Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Preston's Birth Story Part 2

FINALLY Monday rolled around and Michael stayed home from work to go to my appointment with me. I had already decided to tell my doctor that I didn't want to be induced that day because I really wanted to go into labor on my own. We got to my doctor's office and got started with the exam. I told the doctor my feelings about being induced. He said that was fine and that we would need to do some tests to make sure the baby was still healthy and everything was fine. In the middle of this conversation, the doctor felt my stomach and his eyes got big. He said, "I think this baby is breech!" Oh crap.

So basically, he was not breech at 40 weeks and breech at 41 weeks. Outta control. Babies that far along do not typically flip around like that... especially not without the mom really feeling it. At that point, Doc takes me into the ultrasound room to make absolutely sure the baby is breech. Turns out he wasn't just normal "frank" breech but "COMPLETE" breech. His feet were down near my cervix. Ugh. Little stinker.

This whole birth thing just got a lot more complicated. Because of my first-time mom, unproven pelvis, there is no way that my doctor would let me try to deliver a breech baby vaginally. So here are the options he gave me: change my induction appointment to a external cephalic version where I am given a shot to relax my uterine muscles and Doc tries to manually flip the baby from the outside. If the baby flips then we immediately induce and try for a vaginal birth. If the baby doesn't flip then we have a c-section. The doctor felt that it was pretty pointless to wait and see if the baby would flip himself again this far along in the pregnancy.

So all of a sudden, I was for sure having a baby that day or the next morning. Pretty trippy. I had to make sure to fast the rest of the day in case I had to have a c-section. I spent the day starving and crying and miserable. The uncertainty was horrible and I was so scared of what was going to happen. I really wasn't handling the situation well at all. Michael would try to console me, and I just started crying more. This is getting good, right? Hah.

1 comment:

Missy said...

oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Breech at 41 weeks? I need part 3 pronto!!