I had my 34 week appointment yesterday and told the doctor I was sure the baby wasn't head down and I thought she was transverse. She normally doesn't check until 37 weeks but she said if the baby really wasn't head down right now that does mean there is a high likelihood she won't turn (but always possible). So she felt around to see and couldn't tell. She then took me in for a quick ultrasound and found that Alexa is completely breech. And just like that we left the room and scheduled a c-section at 39 weeks.
Alexa is scheduled to arrive on September 7 (9:30 surgery time).
If I go into labor before then they will check position and if she is still breech then I'll have an unscheduled c-section at that time. Otherwise they will check the morning of the c-section and if she has gone head down then I will be sent away waiting for labor. Otherwise I show up, confirm breech, and have a c-section.
I'm OK with the c-section. I like having a date and I doubt seriously that I will go into labor earlier than that. So far my pregnancy has been just like my mom's and she had to be induced after her due date (not that that's 100% accurate of course). I know it would be better if I didn't have to have a c-section (it's still major surgery) but there's nothing I can do about it and I never felt strongly about needing to experience a vaginal birth as I know some people do. Honestly I worry way more about Bryan because he is freaking out about how he will manage helping me with the kids so much for a couple of weeks after going back to work. (He's taking 2 weeks off but recovery is 4-6 weeeks.) This is one time in my life where I haven't even attempted to plan how exactly this will work because there are too many variables. Who knows how I'll feel, how quickly I'll heal, etc.? Who knows what it will be like to have a newborn plus toddler twins? We're just going to have to survive those first few weeks.
But I have another point of total stress now. After researching causes of breech babies I've learned that 6-7 percent (!!!!) of breech babies have a major birth defect reason for being breech, compared to 1-2 percent of head down babies. That's 3 to 6 times the risk?! I'm terrified something is wrong with her now. I have been searching the internet incessantly for more information on this since yesterday. Last night I dreamed that she was born and the doctor was telling me they "just needed to fix her spine a little, drain the water from her head and fix her muscle tone" (all issues I saw can come up with breech babies in higher proportion). :( It was horrible. I woke up and wanted to burst into tears.
I can't wait for this to be over. Have I mentioned that? :)
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Oh man, I hope you stay off the internet! Everything is going to be okay, I promise. :)
ReplyDeleteThat leaves 93 − 94% of breech babies that are perfectly fine! If there was a serious problem your ultrasounds would most likely have picked it up by now. Reading 'Dr. Google' is not always a good thing! My Bro was breech and 6 weeks early (53 years ago) and he was perfect. Hang in there.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was pregnant with my twins, one was head up and the other head down. So I knew I was having a c section. I did my best to stay away from reading anything about any complications. Your brain does crazy stuff with all this information and it will mess you up! Hang in there this will be over soon!! I look forward to reading your blog more, I am often curious what my life would have been like if we had our twins first and then our daughter. Our first born was 13 months when the twins were born so it was like having three babies at once! I'm very excited for you!
ReplyDeleteOh man Dr. Google is terrible. They always throw out there the worst case scenerios. Do you know how many babies are breech? Only about 3% of babies are breech. If 6% of those breech babies that you read had some sort of special needs, that's only 6% of 3%. That's like 0000.1% (I dont' know, I didn't do the math) chance of special needs.
ReplyDeleteTry not to let it worry you, what will be will be. Stay off the internet if you can...it can be a great thing, but also cause unnecessary panic and stress too. Stress is definately not good for you right now.
6-7% huh? At least I finally know why I am the way I am. LOL
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