36 Week Appointment

No picture for this post right now (although I did take one earlier today.)

First of all, I went for my 36 week appointment today....  only to find out that it was actually scheduled for tomorrow.  Oops... people have told me about pregnancy brain, but I thought I was immune.  Apparently not.

Anyway, they were kind enough to fit me in, since I was already there.  I had to have my first internal exam since the 12 week appointment, to take a sample for a routine bacteria they test for (testing positive would mean that I would have to have antibiotic's via an IV line during delivery.)  They also wanted to make sure that the baby was head down, as one of the previous doctor's had suspected.

Unfortunately, the doctor today was not able to confirm that Baby Hartman was head down at all.  In fact, she was fairly certain that he wasn't.  She said that she couldn't feel any indication of a head down there.  She seems to think that he is "frank breech," which means that he is head up with his feet also up and over his head, which would explain "hard spot" that I thought was a butt, and the aggressive kicking on my right side.  So she gave me orders to schedule an ultrasound appointment ASAP (before my next appointment, which is Tuesday) so that they can determine whether or not the baby is actually breech.

If the baby is in fact head down then all is good, and we proceed as normal.

If the baby is breech, then I have two options.

1. Have an External Cephalic Version (ECV; more information about that here) where they will basically try to force the baby to turn.  This will need to happen next week if we're going to go this route. 

These are effective about 50% of the time. But there is also a chance that even if he does turn during the procedure, he'll flip right back over.  Some babies apparently just prefer to be head up.

It is fairly low risk for both me and the baby, but it is a procedure that has to be done in the hospital.  I'll have to get an IV and blood drawn, and I can't eat anything after midnight to night before the procedure because in some instances emergency c-sections have to take place and so they would prep me as if it was going to be surgery.  It's apparently fairly painful/uncomfortable so an epidural will be offered, although some people chose to have it done without pain meds.

2. Schedule a C-Section - Not ideal, obviously, since a c-section is major abdominal surgery.  But it's tempting nonetheless since DH goes back to school on my due date, and having the baby a few days early would mean he could be there with me without any problem.


I was able to get an ultrasound appointment for tomorrow at a satellite center north of the city (north of where I live, even.) It's not as ideal as have this done at the hospital, which is a 10 minute drive from work for me, but they were booked up through the end of the next week, even for their "emergency" appointments, which this is apparently considered.  (So, what happens if there is a real emergency??? I admit that I don't need an emergency appointment, but if I did, what would they do???)

The good news is, I don't need to think about this much more than I already have until after tomorrow, when we will know for certain whether he really is breech or not.  I'm glad that I'm getting it out of the way sooner rather than later, because having to go through the weekend "not knowing" would drive me crazy. 

Furthermore, we're taking a childbirth class this weekend and if I'm going to have to have a c-section, then is taking a childbirth class even worth it!?!??!