Voodoo

At our last 3d ultrasound, the baby was still in a breech position. Some doctors will deliver breech babies vaginally, but few are trained in this field. On top of that, there are many are many criteria that must be in place for a doctor to choose natural birth over c-section. Apparently breech births can be hereditary. I was breech, and now my little one is breech, like mother like daughter I suppose :)

The idea of having a caesarean section was never in my plans. I just never thought I would have to worry about such things. My midwife suggested that I try acupuncture and chiropractic procedures to encourage the little one to flip to a head down position. During the acupunture treatment they put needles in the side of my baby toes and waved hot mugwort around the pins. This is called moxibustion. The acupuncturist gave me a stick of mugwort so Nenad could continue the treatment on me at home (sans needles) . So far, this hasn't had much effect.  (Have I mentioned that in your third trimester you will not recognize your feet? They get so swollen at times that I have to do a double take)

Last Thursday I saw Dr. Cooper, who performs ECV. External Cephalic Version is a procedure where they put a bunch of gel on your stomach, and then try and manipulate the baby to turn head down by externally massaging my stomach, to put it lightly. The doctor said depending on how sensitive my uterus is it could be painful. Also it can have negative side effects, such as rupturing my water, or causing stress to the baby. The ECV is performed in an operating room, incase an emergency c-section has to be performed. If this happened, I would be put to sleep, and Nenad would not be allowed in the room. The doctor said An emergency c-section is not a pleasant thing, but the likelihood of this happening is low. Oh boy. After hearing this, I called and emailed chiropractors to see if they knew how to do the Webster Technique, and could fit me soon.
The Webster Technique is another treatment that is supposed to help the baby to turn. They say sometimes the reason the baby doesn't turn, is because the mothers pelvis is misaligned or the round ligaments are too tight. I managed to get in on Saturday with a chiropractor. She cracked my low back near my sacrum, and held her finger on a trigger point near my round ligament on my right side for about 4 minutes. I don't think she has turned, but she was active for the rest of the day. I had another chiropractic appointment today with a different doctor, Dr. Raphael. He was great. He was very informative and thorough. I go back to his office tomorrow, but see yet another chiropractor, Dr. Baxter. I am crossing my fingers that the baby turns, otherwise on Wednesday I will be going in for the ECV.

 After my adjustment, I saw my midwife. She suggested on top of all of these treatments, I take something called pulsatilla. Pulstilla is a herb in pill form. It is a homeopathic way of softening the ligaments and tissues in your uterus, in hopes of creating room for the baby to flip.
Part of me thinks I should just leave everything be and hope she turns on her own, and if she doesn't, then just accept it. I don't want to be selfish, but I want to have a natural birth. I want to go through labour, and go through the whole birth experience. I want to be awake and aware after the baby is born. I would prefer not to have surgery. I would like to be up and walking shortly after birth and not have to worry about healing after surgery. The truth is I just want a happy healthy perfect little baby. What ever I have to go through to achieve this, is what I will do.