36 Weeks

Turns out Rowan is very comfortable in a head's up position.  At our 36 week appointment on Thursday, his head was under the left side of my rib cage.  The midwife recommended we see our regular doctor early this week to see what she wanted to do.  So we scheduled an appointment for this afternoon.

36 1/2 weeks

Our doctor did an ultra sound to verify his position and yup...head up.  Silly little boy doesn't realize he's supposed to be head down by now.  So our doctor explained we have a couple of options.  We can either schedule an external version where she tries to manually turn him or we schedule a C-Section.  Our midwife gave us a head's up that the doctor may be talking about an external version, so we did a little research before our appointment today.  Our doctor explained the procedure and it pretty much matched up with what we had been able to read about.  Our doctor thinks we have a less than 50/50 chance of having a successful version-meaning she either won't be able to get him to move into a head down position or he'll go back to head up in the days after the version.  She said I'm not the best candidate for an external version because I haven't had a baby before and my abdomen hasn't been stretched to the max previously.  The good news is that Rowan hasn't settled down into my pelvis, he isn't huge (she thinks he's about 7+ pounds), and the placenta is in a good spot.  All those are factors that increase her ability to flip Rowan around.  She also doesn't have any concerns about Rowan's health or my health.  All good things to know going into this procedure.

So tomorrow morning we'll head to the hospital for the procedure.  We'll have a monitor put on to track Rowan's heart beat, have another ultra sound to make sure he didn't flip overnight, and then get some medicine to keep my uterus relaxed during the procedure (which will be good since I feel like I'm contracting ALL THE TIME-but really only about 4-6 times an hour)  Then starts the pushing...but I don't have to do any of it =)  She'll do what she can to move him into the right position.  She said it's not the best feeling procedure and I may end up with some bruises on my abdomen from her fingers, but hopefully she can get him to move.  If she can't get him to turn, we'll schedule a C-Section.   Our doctor said she would schedule the surgery for September 4th.  Then if he gets into the right position between now and then, we can skip the surgery.  So IF the version isn't successful, we can keep doing what we're doing with some poses and exercises to encourage Rowan to get into the right position. 

While neither Ian or I are really 'excited' about this plan, we're glad there's an option we can try before having to schedule a C-Section.  We're SO glad there are no health concerns for either Rowan or I and here's still time for him to flip-either with help or on his own.  Right now we're just going to see what tomorrow brings and then we'll go from there.  If we end up having a C-Section, we'll be just fine.  Our doctor thinks I'd be a good candidate for a natural delivery for any subsequent children which is a huge relief as well.

So tonight we'll make sure we're all packed and ready to go for tomorrow and get a good night's sleep.  We completely trust our doctor and know that the story ends the same.  Rowan will come into the world happy and healthy one way or another.