From Childbirth Education Classes to Bathing with Jellyfish...

As part of our original plans to have a natural and medication free labor and delivery we have attended our fair share of childbirth education classes. I think 8 classes in total. Between Hypnobirthing (a class my friend insisted was how she was able to get through natural childbirth) and the mandatory classes at the birth center I think we're as prepared as we will ever be to bring this little one home in a few weeks! Yesterday at our first appointment with the new doctor, Brian jokingly asked the woman at the check out window if our credits were transferable to the new practice. She didn't get it. 

The group classes at the birth center were where Brian really got to shine. The Breastfeeding class instructor jumbled her words at one point and accidentally said "now ladies, when your partner has to breastfeed your baby...I mean, bottle feed your babies..." and then she looked right at Brian (who had already claimed the title of class clown by this point) and said, "although YOU might just find a way". Brian absolutely couldn't resist and responded with, "Well, I do have nipples"...

He went on to redeem himself through class participation and kindly demonstrated for everyone the correct position for side-lying breastfeeding: 

Our last class at the birth center was last night and was bittersweet. The class was full except for the 2 empty seats beside us. "Why doesn't anyone want to sit next to us?" Brian asked...I answered that they must smell the hospital on us after our official transfer of care from the birth center. The class was called "First Days at Home" and was basically all the discharge instructions for parents who were going home with their baby 6-12 hours after birth. Not totally relevant for us anymore but would still be good info to have in the hospital. The goal was to teach us all the warning signs and when you should call the birth center or your pediatrician. I looked around the room and wondered if other babies were breech and they just didn't know it yet? I looked at the different shapes of everyone's bellies and wondered if there were boys or girls in there and whether they knew? I wondered how many of these unsuspecting couples would end up in the hospital just like us...

I wasn't all that into this class, after all I could have taught it! I was really here for Brian. He took my confident attitude as a challenge and began to quiz me from the book..."how many wet diapers should a baby have on the first day". "One", I answered correctly. "Oh yeah, well how about after day 4 when your milk comes in?", "At that point 6-8 per day is considered normal", I again answered correctly. He really thought he was going to stump me with this one: "What should you get plenty of in the first 2 weeks after delivery?", "Rest" I replied and at that we both started laughing hysterically. Rest is definitely not anything we actually expect to get after having a new baby at home! 

The class was worthwhile, even for us hospital-birthers. Most people acted totally uninterested or completely shocked by the graphic nature of the information presented. Many sat there looking at their cell phones instead of the instructor. I was annoyed for her...this was important info and they most certainly were going to be wishing they had paid more attention when they get home with that baby! We learned what the baby's poop will look like and how it changes over the first week of life- complete with photos. Among other pleasantries such as how to use a peri-bottle and why stocking up on stool softeners would be a good idea. I did learn some cool new things though...like why a baby should just get a gentle once-over kind of bath after delivery instead of having every last drop of amniotic fluid and vernix scrubbed off of them. The amniotic fluid on the baby's hands helps stimulate early breastfeeding...the baby uses the taste and smell of amniotic fluid on their hands to help them find their way to a similar smelling substance at the breast. Check out this cool research:

Breast Crawl

And then of course there was Hypnobirthing...which to be honest was a bit of a chore. We chose a Hypnobirthing instructor in the Northeast and attended classes in her home on Monday evenings. The private classes were 3 hours long and it was 45 minutes from home so it made for very long Mondays...especially in the dead of winter. We watched videos of hypnobirthing moms deliver their babies at home or in the hospital very easily and without any of the drama I am used to seeing in the hospital. The key to it all was getting yourself into a very relaxed state during labor and allowing your body to do what it was meant to do without allowing fear to take over and tense up all your muscles...thereby making your body work against you. We learned some hypnosis techniques and tricks and listened to the mp3s that came along with the course as we laid in bed. Brian would fall asleep about 30 seconds into the track but our instructor said it was ok because our subconscious minds would still absorb the information while we slept. Brian is still disappointed we didn't get the hypnosis pocket watch he assumed would be part of the class...

But speaking of those hypnosis tracks...the main one was called the "Rainbow Relaxation CD" which is most commonly associated with Hypnobirthing. I've been listening to this several times per week since January and have found it to be pretty relaxing. The track starts out with deep breathing exercises and then visualization of a rainbow. The narrator's soothing voice walks you through the rainbow's mist of every color...explaining how each color is associated with something to do with childbirth (i.e. your mind- to overcome anxiety, your voice- to speak up when you need something, your chest- controlling of breathing, your pelvis- letting your uterine muscle do it's work and relax all the muscles to let the baby move freely). 

You're supposed to pick a "birthing color" that resonates with you so that when you are in labor you can think of this color and associate it with the deep hypnotic state you recall from listening to the CD. I kept having trouble picking a color...for some reason this simple idea had me stumped; that is until a couple weeks ago when we discovered Baby G was breech. Then orange suddenly spoke to me: "Your uterus vibrates to the color of orange..." I recall the woman with the British accent on the CD saying...she goes on to talks about how orange is soothing and relaxing and I felt like that was exactly what I needed my uterus to do so that Baby G would have enough room to turn around. There were so many reasons to pick orange. I'd been labeled as having an "irritable uterus" since 23 weeks of pregnancy when Braxton Hicks contractions first plagued me. Brian's favorite color seems to be orange (anyone recall those bright orange kippots from our wedding?). Besides, I've been addicted to oranges pretty much since the day I found out I was pregnant...squeezing fresh OJ has been almost a daily occurrence for me throughout this pregnancy. So the next time I was at the co-op I picked up this little gem-

It smelled heavenly and I thought what a perfect way to build on the "orange" concept and it's relaxing association. So yesterday when my poor irritable uterus kept contracting all day (probably because of that mean doctor trying unsuccessfully to turn Baby G the day before...) I decided to take a nice, hot, relaxing orange scented bath. I climbed in and turned on my hypnosis track. For the first 3 minutes it was pure bliss...and then I started to notice a stinging sensation on my left hip. I scratched the area and it seemed to worsen. That's when I noticed a similar sensation on my right shoulder as well. Weird, I thought. I tried to take some deep breaths and get back into the hypnosis CD...but started feeling the stinging spreading everywhere...back of legs, sides of my abdomen, shoulders...suddenly it occurred to me that I must be allergic to this crap! I jumped out of the tub to see huge bright red splotches ALL OVER MY BODY. But the sight of it (which was pretty bad) wasn't nearly as bad as the intense stinging sensation I felt pretty much from head to toe! I quickly drained the tub and jumped in the shower, determined to scrub every last drop of essential oil off of my body. The water only seemed to intensify the stinging. It reminded me of actually getting stung by jellyfish when Brian and I were on a trip to Nicaragua except this stinging sensation seemed to be lasting a whole lot longer! So much for that relaxing bath! I scrambled to find the number of a massage therapist I had seen a while back...if anyone knows about essential oils it would be her. I called the spa and they consulted with her on what I could do...she said to "remain calm" (sure- that's possible when you feel like you just jumped out of a bath filled with jellyfish!)...she went on to say that it's likely I have an allergy to citrus essential oils. (Hmm, you think?!) She encouraged me to "dry brush" my body (this option was not sounding particularly pleasant in my current state) and maybe take an oatmeal bath. I hung up with her and waited it out. Fortunately the stinging sensation resolved on it's own about 20 minutes later. But the association with panic will probably linger much longer. I guess orange won't be my soothing birth color after all. 

 

Plan B

I just learned today of all days, that April is C-Section awareness month. Ironically, we scheduled ours for Baby G yesterday. We had originally planned a natural birth purposefully at a place where we felt a C-Section would be a very rare possibility. The Birth Center run entirely by nurses and midwives had a 30% transfer rate and a C-Section rate of somewhere around 10%...much lower than any nearby hospital. But most importantly they supported women in their desires to have a natural and medication free labor and birth and we were looking forward to that experience. Of all the fears and worries I had over the course of this pregnancy (and poor Brian can attest to almost all of them)...the one thing that never crossed my mind was the possibility that our baby wouldn't turn to be head down- as 97% of babies usually do by this time. 

We've done all we could to try to get Baby G to turn but our baby seems to have other plans! Some have said that this is our first lesson in parenthood...where the only thing you can plan for for everything to be totally unpredictable. So here we are in the last few weeks of pregnancy having to change everything all around and find a new caregiver at such a late stage in the game. It wasn't what we wanted but we had to make a Plan B: transfer out of the birth center and find a doctor to deliver our baby. It was important to me that I could still have a natural hospital delivery in the off chance that Baby G does decide to make the rotation to head down before the big day so I took a recommendation from a friend at work. We met this new doctor yesterday and loved her. She works at a hospital where babies aren't routinely separated from their mothers -even after a C-Section- which was really important to us. She was also very sensitive to the fact that we had to transfer our care at such the last minute. She seems willing to do whatever she can to make our birth as close to what we had envisioned as possible- even though it will be in an OR instead of the comfy home like setting of the birth center. So we're starting to feel a little better about the situation now and I'm grateful to have had some time in advance to let it all sink in.

So unless Baby G has other plans (which at this point I certainly wouldn't be surprised about!) he or she is scheduled to make a grand entrance on April 28, 2014! As much as I hate to admit it, the planner in me finds it oddly soothing to have a date on the calendar. 

It all brings me back to the common cliche: Everything happens for a reason. Maybe this really is just a first glimpse of parenthood for a ---let's be honest- pretty Type A couple? Maybe it's the universe's way of gently guiding us to deliver in a hospital instead of the birth center...? Maybe we'll never know. But one thing I do know is that Brian and I make a great team :)  We'll make the best out of whatever situation is handed to us, and there is something overwhelmingly comforting in having each other to lean on...

Even the Doctor Can't Budge this Baby!

So I'm beginning to realize just how stubborn our future offspring is. I guess it's better we know now, right? 

It has been 37 days since we learned that Baby G was breech (but who's counting??) and I have literally done everything I could possibly think of to get this baby to turn around...including at least 50 handstands in the pool over the past few days...

I even tried a very intense 2 hour hypnosis session geared towards turning breech babies on Monday. At the hypnotist's suggestion I continued to listen to the session on repeat throughout the night because she said that my subconscious mind is still active when I'm asleep and the suggestions will continue to affect me even while I'm off in dreamland. Well, so far no luck. 

Yesterday as a last resort I had Brian record the book we've been reading to the baby on my iPhone. I figured the baby is probably sick of my voice but might turn towards Brian's? I then played it at what I hoped was an annoyingly low volume really low down on my belly using the make shift "belly buds" my sister Jul made me for Christmas:

After all this, Baby G is not only still hanging out in the same comfy spot, but even the doctor couldn't budge this little guy (or girl) today during my excruciatingly painful External Cephalic Version (ECV). Basically, the doctor tries to turn the baby with his hands on your belly. Sounds simple right? Despite the warnings from well-meaning friends I thought I could handle it. Boy was I wrong! 

I might have been in a better state of mind if the "nurse" didn't infiltrate my IV upon insertion and then proceed to let at least 30cc flow into my forearm. I then had to ask her to change the IV tubing after I had watched in horror as she had taken off the cap and left it open to air and continued placing it on a variety of unsterile surfaces (including my lap, the counter) and then ultimately touched it with her bare hand (that in retrospect I'm not sure I saw her wash). She didn't seem to mind my request and not only fetched new tubing but also a new staff member (thankfully) to come place the IV...I guess at this point I was becoming a high maintenance patient. All went well with "nurse #2" until she removed the cap from the brand new (sterile) IV tubing with her teeth before connecting it to my arm. Seriously?! 

During all this I was hooked up to the monitor around my belly to measure the baby's heart rate. Baby G looked good so they called the doctor in to discuss the procedure. Then the entire entourage (me, Brian, our doula Nicole, the doctor, nurse #1, nurse #2, the midwife and the ultrasound tech) walked across the hall to the ultrasound room. Nurse #1 then proceeded to administer what was supposed to be subcutaneous Brethene intramuscularly. I was seriously losing my confidence in this place by this point. 

Ultrasound switched on and baby's head right where it is NOT supposed to be...my upper abdomen. The doctor waited for me to be "ready" (although looking back don't think I could have ever been ready for that!) and he began trying to manually turn the baby...I had heard it was painful. I had been advised to get an epidural. I had heard that people walked out of this procedure with bruises all over their body. But for some reason I didn't think it would be nearly as bad as everyone had said. Maybe because I watched this encouraging video on youtube.com which is definitely NOT how mine went down: 

This woman makes ECV look like a walk in the park...

My procedure this morning was more like a scene straight out of the Exorcist. I think he got the baby to the sideways (transverse) position and that is when lost it and literally felt like my entire body would split in half and he had to stop. Baby just kept bouncing right back to where he or she had started...

Oh well. Now we have officially tried it all. Baby G is comfy and cozy right where he or she is and doesn't seem to be budging...at least not today anyway. 

Spin Right Round Baby Right Round...

I was 32 weeks when we found out Baby G was breech. It came as a shock because the midwives had been saying the baby's head was down all along. Maybe they just didn't want to concern me...maybe they genuinely thought that the baby was head down? Who knows, maybe it was head down and then turned? But now here I was at 32 weeks laying on the ultrasound table in the dimly lit perinatal center with Brian by my side when the ultrasound tech proudly announced "and here is your baby's head" as the probe glided over my upper abdomen. I looked down at my belly and looked at the screen. Back at my belly and back at the screen. I said, "wait, that can't be right, my baby's head is down". "Nope, your baby is breech", she said with authority.

I didn't bother to get many more details than that because really we were there for more serious matters...I had some contractions and was spotting and dilating a little early so they had sent us there to make sure that the placenta and the cord looked good, which fortunately they did. It took a day or so for the breech-ness to really set in.

The midwife suggested "Moxibustion" so I consulted a family friend and acupuncturist for mugwort- a special kind of Chinese herb that has been known to turn breech babies when burned close to your pinky toes or acupuncture point UB67 (just on the edge of the pinky toe nails). She was kind enough to give me a treatment for free...not only that but she gave me acupuncture in the traditional sense with a needle too (ouch! that kinda hurt!). At the end of the session, she gave me the rest of the smokeless "moxa" stick to use at home. At first Brian and I had to do it together because I couldn't quite figure out how to hold the stick so close to my pinky toe (let's be honest it is a challenge to simply get socks on at this point!). But then I found a creative way to do it myself and stimulate both feet at once: 

I did this for 20 minutes at least once a day for 10 days. The baby moved around a lot every time I did it which I took as a good sign. Sometimes I would also listen to a hypnotherapy track on turning breech babies simultaneously. Surely, the combination of efforts would be better than just one method alone?

Despite this, day after day it still seemed that Baby G was not budging from that same comfy spot. 

I also tried the infamous "breech tilt":

The purpose of this exercise I'm told is to get the baby's presenting part (in case of a breech baby- the baby's bottom) to "float" again and then hopefully the baby will decide that there is a better position to be in. This exercise is supposed to be done 3 times per day for 20 minutes each time. They simply tell you to prop yourself up on an ironing board against a stable surface and lay on it upside down. Sounds pretty simple right? Oh so very wrong. They must have forgotten that they are suggesting this to PREGNANT women! The first time I tried it with supervision and still almost killed myself trying to get on the damn thing! And then just when I thought I was on it, I started sliding right down...Brian had to prop some pillows under my head before I was off the board entirely. And even still, once there, all I did was cling on it for dear life to prevent myself from sliding completely off of it. It was impossible to get in this position alone (although I did try it unsuccessfully) and with Brian and I working opposite shifts the past few weeks it was practically impossible to make it work. I added a cold pack on top of the baby's head because supposedly the baby will turn away from the cold...but this child must have Brian's DNA because he or she did not seem to move one inch! But 3 times per day? There is just not enough time in a day...

I'd been seeing a chiropractor for the Webster technique since I was around 23 weeks pregnant and having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions due to tight pelvic ligaments. The Webster technique is an adjustment of the pelvis that opens up the pelvis to promote optimal fetal positioning. I hadn't been religious about going until I realized the baby was breech. Last week, my regular chiropractor wasn't there so I saw his parents and they kindly let me borrow this inversion table to try at home: 

It looks scary but actually it is so much safer than the ironing board thing. They helped me set it up appropriate for my height and there is a strap underneath that when tightened will only let you go back so far; in my case 30 degrees. I've had more success with this and have found that I can actually somewhat relax in this position (unlike holding onto the unstable ironing board). At best, I can get in it once a day...but baby still has yet to turn around. 

So then I consulted a homeopath for the homeopathic remedy Pulsatilla which is well known in pregnancy for promoting optimal fetal positioning through relaxation and softening of the pelvis and uterus. Homeopathic remedies are medicines prepared by special pharmacies utilizing a careful process of dilution and succussion (vigorous shaking). The more dilute the dose, the more "potent" the remedy. Homeopathy dates back to Hippocrates, but became more popular when a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, began experimenting on himself and volunteers and started writing some of the first textbooks on the subject. The "essence" of the original substance is all that is left after the dilution and succussion and this energy is what is thought to be responsible for the effects. I had to wait a few days to take it because coffee renders this particular remedy ineffective (and lately I'd been craving it more and more). I just took the 20+ tiny pellets last night...to be continued...

If baby doesn't turn after all this, I may have to start playing this classic 80s hit on repeat over his or her sweet little head...maybe then Baby G will get the hint! 

You Spin Me Round