At my midwife appointment on Wednesday I got some news that kind of
shocked me a little bit. My baby appeared to be upside down - or rather
sitting right side up. Julie felt my belly and she wasn't sure so she
also had Eve come in. No one was really quite sure and so they sent for
an ultrasound to confirm. If baby is breech right now we'll need be sure
of it and start to make some things happen to turn it around.
So
Friday afternoon we went for yet another ultrasound - Eric got to come
with me which was really nice. This is ultrasound #5 - no perfectly
healthy woman or pregnancy gets 5 ultrasounds - I'm just blessed I
guess.
My midwives did mention to me briefly that a vaginal
delivery is still possible with a breech baby, it's just a bit more
complicated and so we would talk about the options when the time comes.
Sure
enough, that baby is right side up. It's just sitting in there cross
legged - much like its mother likes to do. In fact when I was told that
that was the case I was sitting on the bed cross legged and she looked
at me and said, "much like you're sitting right now". Oops. Sorry baby,
you're already getting things from me. When the tech told us it was
breech right now, she said "you will be booking a C section then?" and I
said no, that's not the plan. I was so confused, because my midwives
didn't make it seem like that needed to be the plan.
I
called my mom that evening and spoke with her. Until then I was
completely unphased by the whole thing. I was still excited about labour
and delivery and meeting our baby - which is how I've been feeling for
the last few weeks. I was a little naive I guess. My mom delivered one
of her babies breech, and didn't even know it was until he was coming.
Mind you, she is a birthing machine, but I guess I just assumed it was
doable and so I am going to do it.
The weekend was spent with prayers and exercises and readings to get baby to turn around.
Today
I met with midwives in clinic again. This time it was Helen. I had many
questions for her, including why the tech assumed I'd be booking a C
Section. She told me that it has been the way for many years in Alberta
to do automatic C Sections for breech babies. She said that many doctors
have lost the art of delivering a breech baby, and she thought it was
sad. But vaginal deliveries have started to come back. Further research
done in to the study used to do away with them in the first place,
showed that the numbers were skewed by other factors and that it's
actually quite safe to deliver under certain conditions. She said that
the new South Calgary Health Campus built here recently is making a
sincere effort to hire and train doctors willing and able to practice in
this way, and that I will be in good hands going down there.
She
recommended some things to try to get baby to turn - such things as
chiropractic care, acupuncture, some homeopathic herbs and some
exercises to try at home. She said she's fairly confident that we've got
the time still to let baby move around. I'm about 36 weeks and 3 days,
so there is time yet. She also talked to me about an ECV and asked if
I'd be interested in trying that. We went over the details of what that
would include and she gave me a lot of information to read.
Tonight
happened to also be the evening class that fathers attend as well, so
she told me she'd gather some more information and things for me and
Eric and I could speak with her after the class and get things sorted
out together.
When I came back with Eric in the evening she went
over what exactly an ECV looks like and told us that she would try to
get us in for one. We will be waiting on call for the next few days to
see if that will come.
I'm so excited for you and Eric and your new baby!
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Calgary I worked at a Family Wellness center near Market Mall - the one Dr that works there, Dr. Patricia Hort, is amazing! Specializes in pregnancy and has a whole section on breech on her website.
Here is her website:
http://drformoms.com/
Here is the section on breech:
http://drformoms.com/pregnancy-prenatal-chiropractic-care
Hope this helps!
Jenna