7 Quick Takes: The Baby's Coming Edition

So, how's things out there in the www, because I'm back, people!  

Our home internet has not only been restored, but we also upgraded and are now hurtling through the internet at amazing speeds.  I really can't believe the difference -- it's like coming out of a cave onto a highway.  I can even play embedded videos instead of giving up because it takes 25 minutes to upload a 30 second clip.

Plus, the Mayans were wrong and the world did not end.  I can continue to enjoy the super-fast internet while putting my trust in God.  Score.

And I am going to need some major trust in God this weekend, because let me share what is about to go down . . . .

One

I prayed and I did all the crazy exercises mentioned in my last post, sans crawling down the stairs head first, and they worked.

As of my appointment last week, Septimus had decided to play nicely and snuggle into a vertex position.  Hooray!

Two

Cut to midweek . . .  I started to feel strange.  Even stranger than usual anyway.  I started feeling the weird sensation of the baby turning.

I've tried to describe it to Rob, and I know I'm not doing a good job, but so far I've had 3 babies who liked to indulge their Olympic gymnast dreams while doing time on the inside and each time it has felt similar.

It seems to me that I would be able to feel the baby actually turning the wrong way, but it's more like an intense upward pressure and tightness.  In fact, it feels a little like some people have described a heart attack.  I suddenly lose my breath and I am unable to catch it, even sitting completely still.  And that is combined with a very singular lifting or rising feeling  -- almost like someone is physically lifting my uterus off the rest of my body.

See?  I told you I don't do a great job of describing it.  But that's what I felt on Wednesday night and I knew it was probably not a harbinger of desired news.

Three

I had my routine appointment today, where I told my doctor what I suspected.  She lead me straight to ultrasound where we could see the baby in the wrong spot.  Again.

This time, Septimus is a little more oblique than flat out transverse.  Basically instead of lying horizontally across my body, the baby is closer to a 45 degree slant.  The head is still on the my right side, but a little closer to my pelvis than before.

I'm not going to lie, I was (am) disappointed.

Four

Here's the major problem with this position at this point in pregnancy:  if I should go into labor on my own (which could technically happen at any time) and my water should break, the parts that would present for delivery are very, very wrong.

Worst case scenario would be a cord prolapse, which is when the umbilical cord comes out first and that is extremely bad for the baby.  I mean, scaring the snot out of my husband and my doctor bad.

Five

So, what to do?

I'd really like to avoid a c-section if at all humanly possible.  I know lots of women have c-sections and they are just fine with them, and I am not down on medically necessary c-sections.  There are several babies I know who would not be here without a c-section.

All that being said, I'd still prefer not to have one.  To that end, we are going for the external cephalic version once again.  

We had scheduled one with Mopsy and I got all the way to the hospital to find out she had turned on her own.  She was scared straight, I guess, and I'm hoping this one does the same thing.

Six

The rest of the plan is this:

If L&D has room on Saturday, I'll go in for the version on Saturday.  If there is no room on Saturday, they will try to do it on Sunday.

If the version is successful, then an induction will be started immediately and I'll stay at the hospital to have the baby.

If the version does not work, or the baby does not tolerate being pushed around, then I will stay and have a c-section.

As you can see, there are a lot of "ifs"  to this whole scenario.  And I am so not good with "iffy."

I alternate between feeling almost calm and feeling panicky and trapped.  I know I've done everything I can do, and so much of pregnancy is out of my hands, but I am human and I like to think I'm in charge.

I've decided that my real course of action has to be to pray, pray, pray for the peaceful acceptance of God's plan for this baby's arrival.

I will offer up my anxiety and the pain of childbirth for some specific intentions, and I would be so tremendously grateful if you would keep us in your prayers.

None of us were really anticipating things to happen so quickly, so to say things are unsettled here would be generous.  Please pray for my other kids who know that this is a major departure from what we had been planning.

Seven

I usually like to do a little baby pool to guess the date, gender, weight, all the good stuff, but this time around has obviously caught me unprepared.  

I'd love to be distracted by reading your guesses, so please leave a comment and help my mind not to wander to anxious territory.

Bonus Take!!

I'm ending on a happy, happy note because I should -- life is uncertain at best, but always good, so go and see Margaret's new wee baby.   It does a body good.