I Think Things are Happening. (But I could be totally wrong)

I don't think I've even posted since Sprout decided to be difficult and turn himself breech.

So... Sprout is quite stubbornly placed in an incomplete breech position, which means he's got one foot way down under his butt, in my cervix (super comfortable, by the way), and the other leg is sprawled out in front of him, so he's kid of wedged in there. So, for the last five weeks, I've been doing all kinds of exercises, yoga poses, and various 'tricks' trying to get him to flip. I've also seen a chiropractor who is certified to do the Webster Technique...

Yeah. This kid isn't budging. I'm not sure if he got his daddy's sense of direction, or Mom's stubbornness, or both, but nothing has worked.

Monday, we tried to do an external cephalic version. Holy mother of God, never, ever again. See, when I started researching the procedure online, everything I read stated a 50% chance of a version being successful. Not great odds, but I'm still at the point of doing whatever I need to to avoid a c-section.

Well, we got all checked in to the hospital, where I'm informed that we only have a 30% chance of this working. Um, what?

So, they hook me (and Sprout) up for monitoring, place an IV (just in case they need to do an emergency c-section), draw a ton of blood, and give me a uterine relaxant. And then, suddenly, there are a ton of people in the room. Two doctors, the nurse who's taken care of me for the last hour-and-a-half, a nursing student and her instructor (because this procedure isn't done very often), and, of course, BoyWonder is there.

Now, you all know (or should, or something) that I research the crap out of almost everything. I probably watched at least ten videos of this procedure, and I don't know what kind of drugs those women got, but they didn't look at all like they had the same procedure I did. As soon as this doctor put his hands on my belly and started pushing, I broke out in a sweat, and I just about came up off the table on multiple occasions.

The whole thing only lasted six minutes, but it hurt, and it sucked... and Sprout didn't even budge. Not one freaking inch.

So, my belly is bruised, the kid is still breech, and I'm looking at a c-section in a little less than two weeks.


And, because I'm also being treated by an OB as well as my midwife, the OB ordered another growth scan. So, Sprout is measuring somewhere around seven pounds, and apparently has a ton of hair. It was on the last growth scan, too, but this time it was really long and kind of sticking out all over his head. I'm guessing there's a lot when the ultrasound tech, who does these all day long, comments multiple times on how.much.hair. he has.

So then, we went to grab some more things to get his room finished up. About twenty feet inside the store, I have a contraction. Did I mention that an external version can actually bring on early labor? No? Okay. Well, (by the way, semi-major TMI here) I started losing my mucus plug yesterday, less than twelve hours after the procedure. So, I know that that can mean labor is imminent, or it can mean absolutely nothing. But the contraction I had to breathe through freaked me out. And the next one, and the next one.

I couldn't really time them because we're in the middle of Wal-Mart and I'm trying not to be a drama queen... So we'll just say they were pretty close together for thirty minutes or so. We grabbed everything we needed and got out of there.

They slowed down once we got home, but I also started feeling really nauseated.

So, all night last night, and into this morning, I've been having irregular contractions. Still losing mucus plug. Still pretty sick to my stomach. But nothing bad enough to actually go to the hospital. I'm just pretty sure it's going to happen soon. As of right now, half of the contractions are painless tightening, and the other half stop me in my tracks. They're nowhere near consistent or timeable, but they're happening. So, I've got a call in to the midwife to see what I need to do, if anything.

The fun part? The OB who would be doing my c-section is out of town right now. And I have nothing ready. No hospital bag, the carseat isn't installed, Sprout's bag isn't packed... Good times. So... I'll keep you posted (and hopefully Sprout is a nice baby and decides to stay inside for a while--you know, just until I have things more ready to go).