Breech

There has been something of a change of plans in the Bellygazing camp. At my 40 week appointment today, while palpating my bump, the midwife frowned and said that while she thought the baby's head was engaged, there was something at the top of the womb that hadn't been there when she last examined me. It might just be a bony bottom, but she thought there was a possibility the baby was breech....

What??? Anyway, she wanted me to have a presentation scan at the hospital - normally carried out on Tuesdays - but as there was a good chance I might go into labour before then, she called up the hospital and convinced them to scan me today.

About half an hour later, after two doctors had squirted an unseemly amount of jelly on my tummy and peered at a screen in a serious fashion, they concurred - stupid baby was indeed upside down in breech position.

I wasn't overly impressed with the doctors, who have booked me in for an external cephalic version on Tuesday (what is it with Tuesdays, is it the only day anyone works?) in a bid to turn the baby the correct way round and strict instructions to come straight to the delivery suite at the first sign of labour. The ECV has something like a 50% chance of working -but that goes down the further on you are and I will be at 40wks+5 by Tuesday, so chances will be less good. And if I do go into labour before then, I will almost certainly be whisked into theatre for a caesarean section, which I really, really don't want.

It seems to me to be a bit of a risk waiting so late to attempt this procedure, but I was a little bit in shock (having expected the scan to confirm that the baby was head down) so didn't say too much about it. Fortunately, my lovely midwife had instructed me to text her with the result and she called me up and talked me through what could happen next. It could be seriously painful, too, especially given how far along I am.

Basically, it's all a bit pants. There's still a chance I could deliver naturally, particularly if they successfully turn the baby, but more than likely I'm going to end up having a c-section one way or another. Which means six weeks barely able to walk, drive or even bend over, a lovely epidural to knock me out, a catheter, possibly a drip, several nights in hospital and generally having to recover from major surgery. Whoop de doo. But at the end of the day, I will get my baby one way or another, and she is still happy and healthy, and doing all sorts of kicks and rolls as we speak. Pesky little blighter. My midwife is going to call the consultant man (apparently a national expert on turning babies, which I'm sure he boasts about proudly to all the people he went to school with) tomorrow and see if there's any way he can squeeze me in before Tuesday - but she wasn't too hopeful. She did also advise me to stop having sex as that might bring on labour. I now have to stop doing all the things I was doing to encourage labour and hope to hang on until Tuesday - strange to have to change my mindset at this point.

Join me in thinking positive 'turn round baby!' thoughts.