My Spinning Baby

Today was my 35 week appointment with Dr. Dorn. I am SO happy to be at his practice now. I hope this isn't TMI, but they gave me the Group B Strep test in a packet and sent me to the bathroom to do it on my own and give it to the nurse. I know I'm having a baby and all, but there is nothing I dread worse than the "zone" appointments. I have been debating for these past two weeks about asking him to check my cervix while he did this test. Just not sure if I really want to know, knowing it doesn't necessarily indicate anything - but still curious! I hadn't decided until they handed me the test. Woo hoo! No invasiveness today

I had no expectations of an ultrasound this appointment until Dorn came in to go over my records from Wilkes on my 33 week appointment and see what questions I had. I gave him the brief overview of the huge uterus experience and told him I've been having contractions nearly every day for 1-2 hours at times, about 10-12 minutes apart. I told him my back was achy, but they didn't really "hurt". The main reason was to explain that my uterus feels up to my neck, I've hit the point where I can barely breathe, and now I get the fun of feeling like he is being squeezed to death when I go through the contractions. I was hoping for some words of comfort. I explained that I didn't really feel this way this early with Vivienne - maybe the last few weeks, but not 5 weeks before.

He said, "Let's do an ultrasound and see what's going on in there!" Didn't even palpate my uterus size! Nice.

The first thing to note was verification of big baby boy. He is currently measuring 6 pounds 7 ounces. Now I know that these ultrasounds can be completely inaccurate on weight, but considering Viv's size and comparison at this stage, we are well on our way to at least 9 lbs and 8 oz, if they gain 1/2 pound every week and if I deliver at 40. Seriously - 8 pounds is small to me, so I wasn't shocked. I'm more concerned about how it's gonna feel to push out a 10 pound baby *without drugs. I told him that I was a little worried - he said that he has seen really small babies get hung up on hip bones and experience really bad deliveries and had 10 pounders "fall out" at times. He said size is not a factor, to a certain extent.

So the next part was the positioning. The good news is that he is definitely head down and fluid levels good. He said the one thing is that Baby Slabbert is in a partial Occiput Posterior position (OP), meaning he is not sunny-side up, but face is facing out to my side instead of towards my back.

This is not uncommon at this point because they usually don't get face down until labor, but OP and partial OP positioning can mean very long labor, back labor pain, and that your pelvis has to open up maybe twice as much as what it would for OA (Occiput Anterior Positioning). He told me he wants me to do some research on spinningbabies.com and showed me the webpage and what to look for. I had heard of this before - one of my friends' babies presented breech at 34 weeks and she tried methods on this page and it worked for a breech baby! Check out this website - sooo much information for anyone close to delivery!

As far as the positioning goes, it mentions sitting on a birthing ball as much as possible, which is great because I've been doing this the past week at work. :) Whoopie. I love it. There are other things such as doing lunges and other movements, but from what I've researched online, I read that the reason for so many labor issues is because of this positioning and one website even goes as far to say that it relates to why Americans have so many c-sections - we are a people of comfort. Most women back in the day were still scrubbing floors on their hands and knees, bending over the sink to wash dishes, giving their babies baths, etc (things causing them to lean forward and the gravity moving the baby into the right position). This certain website believes that we have gotten so used to all these big pillows propping us up to sleep (still on our back, but reclined), our bucket seat cars, and office jobs leading to most women having these long torturous labors ending in c-section. A lot of these docs will claim it has to do with the size of the baby, when in fact it's the size the pelvis has to extend to in order to deliver the largest part of the head, which can get "hung up" while the baby is lying in this position.

Speaking of facts while I'm on my soapbox... I MUST recommend a documentary for EVERY couple/woman. A friend at work asked if I had ever heard of The Business of Being Born, a documentary about hospital vs homebirths. I wasn't too excited to watch this as I am not interested in birthing at home. This documentary is unbelievable. The facts... statistics... history... etc. I promise this will open your eyes to so many things you have probably never thought of. Please everyone, watch it. You can rent it from netflix or have to pre-order at Blockbuster. It was worth every minute of my time. I would love to give you all the facts/stats, but you just need to see for yourself. Viewer beware - there are some graphic parts.

So the plan -I guess I can succumb to my nesting insticts and get down on my hands and knees and scrub these floors, as uncomfortable as this is going to be at this stage. Again, not a huge concern since I'm not in labor, but any excuse I have to get my mind off things.

In addition, the ultrasound indicated I'm not in labor. :) He has not dropped, which I figured so much. I've also gained no weight. He asked about my diet and I said I did really good at first and have been slacking off this past week. He encouraged me to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetable and lean meats, not just for watching weight gain, but to prepare for the delivery. If you are a fan of his on Facebook, you'll see he is really into diet and whole foods.

I see him again in two weeks. At that time, I'm gonna go check out the hospital, located right across the street, and turn in my registration forms. I also signed a VBAC consent today, which was interesting. I couldn't help but notice him roll his eyes as he handed it over. He made sure to tell me it came from the hospital. Something interesting to note is that they have raised the successful VBAC statistic to 70%. That's interesting considering the c-section rate in America is one in every 3 births. If only more people knew....

Maybe I'll be a doula one day. Maybe a VBAC educator. One thing at a time. Let's get a VBAC first. One more month!