The Latest

36 weeks, 5 days! Wowee! Never thought we'd be this far along in pregnancy! But, here we are! Anyway, we had another doctor's appointment today. Total weight gain: 24 lbs. Blood pressure: 120/60 mmHg. Baby's heartbeat: good. Baby's growth: good. Baby's position: still breech.

I think most people know this already but in case you don't, babies who are in breech (head up, butt down) position are not delivered vaginally in this day in age. So, the current situation with Little Miss Tolman required some discussion and decision making. The options are to wait it out and see if she turns, or try to turn her manually. Because if she's still in breech position at the time of delivery, it will have to be a cesarean birth. Since c-sections aren't the first line choice for delivery, the doctor recommends trying to assist the baby in assuming the correct position so that a vaginal birth is possible.

Apparently the time frame for turning her manually is running short because Dr. McQuillan said if we chose option number two (called a version) we would need to do it either today or tomorrow. My guess is that the baby's size hinders the ability to do so after a certain point. We decided to go ahead and go along with the version and we're scheduled for tomorrow morning. It takes place in labor and delivery at the hospital and Dr. McQuillan will be the one to perform the procedure. Apparently they give a shot of terbutaline to relax the uterus then manipulate my belly to move the baby around. She said it usually takes about 10 minutes and people describe it as having an elephant sitting on their stomach. There's a chance the baby won't turn, or that the baby might not tolerate it and an emergency c-section would be performed at that time. (She said she's never seen that happen. Of course, she's only been in practice since June 2009!) So, tomorrow should be interesting. I'm sure I'll have the full report for you here sometime tomorrow or Friday.