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...
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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:
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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:
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.
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