Pregnancy Journal #11: 35 Weeks Update!

            Hey folks! I can't believe I only have (roughly) 5 weeks left. Eek! I'm sure I've already said it several times, but this pregnancy went by insanely fast. I'm sure it has a lot to do with having two other kids to keep me occupied constantly. ;)

             Last week, I had another “growth scan” before my regular appointment. (I went through this with Ripley too because of the gestational diabetes, I guess. After 30 weeks or so, I get an ultrasound every 4 weeks.) As far as cute face pictures go, baby was less than cooperative and the one in the post image above is literally the best one we got. But, it's all good because baby was facing towards my back, which made me happy since that's good when it comes to labor. (I know, I know. Babies move all the time. Just...hush! ;) )

             If you've been keeping up with my pregnancy updates at all, you'll know that my biggest concern with this baby has been his/her position. Baby was transverse (sideways) for the longest time. Then we discovered he/she was sitting full on breech at my 30 week ultrasound. Ugh! Now, thankfully Baby Contortionist, or BC for short, as I will refer to baby as from now on, is at least transverse again. While head down would have been great so I can stop stressing, it was better news than I was expecting. I have my fingers crossed that this means BC is just slowly making its way to where it needs to go!

             Kind of late for a new nickname for baby, but Baby Contortionist seems very fitting after this last ultrasound. All except for the first US that was done early on, BC has had their feet up by their head or in their face EVERY TIME. This was part of the reason we couldn't get any good pictures of BC's face this time. Baby literally had a foot across his eyes at one point! Kid has a weird foot obsession already...

             According to ultrasound measurements, which I do not believe in at all because there is such a margin of error with them, especially the closer you get to the end of your pregnancy, baby weighs 6lbs 4oz and is in the 80^th percentile...Even if it's true, I don't think that is all that bad. I gave birth to an 8lb 15oz baby just fine, so I'm not too concerned about having a bigger baby, unlike all the medical staff seems to be. The US tech and doctor both made comments about how “hopefully this baby won't be as big as your last”. It's getting to the point of awkwardness whenever they bring baby weight up because I don't react like most women and instead just kind of force a smile that says “Whatever you say, doc.”

             So...Back to the breech/transverse thing. I am not NEARLY as worried about it now that I know BC is sideways again. But, I'm still kind of torn on some decision making I'm going to have to do sooner or later. Namely, the more I researched the ECV's (version, for short) the doctor can perform to try to get baby to flip head down, the less crazy I am about the whole thing. For starters, the success rate sucks, which I think I mentioned in my last post. Even the doctor admitted they only work about half of the time! On top of that, while the percentage of risks are about the same as the ones for a VBAC (which I had no qualms about), I feel like there are a lot more risks involved with this version process. I'm talking emergency situation, scary shit, like placental abruption, cord getting twisted or squeezed, preterm labor, etc. Personally, I feel like that is a lot of risks for such a crappy success rate. Oh. And they evidently give you some kind of drug to make your uterine muscles relax on top of all that?! Again, the whole thing is just sending me red and yellow flags, so I figure I should probably listen to that little voice in the back of my head. I don't do it nearly enough and always curse at myself when I don't!

             I'm totally into alternative methods to try to flip baby, though! At first, I didn't give much thought to going to the chiropractor when people were suggesting the Webster technique that some do. I've never been to the chiropractor in my life! Plus, you know, more money to dole out. :/ But, I've heard so many good things and was/am starting to get desperate enough to actually convince me to give it a go. Plus, it has a helluva lot better success rate than ECVs at 82%!

            Now that I'm at the end, I get to start going to the doctor every week. Yippee Skippy. (Seriously. One of my least favorite parts of being pregnant!) In hindsight, I'm wishing I would have declined the “quick ultrasound” they want to do beforehand to check baby's position. I already mentioned to Dr.Wetsponge (yes, I totally made that up because his personality, or lack thereof, is terrible!) that I was leaning against having the version done...But I don't think he listens very well. I still try to joke around at appointments with him and he usually completely ignores me. -_- He also said they would check my cervix since they are doing the GBS swab next time, then quickly added, “If you want.” I promptly answered, “No, not really.” I didn't get any checks done at the end with my last pregnancy and it served me well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

             Thanks for reading! If you're pregnant too, let me know how your pregnancy is going in the comments below! Until next time...(Heck! There might be a baby here by next time!)