Just When Everything Was Going Picture Perfect...

Well.

Today started off okay and then ended with a bit of a shock:

Anistynn is breech. Which, of course, means that her feet are down and her head is up. 

It's so strange - I was just in there last week and they said she was head down, in a great position. She could have rotated since then, however I think she's been like this the whole time (well, at least for quite a while now). I know her placement well enough to know that not much has changed. But what I thought was her bum (and even though it felt like kind of a big bum, I didnt question it because, well, look at her mother) but it turns out it was her head all along. So while I was thinking she was head down this whole time, looking back it actually makes more sense with what I've been feeling. I've been feeling lots of movement lower down and as it turns out, that's where her feet are so that makes sense. 

Of course, now we have a bunch of information to absorb. I have 3 choices:

1) They can do an external cephalic version (ECV) which is where they physically try to turn the baby into the head down position externally. It would need to be done fairly soon since I'm 36 weeks tomorrow. My doctor has set up an appointment for next Friday to get it done (just so I could make sure to have an appointment, although we may cancel it if we decide we dont want to attempt that). If I did that, I would have to go in at noon (and I wouldnt be aloud to eat anything from midnight the night before on), get some medication that would relax my uterus but speed up my heartbeat, and then they would attempt to turn her around. The attempts itself would only take a few minutes but I'd be there for a few hours total, to let the medicine work, to try to turn her, and then to monitor for another hour or so. By doing this, there's moderate risk that baby girl could become distressed and I would have to go in right then and there for an emergency C - Section. So - it could be successful (the success rate is 58% and it's less likely if this is your first baby) and I could go on as normal; the turn could be successful but then she could return to her previous state later; she could be stubborn and nothing would change; or I could have the baby that very day depending on how everything went. That means I could potentially have a baby next week. Not to mention, it's apparently super uncomfortable for me.

2) Have a vaginal breech delivery. They have certain doctors who have handled it before in the past (my current doctors have not so they would not be delivering the baby in this scenario) and it's been successful. However there is an increased risk to baby. I'm sure the reasons are obvious. And again, there's a chance for an emergency C - Section, as well as something being wrong with baby.

3) Schedule a planned C - Section. Probably the safest thing to do for baby.

So I'm not too keen on number 1, I'm almost 100% positive I dont want to do number 2, and I'm scared to death of number 3. We all know how terrified I am of hospitals.... well, having major abdominal surgery doesnt make me feel very good about things. I had stated previously that I would want to exhaust all other safe procedures before I had to get a C - Section, but that was based on everything else being normal. Not in the case of actually having to plan one. First and foremost, baby girl's health and safety is the number one priority. Tony and I feel like a C - Section is the best way to go. We're still talking about it and we'll discuss our final plan with my doctor at next week's visit. As much as I dont like the idea of surgery, I have familiarized myself with it just in case it happened. If we were to do the C -Section, it would be scheduled for about a week before my due date. Providing I dont go into early labor (which if I did, I would more than likely still have a C - Section at that point anyway), we would know when to expect her. Ultimately, I think I'd rather plan a surgery then provoke one by attempting to turn her, which would cause baby distress and possibly drop her heart rate, while also stressing me out a bit because I'd have to be rushed into surgery instead of expecting it more like I would with a planned C - Section.

My dad told me that I was also a breech baby and they attempted to turn me and I was hardheaded and wouldnt stay that way. Maybe this is a "like mother, like daughter" kind of situation ;)

Please know that I'm scared to death by all this and there's lots of decisions to be thought about and made, and prayers and hopes that everything goes okay. I'm scared of the hospital, terrified of surgery, and a little anxious to make sure everything is okay with Anistynn. But I'm so glad we found this out today so that I didnt go into labor not knowing she was breech. That would have been awful. So we'll know for sure what we're going to do by the end of next week, but I think either way, baby girl will be here sooner than expected (based on her due date). Please keep us in your thoughts as we have a lot going on right now, including moving. I guess it's a good thing my baby shower is this weekend! ;)

* Something interesting to think about: before we found out she was breech, my doctor was feeling around and listening to her heartbeat. Her heartbeat sounded great, yet a bit off of where it should be located. So she said she was going to do an ultrasound just to check and before she left the room, she said she was 95% sure that baby was in the head down position but that she wanted to be positive. Well, lo and behold, she was obviously breech. She seemed super shocked and of course, so was I. But right when we found out, the first thing that went through my mind was back when we found out the gender at 18 weeks and the ultrasound technician said, "We're 95% sure it's a girl....." 

Very interesting indeed.