To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn...

35wks,3d

We're still trying to flip this baby. Here are the things we've tried so far:

*Ice on the baby's head (and by "head" I mean on my stomach where the baby's head is"). It was cold. Baby didn't move away from it, she just pushed at it. I'm not sure what that means, but I'm chalking it up to more of her general contrariness. You know, the kind that inclines her to ninja-KICK the scope at our ultrasounds and to squirm away from the doppler at our OB checkups.

*Laying with a stack of pillows under my butt and back to elevate my hips and "disengage the baby from the pelvis", the theory behind this being that there'll be more room for her to flip if I'm all squashed in the lungs and stomach. I mean... if I'm laying at a 45degree angle. Very unpleasant, what with the acid that creeps up my throat even if I'm 100% vertical... it was thrilled that I'd laid down in a position that was even easier to try and make dinner escape. ::shudder:: But, I *tried* it.

*Hand stand in the pool. Yep, I did one, and the massive burp that it caused to dislodge from my insides was unpleasant enough that I probably won't do more of those. Especially because that's ridiculous.

*Warm bath. This was particularly sad, because when I sat in the tub, the water in our stupid


And in all seriousness, because now we're down to crunch time:

Yesterday we tried acupuncture.

But before I get into THAT story, let me explain why we're not just letting things run their course.

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At my 32 week appt, the midwife I saw (who was really nice, BTW), felt the baby's position (head up by my ribs, back curled around to my right side, butt down by my pelvis and legs curled up the other side). She said that position is called "breech" and that if she hasn't turned into the head down position by my 36 week appt (which will be on Thursday the 16th), that they'll do what's called "Inversion" to flip her.

Inversion, from my understanding, is where a team of doctors ultrasound you (to be sure of baby's position and the cord position and all that), and then they press their hands down on your belly and PUSH the baby into position.

From what I've learned since she oh-so-casually-mentioned that, Inversion HURTS (me, and I'm sure that Baby Girl won't like it either), and that more often than not, it has a tendency to burst the bag of waters, which can start labor. And if it *doesn't* start labor, since the bag of water has already burst, Tripler's policy is to deliver that baby one way or another within 12, I believe, hours of it bursting.

I called the other day to ask the midwives (they have a PAGER, and you call and leave your number and get this...THEY ACTUALLY CALL YOU BACK. *gasp!!* THAT DAY EVEN!! *DOUBLE GASP*) what they thought about my trying alternative (to inversion) methods to flip Baby Girl. The midwife I talked to was ALL ABOUT IT. It was so refreshing to hear a positive review of something I want to try from anyone at Tripler. I feel like everything's been so negative from there so far. Almost nothing but uncomfortableness and unpleasant news and visits for me and my other pregnant friends. So the midwife said to go ahead and try the acupuncture and the other things I'd come up with, and that I shouldn't worry too much about the inversion till I've tried those things and had my next OB appt. I think I <3 the mid-wives.

So. Yesterday we went to Sacred Healing Arts in downtown Honolulu to try the acupuncture. Before I start *this* part of the story, let me just say that we had a 3d ultrasound on Friday, and she was in the exact same head up, butt down, legs up the side position that she'd been in before. Monday was a holiday, so I called on Tuesday and made the appt to be stuck with needles. Tuesday night, Little Miss did some interesting dancing around, and I wasn't *SURE* anymore what position she was in, so I called and they said they could have one of their midwives come in and confirm Little Miss' position. She felt around on mah belly, and listened to the heartbeat. We were right, she still hadn't turned. The midwife showed David how to feel for her head (I already knew from a previous appt at Tripler), and then she left and the acupuncturist came in. She asked me to lay on my side, and then she stuck a teensy little needle in my foot, on the top side, about half an inch from my pinkie toe. Then things got weird. She pulls out a smudge stick (a bundle of herbs wrapped in paper and lights it. She warns us that "This WILL smell like weed." and proceeded to roast my pinkie toe (the one with the needle) for 10 minutes. Then she took out the needle, and had me turn over and did a new needle in my other foot and roasted THAT pinkie toe. Then we were done. She gave us a new smudge stick to take home with us and said that we needed to roast (my words not hers) my pinkie toes for 10 mins each, twice a day, and we scheduled another appt for Monday, just in case (it can take up to 3 sessions to flip a stubborn baby). I also have to spend up to 20 minutes on a "slant board", which is a board, propped up on the couch, head at the bottom, everything else upwards. Very uncomfy. ::sigh:: I'm totally saving this story for the first time Little Miss asks for money when she's a teenager.

SO.

Our plan of attack:

Acupuncture- Friday (the appointment we went to), Monday and maybe Wednesday if she STILL hasn't turned.

Thursday is our OB appt at Tripler. If she still hasn't flipped, then between that appt and the appt to invert her, we'll try to go to the chiropractor and get her to do what's called "Webster's Technique", which I haven't researched yet, but supposedly it opens the pelvis and baby flips. Also has a fairly high success rate. So it's worth trying.

I think that if she hasn't turned and they want to do the inversion, I'm going to decline. I will tell them that I'm not comfortable with the inversion risks (breaking the water and artificially starting labor), and that I'd rather wait to go into labor on my own, and if she's still breech when that happens, then I'll labor and then we'll have the C-section. Don't get me wrong, I don't WANT a C-section, but I think that natural labor first and then C-section would be better for my baby than the early alternatives.

Whew. Long post. I still need to Chronicle the trip I took to Texas! But that will have to be another day, I gotta go roast my toes now, with a bunch of plants that smell like weed. This better freaking work, hahaha