38 Weeks and The External Version

 

38 Weeks  6/21/2012

 (Still frank breech at that point)

 

 Aster discovered the changing table pad.  In an effort to deter him napping on it I stuck baby's stuffed animals on it.  I didn't even notice him at first when I came into the room he blended right in!  Little booger.

THE EXTERNAL VERSION 

6/25/12

We had our appointment scheduled for noon but I got a call at 9am from the hospital asking if we could come in earlier.  I had 30 minutes to mentally prepare while DJ drove home from work!  I was quite nervous.  We ended up getting there around 10am.  They had us check in, do paperwork, and we even had to fill out her birth certificate form already since there was the possibility the EV could end in an emergency c-section.  Once I got changed they did a quick sonogram to make sure she was still breech (she was).  I was put on an IV (just in case) and on the fetal monitor for about 30 minutes to make sure baby was doing okay before they started anything.  I was then given a shot of tributaline to relax the muscles in my uterus since I was having contractions every couple minutes- which I couldn't feel. Everything looked great so the fun began!

 

Taking me off the monitors.... mentally preparing for pain... (my doc told me some people need an epidural- thankfully I did not!)

Yup, it was major pain, shoving my belly like bread dough, fists and everything to get the little stinker to turn!  They tried twice counter-clockwise and she popped right back up... then I got a breathing break to relax myself- OUCH... then they tried clockwise and FLIP!  She stayed down!  Phew.  Overall it lasted about 15 minutes- very quick.

Thumbs up!  I was exhausted at that point- hence my face.

I was monitored for an additional hour and a half just to be sure baby wasn't in any sort of distress.   Apparently when they flipped her the "wrong" way she got kind of upset :).  Her heart rate was about 130bpm until my doc came in a put this little vibrator thing on my belly to wake her up- she kicked me HARD and then her heart rate jumped to 150bpm!  I also got some yummy strawberry hospital jello to get some sugar in my/baby's system.

I'm so glad my wonderful hubby was able to get off work and stay with me- it would have been overwhelming to be there on my own!  He also did a great job of not letting me fall asleep- which wasn't entirely necessary but sweet :).

The whole experience lasted a little over two hours.  It came with it's risks (like an emergency c-section), and I would have been glad we tried even if it didn't work, knowing we had exhausted all options for having a natural birth.   

We feel very blessed that it worked!  The resident told us it was the first successful version she'd been a part of.  If she does flip back to breech when I'm in labor the doc said they could probably get her to flip again doing another EV (she's small and I have good amniotic fluid).  Hopefully that doesn't happen!

We are praying she stays head down!