That's right, Oliver is in breech position (heads up), and he doesn't look like he's going to move heads down any time soon.
Oliver was heads up at 34 weeks, which was the first indication of possible concern. A baby will flip all throughout pregnancy, but at a certain point gets to big to easily maneuver. So, I kept up with the yoga and aqua aerobics. Cat-Cow is supposed to be helpful.
At 36 weeks, Dr J was concerned enough to send me to an acupuncturist. I couldn't make it in until the next week, at which time the acupuncturist performed a "procedure" with Moxibustion (Moxa) next to the small toe, or Bladder 67. Total witch magic stuff. But, I was able to convince Mitchell to help me for the following 4 days to continue the practice. I had him watch this video and he was a pro. You have to do it outside because it's stinky. Basically, you hold this cigar-thing near the little toe until it gets really hot, I yell that it's hot, and then he pulls it away, and then keep doing it again for 10 or 15 minutes on each foot.
I had a doc appt after the Moxa was complete (5 days usually does the trick) and alas, Oliver's head was still up. I was actually pretty sure he had flipped, which shows you how much I know. So, we scheduled a "version" for that Thursday.
So, at 38 weeks, Mitchell and I went into the Labor & Delivery part of the hospital. Now, Dr J has a very casual personality, and I tend to be casual about these things as well, so I was not exactly expecting so much official fanfaire. They put me on the monitor to see how the baby is doing. The anesthesiaologist met with me in case the baby went into distress and they had to do an emergency c-section. I got in trouble for eating yogurt and Cheerios 4 hours prior, but perhaps they should have told me that 6 hours was the rule. Whatever. They took blood and urine samples. Then they gave me a shot to relax my uterus, and a pill to counteract the shakes that the shot tends to give you. The pill is supposed to make you drowsy like Benadryl. So then Dr J and another Dr from the practice came in and tried to encourage Oliver to shift down. They checked on him on the ultrasound, then tried to manually maneuver him one direction. Then the other. And when I say "encourage" and "maneuver" I do not mean to imply that it was gentle or fun. It pretty much sucked. Mitchell got to sacrifice his hand for me to hold, and the nurse actually insisted on lending her hand on the other side. Lots of pressure and it felt like I couldn't breathe. But, they decided that with his butt wedged in my pelvis and his legs piked in front of him, it was just unlikely that he was going to be able to get himself out of that position. So we called it. When I got home, I was so wiped I napped on the couch and then slept soundly for over 12 hours. Whatever they gave me fully messed me up.
So, we scheduled a c-section for 39 weeks. Which is September 8. They don't want to deliver the baby too early, but they also want to make sure that I don't go into labor before it's scheduled, which would result in an emergency c-section instead. I have a few last-ditch efforts planned, like another acupuncture appt Tuesday, fingers crossed, but Thursday is looking like the day.
Regardless, Oliver is almost here!
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