36 down, 4 (ish) to go!

I can't believe we are at 36 weeks, we are so close to finally meeting our darling stubborn little baby Schnitzel!  Yes, stubborn.  He is one of the 4% of babies who is still breech by 36 weeks.  Sigh.  This is leaving all kinds of not-so-fun options for his mother to ponder.... Dr. Thomas told us he only performs about 4 ECV procedures a year (external cephalic version... trying to turn the baby), and that most breech women he has don't do it, but then he acted like it was the best thing to do.  I was hoping that seeing him today would help me make this decision (because Dr. Google had lots of conflicting information/stories/experiences), but now I find myself even more confused about what to do.

Dr. Thomas wouldn't be the one performing our procedure anyway, because today was his last practicing day before he goes on a medical leave for shoulder surgery.  We knew there was only about a 1 in 40 chance of us actually having him for our delivery anyway (Oh, Kaiser Permanente), so it's not too shocking or upsetting.  If we go with the ECV, we will be admitted into Labor and Delivery to have it done at the end of next week.  I'll keep ya posted.

In other news, I am HUGE.  Jonas took belly pics of me last night, and it was comical to look at myself from an outsider's perspective.  People all around me have been commenting on my rapid expansion, including Paul the Painter who called me a pumpkin when I wore an orange shirt earlier this week.  I know Paul meant it in the most loving of ways, and I can't be too offended because, really, it's a pretty accurate description.

Here's the photographic evidence of my huge-ness.  It makes me laugh looking at my first few belly shots and thinking of how big I thought I was getting.  And I have 4 more weeks to get even bigger?  I don't know how that is possible, but I guess we'll find out.  If you look closely at the first one, you can see the lump up top where Schnitzel's head is.   His position makes my belly pretty lopsided, especially during my Braxton Hicks contractions.  My kids are always randomly exclaiming, "Ms. Philipsen, I can see your baby's head!"

Baby Pool!

The guessing game kind, not the swimming kind.   =) Link to the right -------->

Flip, Schnitzel, Flip!

Yes, our darling Schnitzel has been comfortably breech for quite awhile now.  His head has painfully embedded in my rib cage, causing great pain in my right upper stomach/rib area and all the way around the right side of my back.  It is especially bad when I'm sitting, but I'm too exhausted to stand all day, and I can't lie down at work, so it's been an interesting battle... and Schnitzel is totally winning.

We have tried all kinds of techniques to try to get him to flip, and if he had his mother's flexibility I imagine he would have somersaulted around by now... but I'm afraid he takes after his father in the flexibility (or lack thereof) realm.  Still, I'm trying.  Our house has been a veritable circus with all the acrobatic positions I've been trying.  Inversions off the couch, inversions over the exercise ball, lots of downward-facing dog, and we even went to the city pool yesterday where I not-so-bravely donned my pre-pregnancy swimsuit to try underwater handstands.  All of this to no avail.  Schnitzel remains cushioned oh-so-nicely in his favorite spot, right-side up, which is technically upside down... or is it the other way around?

We've also tried ice packs near his head, which Jonas was not happy about... he wants Schnitzel's first brain freeze experience to be while he is indulging in an ice cream treat, not being frozen out of his nook by his mother.  So, next on the list to try is a flashlight and music at the bottom of my stomach, where we want his head to be.  Apparently babies can become interested in the commotion and turn downward to investigate... future night-clubbers?

In two and a half weeks at my 36 week appointment (we're at just about 34 now) if our boy is still breech, the doctor will offer up an external cephalic version to be done at week 37, which is a procedure where doctors basically externally manhandle a baby to physically turn them around.  I'm not too keen on the idea of having this procedure done.  If Schnitzel is healthy, comfortable, and growing in the position he's currently in, I'm more inclined to leave him that way.  So, we're crossing all our fingers and toes that he flips on his own, but if he decides to stay I'm okay with that too, as long as he is happy and healthy.  =)


Okay, time to go get inverted.