Right Side Up?

At my weekly check-in appointment on Monday, we found out that Baby Girl is in breech position. "Well, that explains a lot!" I said to my NP. All of the sharp jabbing pains in my pelvis were caused by my Little Twinkle Toes tap dancing away! After speaking with my doctor, we agreed that it was best for me to try an external cephalic version. After Week 36, it becomes quite difficult for babies to flip into a safe birthing position on their own. My doc would attempt to manually rotate the baby by shifting and guiding her little head downward, with the hope that if she flipped that I would not require a C Section to deliver. (Check out the ECV on YouTube, if you dare. It's all done externally, not to worry.)

This morning, Kevin and I went to Maple Grove Hospital for the ECV. I was in good spirits and my doctor was very positive. She explained the details of the procedure and that there was a 50% success ratio. 50% for the average person ... which for Andee Robb would automatically be reduced to 25%. She then added that she just conducted three successful ECV's in a row ... Kevin and I looked at each other ... and Andee Robb's success ratio was immediately reduced to 12.5%. All sarcasm aside, we were obviously willing to try anything because while I've always talked about wanting the "convenience" of a C Section, it has never really been part of my birth plan.

Five attempts and twenty minutes of twisting later, Baby Girl was still in complete breech position. Lady Luck had run out on my doctor and TADA Luck had stepped in [TADA Luck = Murphy's Law in the Jannetta Family; specifically the kind that belongs to Tina, Andee, DeeDee and Ashley]. I will go to my check-in appointment next week and if Baby Girl is still breech, we will be scheduling a C Section for around 39 weeks. Stay tuned...

I stayed home with Serena for the rest of the afternoon to relax.The silver lining of the day's adventures was the picnic that she and I shared in the back yard. For those few minutes, I forgot about the twisting, tugging and anxiety about possibly having surgery for the first time, and looked forward to the day when I can have a picnic with my two little girls.