About the baby wherein I try not to cry
So here’s the news:
This one looks like he’s gonna make it an even number in the house now, so it looks like we’ll have to have another baby to break the tie. ;)
Now for the rest of the news:
Yesterday late afternoon I was relatively sure that the baby had flipped, but I also knew that there was time for him to flip back around and the around again. I was really uncomfortable yesterday afternoon to the point that I could tell there was some flipping going on (or at least some attempted flipping). I was hurting a lot in my belly last night and the stretching was rather painful. I could see at one point what looked/felt like a football extending from my spine to my belly button and then once it settled down my lower abdomen felt fuller and the top of my uterus was a little softer. I made the assumption that the baby had flipped head down, but wasn’t going to count my chickens before they hatched. Today as soon as the U/S tech put the little thingy on my lower belly and I saw the top of a head I knew I was right. So there is one prayer request answered the way I wanted it answered; now we just need to pray him to stay head down!
The placenta is still very low, dangerously low actually. At this point the doctor was trying to be positive about it for me because she knows how much we wanted this baby to be born at home. I may want that, but I am not a dummy. I know what dangers are involved with a low lying placenta and it’s just not worth the risk - my life and my baby’s are more important than my desires. I am not against hospital births. I just want to have this baby at home for many reasons, and mostly because I am not thrilled with what is offered around here. The wee babe is measuring rather large for his due dates too. He is measuring a good two weeks ahead of the dates I provided her - but, People, I know when we got busy! As well as all the other cycle info and dates necessary for this little one to be here. And she has those dates in my chart as well.
At this point I am psychologically preparing myself for a possible C-Section. I am not allowing myself to wholeheartedly accept this yet. My doctor didn’t even really want to answer some of my questions about it today either. She was trying to be positive and upbeat about it for me, encouraging me not to give up my home birth. (There are no words for me to tell you how good that made me feel - that the doctor was supporting that decision.) I have to go back in two weeks to look at the placenta again. While it has moved, it has not moved enough. The baby is pretty big, as I’ve said, and he is nestled down now and taking up a good bit of room and making it harder for the placenta to be able to move. She told me to take it easy and wait until the next ultrasound to make any permanent decisions. She made sure that I understood that as long as the placenta was off my cervix and the baby’s head was lower than the placenta then everything would be fine. I understand that, but that’s a little too close for comfort for us to have a home birth here where we are so far from any real emergency aid for a newborn should we need it. The local hospital does not have any NICU or necessary facilities should this kind of emergency arise.
I have pretty much made up my mind that I will not be having a home birth. Here is what else I found out today:
- One of the hospitals over in the ‘Port (the one she like to use most) will get my baby to me ASAP (within 30 minutes) of a C-Section and SmockDaddy can stay with the wee babe the whole time until he comes to me - should I need the section.
- If the placenta moves enough, we (the Pea and I) will still go natural at that same hospital, with the same doctor. This hospital and doctor will let us check out the same day as long as everyone is doing well - that’s a lot like a birth center instead of a hospital. I like that. If it’s a night time baby we’ll get to stay until morning and then go home. This is great news for us. Even if I opt for an epidural at the last minute they will still discharge us ASAP. Dr. S. will not require me to be hooked up to all the gadgets and monitors as long as I’m going natural. I can stand in a hot shower or soak in a tub; I can rock in a chair or on a birthing ball; I can call the shots. This. is. good.
- Now, if there is need of a C-Section she wants to do it at week 38 because he is so big she doesn’t want me going into labor and having an emergency situation with bleeding and the placenta coming first - that could be deadly - and because it’s the 6th one and my labors are short and so on and so forth.
- I am against induced labors for many reasons unless it is truly medically necessary. I think that it is done way too often just for scheduling that baby’s arrival. (I regret that my first one was induced, but I am not sure I could have made it through labor if we had waited - I was so exhausted from all the preterm labor that I couldn’t sleep. I had already been experiencing contractions every five minutes for two weeks and I just couldn’t take it anymore.) If the placenta stays low, but moves out of the way, we are considering and praying about an induction around week 38 anyway; it may be the only way to really insure that we are both safely in the hospital setting for the ‘just in case’.
On to more fun news:
During the ultrasound today he kept opening and closing his mouth and sticking out his tongue and you can see it here (it makes him look like he’s got big lips):
Also, everywhere the tech put the little thingy he kicked at it. This pic of his face is pretty good, but we missed a great one of his face full on. I know that he’s all squished up in there, but this baby has some very fat cheeks! None of our others had cheeks like that - and we’ve had some big babies for the gestational ages they were born.
If the placenta moves enough, we are going to let this happen whenever it happens. I’ve been thinking it’s gonna happen sooner than later (these Braxton-Hicks are very strong). According to dates I am 30 weeks and 1 day today with a due date of November 21. So we are going to have two pools - one for weight and one for date. I’m not going to set the date on up yet because I want it to be fair and based on proper info; we will wait until after the next ultrasound for that. But let’s get going on the weight, shall we? Leave me a note in the comments or e-mail and I’ll add you to the box in the sidebar (which I will create in just a minute).
And for anyone interested in the previous baby facts:
Mog
37 weeks gestation
6 pounds even
18 inches long
Goro
37 weeks gestation
6 pounds, 13 ounces
18.5 inches long
Birdie
36 weeks gestation (due to 5ths Disease)
5 pounds, 2 ounces
19.5 inches long
Princerella
40 weeks gestation
7 pounds, 2 ounces
20.5 inches long
CowBoy
40 weeks gestation
8 pounds, 4 ounces
21.5 inches long
And a little perspective:
20 weeks
30 weeks
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