Adele's Birth

Disclaimer: This post is both super long and somewhat graphic so be forewarned! 

Feet. This birth story revolves around a pair of little feet. 

On Sunday night, August 5th, I was my usually grumpy, uncomfortable pregnant self. I remember ordering the kids around to get the house somewhat cleaned up before I went to bed since I had begged a bunch of girls from my church to come deep clean the next morning. 

My belly and chocolate ice cream about a week before delivery.

 All week I had been working on finishing the crib bumpers and owl blanket that I had been trying to make for months, even after a friend had come and done most of the work for me. I wanted to go to bed Sunday night but I remember thinking, "Just finish these stinking things so tomorrow we can put away the mess." Looking back now, maybe I was just nesting hard core. 

The cradle bumpers -with a month old Adele in them! 

I finally got up to bed around midnight and I was surprised to find John still awake watching a show. I remember asking him if the cameras were charged and bags packed cause we had a scheduled c-section on Wednesday morning and, technically, the baby could come early. None of my others were early and my actual due date wasn't until Saturday so I really wasn't feeling a huge sense of urgency yet. Yes, I know, I'm a massive procrastinator, even with getting ready for babies! With my second, Nathan, we ended up getting admitted to the hospital from a routine checkup. Of course, even though it was my due date, did I have a bag or anything ready? Nope. So the fact that I had most of my ducks in a row almost a week before this baby made me wonder why. Hum…. 

I went to bed finally around 12:30 and remember getting up at least twice to use the bathroom. Each time I had cramping and huge contractions, but nothing that any movement at 39 1/2 weeks doesn't usually cause. The third time I woke up about 4:00am  I felt something "squishy" down below so started feeling around, wondering if maybe, by a miracle, my water had broke. Nope, nothing wet so up I went to the bathroom again. However, when I sat down and gushed fluid, I got really suspicious. You'd think after doing this 3 times and all my studying I would have known, but I've never had my water break with any of the others until I'm almost pushing so this was a new sensation. As I got back into bed though, I had another huge gush and I knew for sure. 

I woke John up with, "Uh, I think my water just broke" and he jumped into action. After all my complaining about not being ready as we went to bed, he got ready fast. The plan all along had been to get to the hospital as fast as possible if my water broke since my last 2 babies had come in under 2 hours once labor started. I called Trinlie (the midwife) who headed out to meet us at the hospital and then called a friend to come watch the others. I was starting to shake by now and having a few good contractions, but definitely not the intense type that I normally have as soon as I go into labor. Honestly, I was still holding out for a home birth and somehow thinking, maybe she had flipped around during the night, even though I was pretty sure I had felt her kicking me down low during the night. I even joked with Trinlie on the phone about her coming to the house to check me instead of going to the hospital. 

But we finally did head out around 5am, after waking Ava up to tell her where we were going (she never did go back to sleep). We got to the hospital around 5:45am and met Trinlie at the front door, which didn't open until 6am. I remember just sitting there outside, trying to weakly convince John and Trinlie that maybe we didn't need to go inside and maybe the baby had flipped. I knew once we walked into the labor unit things would start happening fast and I just wasn't ready yet. After about 20 minutes (and soaking wet pants from leaking) they convinced me that, yes, we had to go inside so off we marched to the unit.  

Why do people even take delivery pictures? No one looks good at 4 am with only 3 hours of sleep.

Just like I thought, things got busy inside. I was happy to see all the nurses that I liked were working and everyone was super friendly, which put me right at ease. Literally, there were tons of people in and out of our room, filling out paperwork, asking questions, poking and prodding me but the one I really wanted to see was Dr. Bell and his ultrasound machine. None of the nurses had been able to feel a head when they checked me but they also hadn't felt feet so I still had a glimmer of hope about at least a vaginal birth. My contractions were still coming about every 7-8 minutes but they weren't anything I couldn't talk through. Dr. Bell finally arrived with his machine and as soon as he turned it on we could all see her head right under my ribs. I'd been really nervous that I'd breakdown crying right in the operating room, if it came to that, but I think I just kicked into clinical mode cause from then on I was firing hundreds of questions at them about the procedure. 

           

They prepped me and gowned up John and I filled out paperwork galore. The anethesthiologist came and joked "that this would be the most natural spinal ever" which made us all laugh. Trinlie and John were really reassuring and awesome at keeping me calm during the pre-op stuff. I got to meet each member of the team and most made some positive comment about my birthplan, which I was totally expecting to be laughed off the table (literally!). Finally, it was time to walk down to the room and I remember saying as I went, "Like a lamb to slaughter." I know that isn't fair or justified but one of the reasons (although a small one for me) in having a natural birth is to avoid a c-section and here I was having a totally planned one! It did help that everyone, midwives, doctors, nurse friends that are pro-natural, almost everybody, did not think that there were any other alternatives than having her by c-section. I just felt like I hadn't exhausted all my options but, deep down, I knew that I had so off I went. 

I'm straining to see the mirror, just off to the left. 

Once we were in the OR there was so much going on that I didn't have time to freak out. The spinal was, thank goodness, one of the easiest spinals I've witnessed (and I've seen quite a few need multiple pokes) so I was super grateful. It was really nice to actually know most of the people that were in the OR and be comfortable joking with them. At one point one of the anesthesiologist that I didn't know came up and pointed to the mirror and asked, "Why is this in here?" I quickly told him, "It's so I can watch!" and although I could tell he was not impressed, he didn't question me again. Dr. Bell did a great job talking to me as he went through the procedure and I could see quite a bit of it.  As they got down to pulling her out, I couldn't see because of the first assist's shoulder in the way. I tried to get him to move but things were happening to fast. Luckily, John got some cool pictures so I was able to check it out later.

As she came out - look for the little hand on the bottom of the picture!

Obviously, babies are extremely flexible because I have no idea how she is bending like this. 

I remember Dr. Bell held her up for me to see and all I could think was, "She's so TINY!!" I kept asking, what's wrong with her, she looks tiny!! She quickly started crying and pinked up nicely with APGARs of 9 and 9. I had asked that the receiving table be moved where I could see it so I was able to watch them wipe her down. One request I was adamant about was that they NOT wrap her up tightly and bring her to me. After waiting nine months, I wanted to count toes and look her over so I didn't want a little bundle with a face sticking out of it brought over. They were great about that and I got her goopy and messy, just the way I like them! 

I love, love, love babies hands. 

Definitely different from our other births but still amazing.

Total time from incision to her being in my arms was only 2 minutes, which is amazing for a c-section. Right after I got her, wiped her down and inspected her, the nurses asked me if I wanted to nurse her - right there on the O.R. table! Of course, I did so she spent 10 minutes nursing while I was getting stitched up. From the reports I got from the nurses afterwards, it is unheard of to be able to nurse in the O.R. during the surgery. I was extremely grateful for the staff that actually read my birth plan and made it happen. 

My awesome baby nurse, Sarah Powell, who is a lactation consultant and had Adele nursing within 10 minutes of being born!

I finally let them take her to get her weight and measurements - she was 7 lbs even and 18 3/4 inches long. Tiny, compared to my last 9.6 chunk of Elias but perfect in every aspect. 

Kangaroo care...or should we say hairy gorilla care? 

John and Adele headed back to my recovery room while Dr. Bell closed me up, taking out the 6 cm ovarian cyst that he happened to notice (it had been there since my first pregnancy with Ava). Earlier, he had also removed another small cyst while I was numb. Three surgeries for the price of one and yes, I'll take it! When I got back into the room I couldn't see Adele and quickly realized that was because John was cuddling her skin-to-skin instead of putting her in the warmer, just like our birth plan had asked. Adele's temperature was a little low (the O.R. is freezing) so Trinlie had John stick her under his shirt and that's how she stayed for the first 20 minutes. 

After she was warm I got to finally really inspect my baby and she was beautiful. Nine months of wondering makes you very curious just who this person inside is and it's nice to see them. She didn't look a thing like any of my other babies and she was so small I kept saying she reminded me of a premie. All the nurses kept pointing out that she was a normal size but I had made her out to be this huge chunker that couldn't physically turn around. Ha, not so. 

Soon after I got done checking her out, the kids arrived and all chaos broke loose!! 

I had imagined this serene and lovely experience of all the kids kissing and loving on Adele and it just did not happen.

Notice Nathan falling apart in the background…. 

Ava was completely enthralled, the boys were fighting, ice chips were all over the floor, kids were jumping onto my recovery bed and knocking into Adele, and John and I were exhausted from only 3 hours of sleep the night before. Oh, and my pain meds had worn off and I was in such pain I remember I couldn't even take a deep breath to tell them to calm down. Not fun times. 

In my mind I had invisioned us all giving her her first bath, inspecting her and enjoying the family bonding time. In reality, all the boys wanted to do was watch Netflix on my laptop and there was no way I could bathe a baby. At least Ava was way into helping with Adele and the nurse was super about letting her help with the bath. 

When we were planning the homebirth Ava had kept asking if she could cut the "un-ba-dill-ic-al" cord and this was one of the details I was so sad we would miss with the c-section. Dr. Bell suggested that he could just leave the cord long so she had the chance to trim it up and she loved it. I remember being the one to cut the cord for my little brother Steve when my mom had him at home almost 20 years ago. I'm glad Ava got the chance after all. 

During her bath John got quite a few nice pictures of her details.  Hookbeak nose (it's since straightened out!), tiny ears, rolls on her thighs, and those beautiful, delicate, wrinkled fingers. 

All in all, even though it didn't work out exactly how I had hoped it would, it was an amazing experience from start to finish. I felt like there were tiny little miracles all along the way, from the staff being so accommodating, to us getting to the hospital with plenty of time to spare, to her being totally healthy and fine, even after all our worrying about why she wouldn't turn. I can't say enough good things about Dr. Bell and his willingness to take me in at the very end, his reassurance that things would be fine, and his nonchalant, humble attitude that you just don't find in most doctors.

And, of course, Trinlie most of all let me sit on her couch for hours on end, giving me therapy sessions (which is what I always feel like I need during my mentally challenging pregnancies, much more than physical checkups). I absolutely loved every bit of the prenatal care I received and had so badly wanted to experience the calmness I knew Trinlie would have brought to the birth. Luckily, she was there through it all and really did an incredible job of keeping me emotionally whole. 

It was tough getting her here, but we're so glad that she's part of our family. Everyone absolutely loves her and she's quickly taken the role of spoiled baby in the family! 

And yes, we even kiss those little feet that gave us so much trouble!  

Adele's Pre-Birth Story

When I first found out I was pregnant, I knew right away I wanted to use a midwife, rather than go the traditional OB/GYN route. The whole reason I'd gone to nursing school was to start myself on the path to becoming a midwife so I knew that I wanted to experience the midwifery approach to prenatal care. Last summer I had been invited to attend a home-birth with a friend, so I had met and really liked the local midwife, Trinlie Wood. I called and made appointments with both the OB/GYN and the midwife, figuring I'd make a choice once we'd met both. After one visit with the OB/GYN, where I was only allowed to see the oh-so-unhelpful nurse that took a urine sample and confirmed that, "Congratulations, you are pregnant!" (Duh, this is my fourth time and I know the signs of pregnancy), we settled on the midwife. We weren't entirely comfortable with the idea of a homebirth since we live so far from the hospital but we thought we'd just see how we felt as the pregnancy went on, knowing that we could always just walk into the hospital in labor and be delivered.  

As the pregnancy went on both John and I felt more and more comfortable with Trinlie's ability and the decision to plan a home-birth. The kids got super into it, attended most of the prenatal visits and were super excited to "cut the end-ba-dill-ic-al cord." Some of my most vivid memories of childhood were when my last 3 siblings were born at home so I was hoping this birth would be a great experience for them also.  The pregnancy was uneventful (unless you count nursing school while puking and clinicals while hobbling with my hips issues) until around 32 weeks. A friend was visiting and as we were palpating the baby through my stomach, I felt her move almost 180 degrees. Sure enough, the next day when I noticed the hiccups they were now directly under my ribcage instead of low in my pelvis as they had been earlier. I brought it up with Trinlie at the next appointment and she confirmed that the baby was currently breech but we knew only 3-4% of babies end up breech at full term so we were confident that she'd flip back. 

In the meantime, I tried everything I could to encourage her to flip around - ice on the top of my stomach with a heating pad on the bottom, loud noises up where her head was (Nathan's screaming could make her jump, but that was about it), hanging upside down from the pool ladder, hip tilts with my bum up in the air and my chest down low (very uncomfortable with a big belly and pubic bone issues), and lots of rocking on all fours. Every once in awhile I'd think I'd feel her hiccup somewhere else or maybe move, but within a few hours I'd feel her head right under my ribcage again. 

Around 36 weeks we got serious about trying to move her. Trinlie doesn't do home-births with breech babies and neither John nor I were comfortable with trying it either. I knew from nursing school that quite a few of the local OB/GYNs would not be receptive to me coming to them at the end of my pregnancy because of the home-birth plans and I knew that with my history of fast labors I'd need a close hospital if that is what we ended up doing. Luckily, I had met most of the doctors with my clinicals and had a favorite from the start. I made an appointment with Dr. Jeffrey Bell and was extremely relieved when he told me he'd have no problem trying to turn the baby without me committing to his care for the delivery. We made an appointment for 37 weeks to try an external version, which is where they manually try to turn the baby by pushing on my stomach. This involved an IV, meds, continuous heart monitoring and 3 hours in the hospital with the possibility of an immediate c-section if something went wrong. Trinlie also tried a much gentler version of this at our house a few days before Dr. Bell with no luck in getting her to turn. Unfortunately, Dr. Bell wasn't able to get her to turn either and we had a quite a scare when her heart rate dipped down into the 50s during the procedure. It came right back up with a little oxygen but she stayed firmly under my ribs. 

The only other option left was a chiropractic maneuver so I drove 1.5 hours to have my hips adjusted to "give the baby more room to turn." But nope, that didn't help either so plans were made with Dr. Bell to schedule a c-section for 39 4/7ths weeks to avoid me going into labor. Although some breech babies can be born vaginally, it takes everything lining up just right to make it happen and most doctors, including all the local hospitals, won't attempt it.  I had at least 3 strikes against me - first, my history of fast labors, second, my history of big babies (Elias was 9.6lbs) and third (and most serious), the position of our baby - footling breech. Each time Trinlie or Dr. Bell would check me they would tell me they could actually feel her little feet, which is the least common type of breech and the most serious. Since there is nothing filling the birth canal except feet, the chance of a cord prolapse is high when your water breaks with a footling breech. So we scheduled the c-section for August 8th, hoping and praying that something would change and she would flip around before then. 

I know it isn't fair or rational, but I found myself frustrated and upset with the whole situation.  I had finally gotten my courage up for a home-birth, found an incredible midwife, gotten my kids all hyped for this baby to be born here at our home, and then, bam, nope, no go, not happening. I wanted that baby to flip and I wanted her to do it now!! After having 3 kids with not even as much as an IV, I was in denial the whole time about the c-section. It wasn't until the last 3 or 4 days before the birth that I got serious and put together my "birth plan." When I took it into show Dr. Bell he chuckled, since most people don't even think of birth plans normally and definitely not for a c-section. But he was a great sport and told me that everything there looked rational and he'd try his best to make it happen. Just for posterities sake, here it is: 

Birth Plan for Baby Genho

Dear All Hospital Staff at Fauquier,

Thanks for helping us help this wrong side up baby into the world! We know we are in good, competent hands and you all are very experienced at your jobs. We have chosen to come here for just this reason. This is our 4^th baby (all others have been born naturally without so much as an IV) so this surgery is a new experience for us. While we understand that things will be different because of the nature of the birth, we would love to recreate the peaceful atmosphere of our other births as much as possible. It’s with that understanding that we request the following during this birth. Thank you so much for helping us transition through this unexpected plan of events with patience and support.

Birth Wishes:

I wish to have my husband accompany me in the operating room at all times.

IV placed in forearm, not hand so I’ll have full mobility of hand after birth.

Warm blankets during surgery.

Catheter put in AFTER spinal.

Volume down on heart monitor beeping.

Own choice of music if possible during surgery.

Please keep my hands free and not strapped down.

Please lower the drape as the baby is born and provide a mirror so I can see procedure.

Please communicate with me and my husband about the procedures and update us a things are being completed (incisions, baby being born, closing up, etc – I’m using this as clinical experience!)

We request the option to take pictures as the baby is born.

Husband to announce Baby's gender.

Keep cord long for daughter to trim afterward in room.

If at all possible, please place the baby on my chest immediately after delivery while the incision is being closed.

Please delay all newborn procedures, including wiping down and cleaning the baby, until the baby and I have had some skin to skin contact and we have had a chance to get to know each other as a family. APGAR can be performed while the baby is with me.

If Baby is doing well medically, please bring Baby to me as soon as she is suctioned, weighed, and measured. Please do not worry about cleaning her up much before bringing her to me.

I would like to hold Baby (or husband hold baby) while Baby is being foot printed, getting bracelets on, and while the paperwork is being filled out.

No Eye Gel, No Hep. B vaccine or Vitamin K shot. I will sign the waiver ahead of time.

Please bring Baby within sight and close to me during measuring & weighing.

Please use double layer suturing for the incision closure.

Please no sedatives after birth. I want to remember my Baby's first day of life.

We do not consent to the baby being removed from my presence at any time. If the baby must go to the NICU or nursery, my husband, or another person we will assign, will accompany the baby at all times.

I would like to nurse the baby as soon as possible in recovery.

I am willing to be up and walking as soon as possible so I can get leg compressors off sooner.

Newborn Procedures:

We would like to give our baby its first bath as a family. Please direct us in this process at the hospital.

Our baby is to be exclusively breastfed.

We do not consent to giving the baby a pacifier, formula, glucose water or any form of supplemental food without our express knowledge and permission.

We prefer full rooming in, unless our baby is sick.

Please no visitors until we have indicated that we are ready (we would like for siblings to meet their sister before others do).

If baby’s temperature is lower than desired, I would like skin-to-skin contact vs. the incubator. 

So there we were, a week before the scheduled birth with nothing to do but wait and wonder if she'd turn. The suspense of a normal birth is bad enough, but this one about killed me with wondering not only if she would turn, but if we'd then get to have the home-birth we had planned if she turned or if it would go completely the other way and end up with the most medically complicated situation - a scheduled c-section.  All because of a pair of little feet… 

She's Here!!

Welcome, Adele Layne Genho, born on August 6, 2012. 7 petite lbs and 18 3/4 little inches and perfectly healthy, even though she wouldn't flip around.

The Last 2 Years of My Life - the Pay Off!!

My fan club - Thanks Mom for making the signs!
 A Donovan Graduation tradition...

Yes, I did graduate from my 2 years of $#%^ in May. It felt great to be done but bittersweet to realize I don't have anywhere to go each day now...

John and I still like each other... I think?? :-)  It was tough but I think we'll really be glad we did it all in a few years. 

However, I'm pretty sure it was good timing since this baby is making me absolutely unproductive, lazy and huge. I wouldn't have been able to hobble around the hospital much longer and would have had to kick a patient out of bed so I could rest. 

Each one of my family and tons of my friends helped out so much in the past 2 years with listening to me complain and filling in as mom for my kids. I'd be totally ungrateful if I didn't publicly recognize there is no way I did this thing alone. 

And, although I thought my family would fall apart and die (and sometimes we all felt like that) here we are at the end, most of us smiling. And we're even expanding that afore mentioned family so it can't have been that bad right? We'll just go ahead and remember the good times, not the weekly Tuesday (my hardest day) "discussions" John and I had before falling asleep. 

I general, I didn't have many great things to say about the program, which is really sad since I gave it 2 years of my life. But the one shining star in the whole thing was the clinical leaders, who rocked!! This is my favorite one, Lauren Hayward, who gave it to you straight but also wasn't afraid to compliment you for things done well. And she just knows her stuff and was more than willing to share it. I will really miss the clinical component of school cause it finally felt like we were doing something productive. Although I don't really have any desire to ever take care of a sick old man again - bring on the babies!! 

Except for you Dad. If you get sick I guess I'll make an exception and take care of you since you helped me out so much with kids and everything.  But luckily, you don't show any signs of kicking the bucket anytime soon!!

Me and Kirsten, who kept me sane by mumbling some things under her breath when it just got to be too much and saying the things that needed to be said out loud when everyone was gonna blow!   

The friends were definitely the best part of nursing school though. Hands down. Those are who I'll miss the most and, unfortunately, most live pretty far away. Boo hoo. 

Monica, Shannon and Me - our Rappahannock Group and Teresa - my ally in Labor and Delivery!  Awesome people to have on speed dial! 

Me and Elizabeth (Betsy) - one of the only other young moms in the program. She had 5 little ones and was a total inspiration to me each day when she got there to clinicals before me!! 10 year down the road we'll open a midwifery clinic together!

Karen and Me - together since the beginning along with a few others. We made it all the way through prereqs and then both years. Way to go!!

 It's mostly bittersweet that school is over but I'm glad to have the stress of weekly exams and crazy readings to be over. I  took the NCLEX about a month after graduation and felt like I totally failed it, but then of course you find out you passed. Crazy. It's kinda like when you have a birthday and don't really feel a year older, even though you are. I'm totally a fully licensed RN now but don't feel anymore qualified than I did the last day of clinicals! I'm not even looking for a job since this baby is coming any day now, so it feels surreal.  Unfortunately, quite a few of my classmates are struggling to find anything so in some ways I'm really glad I'm not looking. For now, I'll apply all those things I learned to keeping my family healthy and hopefully happy until I start to go stir crazy again and feel the need to look for something to do. At least I now have a great option!!! 

Elias-isms

Lias (or Eli or Elias, depending on who's doing the calling) is a funny kid. Last night after dinner I was putting away food and found the gummy bear vitamins that have been in the door for months (or maybe even a year). I was looking at them and he noticed and quickly said "Can I have one?" to which I replied "No, not right now." Then he got this look on his face like he was remembering something and he goes "Please, I used the potty!"

When we potty trained him we used to give him gummy bears as a reward but he's been going potty all by himself for well over a year now. It was hilarious to hear and see him connect the two things together and watch the light bulb go off in his head. We all looked at each other, even Ava and Nathan, and just shook our heads and laughed. Then he laughed too. And, yes, I did give him a gummy bear.

His memory scares all of us sometimes because of how good it is. Just the other day he was telling me about how we went to a festival down the road from us but he wasn't allowed to jump on the moon bounce. I was halfheartedly listening until suddenly I realized that what he was saying was 100% true, but it happened over a year ago also. He had split his head open the day before we went to the festival so I wouldn't let him jump but Ava and Nathan got to. At the time, he was just barely 3 so I'm amazed he remembered it. He also told me a story the other day from when we went to Iceland, and that was like a week after his 3rd birthday so I guess his little memories start then. Guess we should start being nice to him so he doesn't have all kinds of damage, huh? :-)

Another funny thing about Eli - he doesn't just like something. He either loves it or he doesn't love it. As in, "I don't really love cleaning up the Legos, Maa (which is his abbreviated form of Mama)" or "Yes, I do have to have some more ice cream because I love it!" Oh, and if he isn't going to do something then he "amen't" going to do it - as in "Lias, please don't jump on me anymore" and he'll yell "I amen't going to jump again, Dada!!" Funny kid.

Blessings and Bummers or Baptisms and Breech Baby

Oh, why is it so hard to get back into the swing of blogging after taking a few years off? Every time I get onto the computer it's like a black hole opens up and sucks me into CNN, MyFamily.com, Facebook or Weather.com. Stupid sites that offer stupid things and yet I can't break away to blog… but I am now!!

Let's start with the fun one: Ava got baptized on Saturday! She turned 8 (which is the age in our church  when we believe children are able to understand and take responsibility for their actions) and she choose to be baptized into the LDS (Mormon) church. At this time, we believe that you make your first covenants (or 2 way promise between you and the Lord) and she did not take that idea lightly. For weeks before the baptism she would ask to talk about it and want to read scriptures or pray about it. I think she finally came to peace with it the morning of and now is happy that she went ahead and did it. John baptized her and confirmed her a member, along with giving her a beautiful blessing and conferring the Holy Ghost upon her. She is so excited to try to live the way the scriptures teach and even got her own set of new, blue, name engraved scriptures. In her own words, they were the "awesomest set of scriptures ever." For the baptism, she had lots of company: her Aunt Laurel, cousins Abby, Gordie and Lydia, her Papa Genho, her Grandpa Donovan, her primary teacher Sister Karen Greco, her best friend Cassia Gainer and family, and many, many other friends from the ward. She really is a super mature little girl with a huge heart that we're so proud of. John and I just can't figure out how she got this big or how we got this old to have a kid baptized!

Now onto another Genho girlie - the one in my belly. About 7 weeks ago I was showing a friend her position in my belly and all the sudden I felt a huge movement. The next day, sure enough, I could tell her chest was right under my ribcage as I could feel the hiccups she has 3-4 times a day move my whole rib. I wasn't too concerned since I know babies will shift around quite a bit, but by 34 weeks I was starting to get bothered. And now here we are, 37 weeks along with only 3 short weeks left and she STILL is under my ribcage. Except now her head is firmly wedged there and her little feet are dangling down into my pelvis kicking all sorts of things that should not be kicked! I've finally gotten up my courage to give a home birth a try and have been with a wonderful midwife this whole pregnancy.  However, neither one of us (thank goodness) feels comfortable with a home breech birth so I've been trying to weigh my options for moving forward with this baby. Technically, she still has a few weeks to turn but there are a few factors that are causing me to wake up at 3 in the morning and google all sorts of things.

First, we live 35 minutes from the hospital and my last 2 labors have both been under 2 hours long, from start of contractions to baby out. That's not very much playing room with getting into the hospital before something scary could happen, so it makes me nervous. Second, she's is currently what is considered a "footling breech" which means instead of her bum sitting in my pelvis, she has feet hanging down. This can lead to complications because the cord has room to potentially drop out with her feet when/if she's allowed to come out this way. It's still a rather small chance of this happening but when it does, you have major life threatening complications. And I've worked way too hard in the past nine months to mess with that!! Third, I wouldn't be totally opposed to trying a breech birth in a hospital but with issues one and two and the fact that no doctor within an hour of here would let me attempt one AND the fact that my last 2 babies have been 8.10lbs and 9.6lbs, I'm pretty much ruled out as a candidate.

Which leads me to the options I've been trying - hanging upside down in the attempt to convince her to turn. Oh, and diving down into water hoping the pressure change will convince her, and putting cold ice on the top of her head trying to get her to move, and having the kids screech over her head hoping to scare her away (Nathan's really good at getting her to jump, but not actually move), and laying with my bum up in the air and my shoulders down to try to give her more room. I haven't tried the chiropractor yet but I think it's in the plan this week, as is the attempt by the doctor to physically shove her around. This requires a hospital visit and IV and all that jazz, so I'm not too thrilled with it but our attempts by the midwife today at home didn't budge her at all. All this is in the attempt to not have a C-section, which is the last resort but may end up that way if all else fails.

I'm not excited by that option, mainly just because I've finally gotten a home birth planned and it's hard to give up on the idea of having her here in my own home, with all the kids around and everything going smoothly. I'm really hoping the version (doctor pushing her) will work on Tuesday because then I'd still have the home birth option. But luckily I've been around the labor and delivery floor and actually seen 5-6 C-sections at the hospital that I would have it done in, so I'm not too incredibly freaked out. Just bummed. And I know it's not rational at all, but I'm a bit frustrated at the baby - which I'm working on getting over. I'd like to think that maybe there's a reason she can't turn - cord trapped, not enough room or something like that rather than just stubbornness. I guess when she comes out we'll see what her personality is like and find out!!

Father's Day 2012

 Happy Father's Day

 to the best Dada ever 

Announcing Baby Genho Model August 2012

Disturbing?? I need your opinion

I know this blog is badly neglected but, for the sake of my sanity, I need all your help. This is my kids favorite song right now and I think it's disturbing, while John loves it. Anyone? Can I get a little moral support over here? 

http://grooveshark.com/s/Mr+Wolf+And+Mamabear/32GDFB?src=5

Feeding on a dead raccoon and smoking opium? Really? Really?? Elias and Nathan fight over who gets to be "Coon boy" in their daily re-enactments. When they grow up to be psychos, just know I tried my best. 

(I'll have to admit, I've seen this guy in concert 2 times. Not a bad musician, just this song bothers me...)