09 Aug Roll with me, Henry

This little dude is breech.

We’ve tried everything: Inversions both on the ironing board and frontward off the couch, acupuncture, moxibustion, crawling around on the floor, bouncing on an exercise ball, the chiropractic Webster Technique, “sifting”, hypnosis, playing music and shining lights at the bottom of my belly, putting frozen peas on his head, and everything else we can think of… but here we are.

So we have made the decision to try external cephalic version tomorrow morning.

We talked today with the doctor who will be performing the procedure. She expressly said, “The risk is that it doesn’t work.” We’ve seen all kinds of awful things (AND positive things) about it on the internet. She said in all her years she has only ever heard of one case where something bad happened and they had to do an emergency C-section because of fetal distress. Otherwise, it either works or it doesn’t. She said the baby’s well cushioned in there and they can’t push hard enough to hurt him. Just hurts me. I might have bruises and should take the rest of the day easy if I can (and I will). And I can probably take Tylenol if I’m sore after. It will be muscle soreness.

It’s said to be very painful and is done without pain meds. But she said it’s worth a shot if I might be able to avoid a C-section. In most cases it has a 50% chance of working. With me, the doctors say it has a 30% chance of working because I’m a first-time mom so my uterus isn’t all stretched out, and my fluid levels aren’t super high, and he’s been in that position the whole time.

We go in tomorrow at 7 a.m. I can’t eat or drink after midnight tonight. They administer Terbutaline, a uterus relaxer, to prevent contractions. It can make me dizzy as it does elevate your heart rate. They’ll do an internal exam and might see if there’s anything they can do from there. They monitor me and the baby before, during and after. They do an ultrasound to find out exactly where he is. They cover my belly in ultrasound goo and try to turn him by pushing on my belly. They should know within 10 minutes if it’s going to work or not. If it’s not going to work, they quit. I can say stop at any time or change my mind at any time.

It’s not the ideal thing to have to do, but it’s better than what all the doctors keep calling “major abdominal surgery.” I talked to two doctors and they both said it’s less risky and less painful and inconvenient than a C-section is. I’m not psyched about it, but if it turns him it’s worth it. I wish we didn’t have to make this decision.

If it doesn’t work, we will have to schedule the C-section. It’ll likely be August 22.

Fingers crossed it works!

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