Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Do i have a breech baby??

At my 34 week appointment, the midwife was having a tough time determining whether the baby was breech or not. She concluded that she was. All that time, I thought it was her butt in the air but the midwife said it was her head.

This has caused me a lot of stress over the past week. I have been working daily with different positions to try to get that big bump to move around to the 'correct' spot. I think about it constantly. Good thing I don't worry about other things like this.. I can't imagine a life filled with worry.

Regardless, since I am worried.. I have been reading a lot about position and movement and how to tell what position your baby is in. Almost all signs point to head down even though the midwife concluded breech.

#1 hiccups- These are and have been for the most part in the lower left side of my tummy. Hiccups come from the mouth and though they do tend to shake her whole body if I watch, I always put my hand down low to feel them on the outside. This makes me think that's where her head is when she's hiccuping, aka head down.

#2 rib kicking- These could not possibly come from her hands punching me. She kicks or moves up there and it feels like she's trying to get her feet stuck between my ribs. The only way her legs could be up there is if she's head down.

#3 lower belly movement- This is not common. If her feet were down there and she were actually breech, I do believe I would feel the kicking that is associated with that. Mostly all I feel are small flutters, which i'm assuming are her hands. Again, this points to head down.

#4 anterior placenta- My placenta is in the front on the left hand side. This could make it difficult for the doctor/midwife to locate where she is. It's obvious that she hasn't 'dropped' or settled into my pelvis yet but I think I would know when that would happen (breech or not) because of the pressure, which I did feel a couple of weeks ago.

One week from today, I will have an ultrasound to tell us whether she is head down or not. That is the only way we'll know for sure. I'm really hoping that the midwife was wrong and she has been head down all along. If that's the case then this has caused a lot of unnecessary stress but if it isn't the case and the midwife was right, at least I have been working on it for the past two weeks and not just sitting around accepting it.

2 comments:

August said...

Well lady all I can say is that one way or another this baby WILL come out. Try not to stress because this whole chilbirth thing is out of your controll. I definitely learned that. I had an annoying but good pregnancy and all my major fears of being induced and having a csection came true. Not saying that will happen to you by any means just saying to do what you can and rest assure thatin the end you will have that precious baby in your arms whichever way she gets here. I learned a lot about not being in control. My cousins little girl was breach and mama was even scheduled for csection. They did ultrasoung right before surgery and baby flipped sent mom home to wait for natural labor! Baby was born a couple weeks ago. Everything went well. We'll be praying for you.

Michelle said...

Thanks August! :) I definitely have dialed the stress level back a lot since trusting my own instinct of what position she is in and it feels great! I totally don't have any expectations when it comes to labor/delivery since it's out of my control (and you know i love being in control). So I do have a birth plan that lists my preferences but I'm sure that nothing will go as planned but having a 'plan' make me feel better for sure!

Thank you for the encouraging words! You're the best!!