Obviously I have not exactly stayed up with blogging since having Owen! He arrived May 2nd as a healthy, happy, precious, little boy : )
Cody occasionally likes to point out that he thinks I have a few tiny OCD characteristics, and in this case I'd have to agree with him. Even though Owen is now 4 months old, I cannot just skip posting what has already happened; it would completely drive me nuts. So this post is dedicated to finishing writing about the end of my pregnancy and after this we'll get caught up on Owen's life so far!
Week 37 (Continued)
At our 37 week appointment we found our that our baby was breech. My doctor did a cervix check and her first reaction was that he was extremely low and asked if I’d been feeling a ton of pressure (which my answer was um, yes) and she said he was head down. Then her face kind of shifted and she said “well, I think this is the head” and after feeling around a little more she decided it might not be. She pulled up an ultrasound machine and checked and sure enough his head was right up there at the top of my tummy and his butt was way down low in my pelvis. Essentially he had dropped and was engaged in my pelvis - just it was his butt instead of his head.
We were definitely thrown for a loop. We had been told at the previous two appointments that he was head down and good to go. My doctor said there was a slight chance he had been head down and turned again, but more likely they were just wrong before - especially since her first reaction was that it was his head. In any case we are very glad that she checked out her suspicion with the ultrasound.
She told us that since he was breech at this point, it would be very unlikely that he would turn on his own. She said it wouldn’t be impossible and that she’s “seen stranger things happen”, but it would be highly unlikely. So we could either choose to have a c-section or try an external procedure to turn him, and if it worked then a regular birth would be fine still. She told us that the procedure typically works about 50% of the time and can be pretty uncomfortable and sometimes painful. We decided to try it. She wanted to do it quickly so we scheduled it for the next morning.
The whole rest of that day and night we felt so thrown off and caught off guard. A c-section if he stayed breech wouldn’t be the end of the world by any means, we just literally had not even considered it as a real option. Everything was good to go for a regular birth and short of something unexpected happening during delivery a c-section really hadn’t crossed our minds. It started to freak me out even though I know that any way the baby gets here healthy and safely works.
The next day we sort of had a “trial run” at the hospital with the procedure. We were told that the rare complications of the procedure would be that the baby goes into distress and we end up needing a c-section anyway, or that the procedure even if successful could put me into labor. We considered taking all our hospital bags and things and then decided not to - that if either unlikely event occurred we could call someone to go get them.
We arrived an hour early as instructed to the hospital. When we did our hospital tour and birthing classes the labor and delivery wing was under construction. When we went for this procedure it was all done and everything was backwards going the other directions so we were a bit confused and stood there not sure where to go for a minute. I’m glad we saw the new set up prior to our real hospital day. We went through a trial run with registering and getting all checked in and set up in a labor and delivery room. I got all dressed up in the gown and hooked up to a contraction monitor and baby heartbeat monitor. Then they took blood and put in an IV which is one of my worst nightmares. If you know me you know I HATE needles and HATE is not a strong enough word. More like I am terrified of them. The nurse that did it all was amazing - super patient and calm and sweet. I was thankful she was so good at her job and helped me not have a panic attack. I did ask several times if it was normal for the IV to sting so much, and then continue to sting for several minutes. They asked us a million health and history questions. (I’m wondering if now all of this is in our record… or if we will have to answer the same million questions on our real trip.) We were finally all set and ready for the procedure, although by the time my doctor came in I was already a red-faced freaking out mess from the IV and nerves about the whole thing.
She tried several times at first with no success since his butt was lodged so well in my pelvis. She said that she would not keep going unless she thought there was a chance and she was hoping she could move him to lift his butt out of his dug in position. Right about the moment when in my head I was screaming either lady you need to stop or just get him to move, she got all excited and said his butt was out and it was working. It hurt a ton when I could actually feel her moving and turning him around, but I was so glad it was working. She showed Cody on the ultrasound to confirm he was now in the correct position and to check on his heartbeat. After it was done we stayed to be monitored for an hour to make sure that the baby didn’t go into distress and that I didn’t start having contractions. After an hour of everything looking good we were able to leave.
My stomach felt really different and all the movements I was feeling seemed new. It took a bit to get used to the feeling of his new position. I was pretty much an emotional mess the rest of the day. Afterwards Cody and I were both starving (that already taught us that on the real day we will manage to eat something while I’m in early labor at home before going to the hospital hungry) and we went to IHOP to eat. I pretty much silently cried throughout our meal. I was just so overwhelmed with so many emotions. I was still worked up and had nerves about the whole thing, was also very thankful and relieved that it worked, and at the same time I was feeling like I didn’t know what to expect now. Even though since it worked we were back on track for the regular birth we were expecting, I still felt thrown off and unsure about where we stood and how everything would go from there. It took almost the entire day for me to calm and accept that everything should be okay.
A week later now as I write this, my only remaining fear or thoughts with all of that is a slight fear that he turns again now and becomes breech again. Our doctor said that just like it would have been very unlikely for him to turn and correct himself without the procedure, that it would be very unlikely for him to turn after the procedure and become breech again. She said in the very unlikely event that he did, she would recommend trying the procedure again and then inducing right away to have him immediately after turning. Even with it being so unlikely, any time I feel big movements I think “What are you doing in there? You better be staying put.”
Tomorrow now is our next appointment at 38 weeks. We’ll see how it goes and I’m hoping that she’ll be able to assure us he is still head down and I’ll feel more hopeful and accepting that he should stay that way.
Week 38
At our appointment this week we did in fact get confirmation (thank you, Lord) that our baby boy is still head down. Even though she said it would be so unlikely for him to turn, I had felt some big movements and was nervous with the fear that he had. Not much progress from last time - she said I was 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced.
I am officially ready for our little guy to be done cooking and I’ve gotten very antsy about him hurrying up to meet us. I have now started trying all of the silly things that “may induce/help labor” -of which none are medically proven and mostly just sound like things that it doesn’t hurt to try. And as Cody keeps pointing out, about this time when women seem to be so ready for the baby to arrive and they start trying these type things… well they are already close to their due date, getting closer each day. So is it really anything you’ve “tried” to get labor started, or is it coincidentally just time now as you are already approaching the big expected day. Either way. If it doesn’t hurt anything, I’ve figured why not try. So far nothing. In fact for so long I was convinced he would arrive early because I had people start telling me things like “You look like you’ve dropped” and “I bet you don’t make it to your due date” starting way early weeks ago. I really thought with so many people saying things like that there was a good chance. Now at this point, I am feeling like he’s not going to arrive super soon and could wait right up until his due date (the 29th) or even be late. I realize that at this point our due date, even if he does wait until that day, isn’t that far away. We’re at a week and two days, so 9 days, to go -unless he’s late of course. On one hand it’s crazy that we will have a baby possibly within 9 days - that seems so soon and will be such a life changing moment forever. On the other hand even just 9 days seems almost endless when I feel so uncomfortable throughout most of each day now. I am ready to be done NOW. Not 9 days from now. I am ready for the backache, cramps, having to lift and roll myself out of chairs and bed to be over now. At least reminding myself that the Lord already knows what his birthday will be and there is a plan for our little guy already in store helps me to try and be patient. As well as knowing that as uncomfortable as I am, each day he cooks in me a little longer is better for him. So hopefully I can be as patient as possible while waiting - although more realistically it’s Cody that needs the patience since he’s the one dealing with me!
A funny story about trying to induce (rather hoping to induce) labor is all about pedicures. So a friend in our small group from church had her little girl about 6 months ago back in October. She was in her 38th week being pregnant and it was her birthday, so a lot of the girls went to get a pedicure with her. At the nail salon the lady doing her nails was saying crazy things like asking if she was ready to have her baby because she could do a foot massage to make it happen. We all thought it was silly and funny and my friend said sure go for it. And sure enough just a few hours later that evening my friend went into labor and had their little girl the next day.
Months after that happening I read on one of my week-by-week pregnancy apps a post about how there are some pressure points on our feet that “can” help induce labor. (Again… I know there isn’t necessarily medical truth to that - but considering I thought the nail lady was just straight up crazy, it blew my mind to read that post and think there might have been any hint of truth to it possibly.) I mentioned that to my friend and she said a similar thing that after the fact she had heard about those pressure points as well.
So, another girl in our small group is currently pregnant and is due 8 days ahead of me and Cody (which means she is due tomorrow -Monday). Either one or two weekends ago she went to the exact same nail salon and had the exact same lady give her a pedicure with the “labor inducing foot massage”. While she did start having contractions the next day, she still hasn’t had their baby yet. But in any case, Cody started saying he wanted me to go to get this labor inducing foot massage -that it couldn’t hurt.
Last week I decided to finally use a gift card from my mother-in-law from Christmas that I’d been saving until around our due date. So it wasn’t to the same nail salon with the massage lady that my friends went to, but I figured it was stupid to waste a gift card and that at pretty much all pedicures that give you some sort of foot/leg massage. I went with a co-worker from my team and we enjoyed a nice time getting our feet all prettied up. (I picked a bright blue color for a boy.)
When I was telling Cody about it afterwards and when he realized I had gone to a different salon without the massage lady he literally said to me that it “Was a waste of a pedicure” and he “was disappointed.” Now, I do not want to give my Loves a bad rap because he was joking and I knew it. He was having fun giving me a hard time about it, but seriously. I told him if he really wanted me to I could go the following week and get another pedicure from that lady. I do have super cute feet with boy-blue nails now, but it was definitely not a labor inducing pedicure. Oh well. At least now my feet look all nice for when we finally are at the hospital and the rest of me is a complete mess.
Week 39
We are pretty much officially at our due date as I write this. Tomorrow is the big day! -April 29th. Now where’s my baby boy!?
This past week has felt massive, overwhelming, exciting, and very emotional. Within this last week I had my last day at school (Tuesday) and started my maternity leave, we closed on our house (Wednesday), and moved into our new home (Saturday). Obviously the “move” is done but the unpacking, organizing, decorating will be ongoing for a while. Thankfully we have awesome family and amazing friends who have helped us out a ton : )
I have been super emotional this week which I’m assuming at this point in pregnancy is normal, especially combined with the other big things going on at the same time. There have been numerous meltdowns, indecisive moments, and ranges of emotion from super excited and happy to stressed and freaking out. Cody has done a good job of “handling” me lol and being extremely comforting, supportive, and encouraging. Poor guy - he probably needs someone doing the same for him as he deals with me!
We love, LOVE, our new home! It is so exciting and such a great feeling to have bought our first house. I genuinely did not believe we would make it to closing and then move-in day pre-baby, but of course who was I to assume God’s plan for our little guy’s arrival. Now that we are moved in and our due date is tomorrow, we FINALLY have a REAL nursery underway! Not like we were cutting it close or anything : ) It’s not finished by any means, but it has all the furniture in it, the dresser is full of clean clothes, blankets, burp cloths, and we have a changing area ready with a decorated box full of wipes and the tiniest diapers I could imagine : )
Our plan is to have him in our room at the beginning and move him into his nursery in a few months once he is hopefully sleeping better and not waking up to eat constantly. For now we are as ready as we can be and excited to meet our little guy any day!
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