My first parenting lesson

My first real lesson in parenting has already happened. I'm sure you are dying to know what that lesson is (drum role please)... I learned that I'm not in control.  After getting the news at 32 weeks that my little one was a footling breech, I decided I would take on all the natural methods I could to get him in the right position or Vertix position. Some of you probably know but these days if your baby is breech you are pretty much doomed to a c-section. Even if you can find a practitioner that does deliver breeches, they aren't physicians and usually have to occur in the home, which seems ridiculous since it's a harder labor birthing time and more "dangerous" for the baby. The US is almost 100% breech birth by C-section, actually it's the 3rd most common reason to have a c-section in the US. Anyway, I immediately dug into the spinningbabies website, which is absolutely FABULOUS if you are looking information. I quickly learned that this was going to be ALOT of work but as we all know I want a natural healthy birthing process and if that means working a full time breech job then I was committing to at least trying. Below is my list and as of now, 35 weeks and 3 days, he's still breech.

Hypnosis Breech audio
First thing I did was download the Breech Hypnosis audio, from Hypnobabies. This means, 40 extra minutes of hypnosis everyday. I play it, and visualize the baby turning heads down. I also decided to play it below my belly, so just in case he is listening, he'll go toward the sound.

Forward Inversion

Next I started the forward inversion, knees on the couch, elbows and head on the floor. This idea is to help the baby tuck his chin and allow him to turn around as well as to as to help my uterine segment become more symmetrical. This is supposed to be done on an empty stomach, three times 30 seconds a day. I have to say I've never made it to 3 times a day... only 1 to 2.

Please excuse how MASSIVE my ass and hips look.... I hear that's what happens when you get pregnant.

Breech Tilt

And the breech tilt, which was really rough for me. The whole blood rushing to my head sucks. But I pushed on. Originally I tried the ironing board on the couch, but it was too scary, so we took over the tread mill and on a 12% incline it's pretty much the same. Multiple sites say at least 20 mins a day, sometimes, shorter amounts and multiple times, but again it has to be done on an empty stomach. I usually do it once a day of once every other day. As I said, I hate it. 

Doesn't look nearly has horrible as it feels.

Acupuncture

I made my frist appointment with the acupuncturist to try moving him. I was super nervous but my good friend Tiffany recommended her and I had to at least "try" it. Next thing I knew I was sitting there discussing all my "pregnancy" issues, which we all know my biggest issue is the swelling, carpel tunnel and now the fact that little one is breech... she reassured me that she was sure she could get rid of my swelling, which would help the carpel tunnel and we would work on getting this little ones heads down. Next thing I knew I was lying back in my recliner with needles sticking out of my feet, legs, arms and head. It didn't really hurt, although one did sting, (which she told me, meant I was achieiving chi or however it is spelled). I reclined for 45 mins listening to my Hypnosis and just chilled. I didn't really feel all that different when I got done, but by the time I got home, I felt pretty good and the swelling was gone. If you are a FB you already heard me rave that for 30 hours my feet were normal! They remained down but not "normal". My second go 'round was just as awesome, and even though I felt horrible when I arrived because of my midwife visit before hand, I was excited to see the results and we upped the needles to include my pinky toe and ears to help little one flip. :) The acupuncturist was impressed with my improvement in swelling as was I. We also discussed moxi-bustion, which I'll list separately.

Check out my foot... I look like I am in CHF.... thank god for Acupuncture! 

The needles are hard to see but this is my 2nd visit.  I have 2 in my leg, one in my pinky toe,  one by my ankle, one sticking out of the top of my foot.

Moxibustion

Moxibustion is an ancient chinese medicine technique that uses Moxa or Mugwort. This can be used directly, or indirectly, through acupucture or through burning. The location that we use to flip little one is "bladder 67", which is located at the pinky toe. We tried this 2 weeks ago when I went to the acupuncturist first but all she had was the typical mugwort sticks and my whole house smelled like pot for 3 days even with the window open and fans going while we burned it for 10 mins on each foot. It was INSANE so we stoped after one try and waited for the order of smokeless moxa to come in, which I've seens been doing twice a day. It still smells pretty herby in here after but it doesn't linger like the other version did.

I do this twice a day, they stick. :) Pretty cool and notice how my feet almost look normal!

This was our original attempt... You can see the smoke.

Chiropracactor -Webster technique

The webster technique is used to establish balance in the pelvis so the baby can turn. This is no big deal really, it doesn't hurt, doesn't feel good... just kind of is something I'm doing once a week. Best part was when the chiropractor was holding pressure on a ligament in my pelvic area and the baby kick the crap out of her. Very funny, in my mind. She jumped and I couldn't help but laugh and smile. He's already a hellion. ;)

Music, lights, stories and cold packs to the belly

This is probably the least stressful and one of my favorite things can do to help the little one move. It's as simple as it sounds... I play music and put a flash light in my lower abdomen to help him turn. They say they see the light and will go towards it, same as the music. They suggest whale sounds... which is  all I've tried so far but I'm thinking maybe he has more refined taste than that. lol Jason has also be reading to our little one from below the belly, in hopes he'll turn to listen. The cold packs aren't a big deal either, I palpate his little head, which isn't very hard to do, and put the ice there. I've done this twice, and he moved down a little both times but not in a turning movement, he just started to "drop" so I stopped. I may try some more soon.

Crawling

This is exactly what it sounds like... I crawl on the floor for 10 minutes a day and after I do that I put my head and chest on the floor and leave my butt in the air for 3 minutes. I admit I don't do this for a total of 13 mintues a day... but I do make an effort to crawl a bit everyday.

Pelvic rocking

Every pregnant woman should be doing pelvic rocking but I should be doing even more. This is simple and just like it sounds as well... move the pevis back and forth, side to side, or circular motion. I was doing more of these before my carpel tunnel kicked... but it is actually a little better so the plan is to increase my rocks or do some belly dancing or something.

So there you have, I want my baby to flip... he obviously is on his own time schedule here... and this is how I learned my first parental lesson. I am not in control, I can't make him do what I want and ultimately this is gods will. I hear stories of babies not flipping because of a cord around the neck, or because of a uterine abnormality. I don't really feel like that's the issue, I just feel like this is the way our little one prefers to be and in the end he'll either do it or he wont. I have to trust that my body and his will allow for the perfect and correct birthing expereince for him, rather it is a natural birth or a c-section. I did spend some time researching how breech births occur in other countries... if you are interested check out this amazing website by a midwife in AU.  Here's a little preview. :) A breech birth really isn't an option for me... but I'm proud of myself for learning more about my options and not just "accepting" the medical model.

I have an appointment with my OB/GYN tomorrow, which I'm 100% sure will lead to another blog that sums up all the thoughts regarding the breech situation, my midwives, how much time I have, if I'll be changing to the OB and if I'm a candidate for the external cephalic version. Here's a video if you don't know about it but basically they try to move the baby by force externally. I've spent hours reading and researching and although I was against it at first, I'm slowing thinking it may be an option, even though it only has about a 60% success rate and has to be done around week 37... and the baby can turn back.