Turning our Breech Baby: 38-39 weeks

It has been a pretty easy and uneventful pregnancy so far. With the exception of the usual aches and pains that come along with all of the changes pregnancy makes to our amazing womanly bodies!

It was again another fairly smooth midwife visit for our 37 week check up (Thursday morning).
BP-Good   
Baby's Heart Rate- Good  
Head Down towards pelvis
No dilation

One minor problem...I had a yeast infection. Midwife "prescribed" acidophiles and to start use of Monistat 7.
I had a slight uneasy feeling about using the Monistat 7 pregnant but she assured me that it would be fine. That Friday evening I started using it.

Around 3 days later I was relaxing on the couch and I felt some pretty significant movement from the baby. I was surprised but didn't think much more of it than that.

Our next visit for our 38 week check up (the following Thursday morning).
BP- Good
Baby's Heart Rate- Good
OH NO WHAT IS THIS???? The baby had all of sudden turned into a breech position.
The midwife was 99% sure it was breech. I could even feel the little bobble head right in the middle underneath my ribs. Shit. I was really starting to freak out. The midwife will not deliver a breech baby. Hospitals in NYC will send you directly to a c-section...no vaginal delivery's on breech babies. (yes I know that is silly....oh by the way there are a couple of docs that I heard will do it but only for $10,000 Cash payment...no insurance coverage....lovely)

So we decided to go for our very first ultra sound to find out 100% for sure that it was breech, exactly what position breech it was and where the placenta was located. That very afternoon on our way home from the midwife I was on the phone calling around to find a place that would see us that day and would take our insurance. We found one and went straight there. Sure enough....breech....frank breech to be exact (butt down in pelvis with feet up near head-folded in half) but the placenta was posterior (towards the back of the uterus).

Next step...how do we get this baby turned ASAP so we can have the home birth we were so looking forward to and avoid the c-section that was completely freaking me out.

Friday-Sunday--We tried it all: 20-30 min Pelvic Tilts with an ice pack on the baby's head, music in my pants and a flashlight trying to direct the baby into position. This we did twice a day in addition to inversions for 30 seconds each (check out http://www.spinningbabies.com/ for these techniques that have been proven to work on flipping breech babies). We also went to the swimming pool and I did as many handstands as I could muster. Then acupuncture/moxibustion was next on the list. That, I would have to say, the baby reacted to the most. During the procedure the baby started moving around like crazy! She sent us home with some of our own moxibustion to do twice a day...we did that. Lots of movement but not enough to get the baby to turn.

Now as hard as I was trying to remain calm, since I know that my stress level would in no way help this baby to relax and turn around on it's own, I just couldn't pull myself together. All weekend long in between (and sometimes during) these "tricks" I was having some serious melt downs. I couldn't stop crying and at one point I think I even yelled and threw an ice pack across the room at Tony...for those of you that know me...COMPLETELY out of my character! The idea of having to have a c-section was just putting me over the edge. During all of this I was scouring the Internet, calling my insurance company (a stressful event on it's own) emailing doulas and other resources trying to find a doctor that would take my insurance and perform an external version for me. After all, I was 38.5 weeks along and each day the baby is getting bigger which will make it less likely to be able to turn and if I go into labor before that happens we would need to go straight to the hospital for that damn c-section. As you can image the urgency of this matter wasn't helping my state of calm (or lack there of).

First thing Monday morning at 8am I was on the phone making phone calls to hospitals, doctors, insurance company, etc... here was some of the feedback:
"No sorry we don't do versions on patients that aren't ours."
"No sorry we don't take your insurance."
"A what? A version....I don't know what that is."
"Yes we do have a doctor that can do versions. He can get you in today! Oh sorry we don't take your insurance but we take cash. I have an apt available at 3pm just bring your records and $1300 cash" (don't have that kind of money right now)
"Yes I do versions and would love you help you out! I take your insurance but since this procedure is so risky we have to do in the hospital and the one I work with doesn't accept your insurance. Sorry."
"What? You're 38 weeks pregnant and you don't have your own OB. You're doing a home birth? What were you thinking? You waited way to long...it's your fault you are in this situation."
"I'm sorry our next apt is 3 weeks from now and since you aren't one of our patients we can't help you now...it's too late"
"No I'm sorry we can't help you...you should really get yourself to the ER right away"

I probably called 20 different places and kept getting these kinds of replies. (after being put on hold for 5-20 mins each time)

Finally around 1pm I got through to an actual doctor at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Labor and Delivery Unit.
Yes they had a doctor that performed external versions. He was on staff that day. I would need to come into the triage unit and they were a little busy but if I didn't mind waiting they would get to me when they could.
Did they take my insurance? She didn't know but transferred me to another department (again on hold for 20 mins). Finally....yes they would accept my insurance!!

We got there as quickly as we could. Checked in, waited in the waiting area for about 1.5 hours then they called me back. Tony wasn't allowed to go with me. I changed into the gown put my clothes in a bag and then the doctor came in to tell me that I should have been there first thing in the morning. It was too late in the day for him to try and perform the version in case something went wrong. I needed to come back on Wed first thing in the morning at 8 am. Complete let down. But he took the time to check me anyway-yes it was breech (but no longer frank breech-now it was feet down breech....must have been all those "tricks" I was doing), still a good amount of amniotic fluid, but the back was out towards my belly (makes it almost impossible to turn the baby-so he said). And the fact that I was already 38.5 weeks along he didn't feel confident that it would work and due to the risks I may need to go straight into an emergency c-section. But if I still wanted to he would be willing to give it a try on Wed morning at 8am.
Then hospital procedures kicked in...they had to monitor me and the baby for 30 mins before they could discharge me. Baby was fine but now my BP was too high for them to let me go (you think!! I wonder why?) So now they had to do blood work as I might have preeclampsia!!! Good lord please. I've been fine up until this point. I let them take the blood but then checked myself out. Told them I'd sign whatever waiver they needed me to sign but I was not sticking around for another 2 hours to wait for the results of my blood test. Call me if there was a problem (which I knew there wouldn't be).  No call came.

So being my punctual Virgo self we were back at the hospital Wed morning (now 38 weeks 6 days) at 8 am to get this version done and go home to have my home birth.
Another ultra/sound, more monitoring, BP checks, etc.... Then someone came in for an emergency c-section. Then another and another.... They put in a hep-lock "just in case" the version (once they got to me) went wrong and I needed a c-section. Tony is still in the waiting room. Then some more waiting....oh and some more emergency c-sections came in. The waiting was a pain but I would have to say the hep-lock was the worst part! That thing hurt.
Oh and mind you I was asked not eat or drink anything from midnight the night before. Now I'm starving on top of all of it.

Finally around 4pm the doctor made in it to see me and was ready for the version. Residents and nurses were all clamoring around to see it as it's not something that is really done very often any more and most of the time it doesn't work (so they told me). They gave me some medication to relax my uterus which did make me pretty shakey (one of the side effects) and started immediately. 3 painful minutes later the baby was turned around and I felt the head drop down.
I started crying on cue!!!  I was sooooo happy I couldn't believe it. Of course, the doctor had to be a bit of a downer and explain that it didn't mean the baby would stay that way and that there was a reason it flipped around in the first place so we should really be cautious and maybe that home birth wasn't the best option. After all the head could be too big to birth naturally!  LOL (I honestly think the reason the baby turned was beacuse of the Monistat 7 it was trying to get away from....only my theory but my intuition is pretty strong in that direction).
I walked around the hospital halls for 30 mins and they checked again to make sure the head was still down and the heart rate and movement of the baby was still good and we went home.

I do have to say everyone there was very nice to me (including the doctor) and it was well worth the waiting around all day and the 3 mins of pain!!!

It's funny...somewhere in the midst of all this chaos I had reached a point of surrender in the fact that what will be will be and that as much as I would like to I cannot control everything. This was a big life lesson for me and I think in the end is also what helped the baby to turn as easily as it did that day.

Now I'm 39 weeks 2 days and just praying the baby stays put!

It's been a long stressful week but in the end I have found peace and even though we now have Hurricane Irene coming our way at any moment I have no worries or fears. All is and will be good and what will be will be!

Maternity Photo Shoot

Tony and I had an amazing bonding experience on our little trip to New Haven, CT to have our maternity photo shoot with my good friend Ian Christmann from Catalyst Photography! If you like what you see and you live in NY, NJ or CT it's well worth the drive: http://www.catalystphotography.com/

These were all taken at my 34 week pregnancy mark.

Here are some of our faves: