Baby update

Two weeks ago a visit to the midwife showed the baby to be head down, in proper position and already beginning to drop. Since I was so far along in the pregnancy and have never had a breach baby, we fully expected him to stay that way.

Yesterday, however, the midwife said the baby had completely flipped to a head up position. She ordered an ultrasound, which I had done this morning. The baby is now in the transverse position, meaning that he is side ways--head to the right, bottom to the left. He is considered to be in an "unstable" position, meaning that he could continue flipping back and forth and up and down instead of settling into a good birthing position.

I am scheduled to meet with an obstetrician on Friday at noon. He will try to manually turn the baby into a good head-down position. Three things could happen then:

1.) He could fail in turning the baby. In this case, he will either opt to do a C-section, or wait to see if baby will turn himself. For transverse babies, a C-section is the only option for delivery, since the concern would be that, once in labour, the cord would come out first, posing danger for the baby.

2.) He could get the baby to turn into a good birthing position, and then immediately induce labour. This actually would be okay at this point, since I am 37 weeks and they estimate the baby to be already about 7 pounds. This would all be done at the hospital, with no option for home birth.

3.) He could get the baby to turn into a good birthing position, and then send me home, hoping baby will not turn again before I go into labour on my own. In this case, I would still have the possibility of a home birth. The risk in this is that the baby will continue to flip, increasing the possibility of an emergency C-section later on.

At this point, we (the midwives and I) are leaning more toward option #2. I really have a peace about all this. All through this pregnancy, I've had in the back of my mind the possibility of a hospital birth. I never had that in my thinking before, so maybe this was the Lord's way of preparing me for this weekend. My midwife was concerned that I would be stressed out about this, but I really am not. The Lord is in control of this, and He has given us midwives and a doctor who work well together (many midwife/doctor relationships are NOT good). They are always careful to give us their best professional advice and care, all the while leaving the final decisions up to us. Because of this, we don't feel that we are being forced into situations and treatments that we are not comfortable with.

Please pray with us. Between now and Friday, I am not to do anything whatsoever that could possibly cause labour. No fear of that; Sarah and Elijah "took over" today while I was gone, and said that I was to do nothing but "sit" from now till after baby is born. They are doing all the cooking, laundry, etc. Elijah even made some very delicious French bread this morning. And Sarah gave a couple of hair cuts.

So there you have it, folks. Now I have a two year old and a three year old who need naps, so I am going to lie down with them and read a book. Stay tuned for more news later.