on the door of 39 weeks, and the baby’s now breech. Or at least that’s what the sonogram revealed on Thursday afternoon. In the past 10 days, she’s been all over the place – transverse one way, transverse the other way, breech, head down and breech again.

If you’re familiar with pregnancy, you’ll know that we’re a little late in the game for all that business. For a natural delivery, she basically has to be head down.

I’ve been to the acupuncture guy for three treatments. Each treatment sparked a lot of movement, and almost every time has pushed me into early labor. Luckily each time my body has given up after a couple of hours because the baby wasn’t in the right position.

I’ve been regularly doing a series of exercises that are to help encourage the baby to move. And I’ve played music through headphones and placed a flashlight at the bottom point of my belly hoping to coax her down. So far, nothing’s worked and permanently kept her in place.

On Friday, I met with a obstetrician at St. Francis to talk through my options to get this baby in the right position. We have a game plan for an external version mid-day Tuesday, but there’s still several scenarios that could play out:

1. The version procedure doesn’t work, and they’re not able to turn the baby. Then I will go into an immediate c-section. While it’s not ideal, if I have to have a c-section, this is the way I want to do it. I don’t want to risk going into labor again and then end up having an emergency c-section. From what I’ve heard from friends that have gone through it, that’s the least ideal way to go the c-section route.

2. The version procedure does work, and the baby is head’s down. Then we’re going to induce labor so we can make sure she doesn’t maneuver her way back around before natural labor begins. I will have the option to be induced at the hospital or at the Birth Center. Unless something really compelling happens during the procedure, I plan to go ahead and check out of the hospital and go to the Birth Center.

From my conversations with the doctor, I feel comfortable going the hospital route. It sounded like they’d be pretty supportive of facilitating a delivery that is pretty close to what I could get at the Birth Center. But if I get to choose, I’d rather do it around my friends and family, because that’s what the Birth Center is – friends and family. Plus I get to go home within hours of delivery, which is what I’d prefer.

Hocus Pocus and that Jazz

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We’re approximately three weeks out from Baby Menke making her debut, but we’re not quite ready. I mean, we are… or at least I am. But she’s not quite ready.

During my last three appointments, the midwives have told me the baby’s head is no longer down in the ready-for-delivery position. It had been for a long time… up until about three weeks ago. And then boom. She suddenly repositioned herself and apparently has gotten pretty comfortable. She’s taken a fancy to laying sideways (or transverse if you want to go by the medical term).

As we get closer to the due date, this transverse position is starting to become a bit of an issue. You can’t have a natural delivery if the baby’s transverse. Instead you have a c-section. And while I can accept that outcome if that’s what is meant to be, it’s definitely not ideal. It means hospital time (no birth center), IVs, knives, scars (to go on top of already very prominent other scars) and a longer recovery. All in all, it seems like the kind of thing that will cramp my style a bit. (Again, if it’s necessary, I’ll absolutely do it. And I’ll figure out how to be awesome at having a baby that way. But I’m trying to make that a last resort scenario.)

So now I’m in the “let’s try everything we can to get this baby to move” mode. I’m doing exercises recommended on SpinningBabies.com (which means I’m spending quite a bit of time positioning myself upside down in a variety of angles). They are suppose to allow gravity to work it’s magic pulling the baby out of her currently comfortable position while opening up my pelvis to make it more accommodating and inviting.

I also decided to give acupuncture a try. I’ve read a lot about it, and apparently there’s pressure points that tell your uterus to kick into gear, motivating the baby to move into position.

I went to my first appointment yesterday, and, well… it was interesting. I had no idea of what to expect, but that was probably good. If I had, I’m guessing I probably wouldn’t have gone. I don’t say that because I don’t think there’s a chance of it working – the practice was highly recommended and has proven successful for others in the past.

But man, it was by far the craziest appointment I’ve ever had. Honestly, it was the kind of like the thing you’d expect to see on TV because it was so far out there and over the top. There were needles and laser gadgets and frequency singing and pressure points and chanting and arm strength tests. The acupuncture guy talked super fast, and I could never  determine whether or not he was joking or if he was super serious. So I spent the entire appointment on the verge of giggling. But I tried to be open-minded. I figure that’s probably how the magic of Chinese medicine works best.

While the treatments have certainly stirred up a lot of Braxton Hick’s contractions and baby movement, I can’t tell if it’s actually working. The acupuncture guy said to give it 24-48 hours, and come back on Friday if the baby still wasn’t cooperating. He says he has an 80% success rate, so I figure it can’t hurt to try, even if it does seem like it’s a bit hocus pocus.