The Team Meeting Show - Imaginary Geek Bucket

Matt and Ara were gracious enough to invite me back on their podcast to defend my "geek" comment.  You can listen here.  Enjoy!

Mila's Birth Story Part IV

Thursday, September 13, 2012

39 Weeks Pregnant (exactly 1 week before my due date)

I feel something.  My eyes open in our dark bedroom.  I'm sure it is Braxton Hicks since I've had them on and off beginning at 20 weeks.  I glance at the clock, 4:20am.  I have to pee.  I gather my thoughts and untangle myself from my Snoogle (every pregnant lady needs one) and stumble to the bathroom.  Two minutes later I'm back in bed re-tangled into my Snoogle.

I feel something.  My eyes open in our (still) dark bedroom.  This time I don't have to pee.  I glance at the clock, 5:00am.  Interesting.  I close my eyes.

I feel something.  My eyes open in our (getting lighter but still) dark bedroom.  I still don't have to pee.  I glance at the clock, 5:30am.  Okay okay, I'm up.

I roll over,  wake up Matt and give him the update.  He decides to stay home from Crossfit this morning just to see what may happen with my contractions... if they are real contractions.

More contractions arrive at 6:15am, 6:30am and 7am.  At this point I'm starting to believe something big is going to happen today but I hold it in, I don't want to get too excited.

I call my Mom, she is a Labor and Birth nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital, and give her the scoop.  Since we know Baby B (who we now know as Mila) was still breech as of Tuesday we are 99% sure a C-section is in my immediate future, there is always the slight chance she would flip during labor.  My Mom tells me to eat something, I'll need some sort of fuel since I haven't eaten since the night before.  We decide on scrambled eggs since it is light on the stomach and full of nutrients.  I know the doctors will be mad I ate, but I don't care.  I know that my body and the baby are going to need whatever fuel I can provide and I know these eggs will be digested before a scalpel comes anywhere near my belly.  I also continue to drink water and wait to see what happens as the morning progresses.

We decide Matt should go into the office for a couple hours since these contractions are slightly irregular and I can handle them using my techniques I learned at our Bradley classes.  Plus, if Baby B is on the way he needs to tie up a few loose ends at work.  We're very aware these contractions could just stop at anytime so we decide not to call the midwives yet.   Our hospital is only 2 miles from our home so we don't need to worry about getting there "in time".

Because Baby B was breech I knew as soon as I stepped foot into Shady Grove Hospital we wouldn't be leaving without the baby in our arms.  There would be no turning back since they know they'll have to perform a C-section and I'm now at 39 weeks which they feel is safe.  I wanted to give the baby every opportunity to enjoy as natural of a birth environment as I could provide before modern medicine jumped in the way*.

Two hours later I decided it was time to cancel my afternoon chiropractor and acupuncture appointments.  The contractions were getting closer together overall but still a bit erratic, but they were definitely intensifying. At 10am we called the midwives with the details of our morning.

"Karen is on call at the hospital.  I'll let her know what is going on and have her call you."

It was then I knew for sure the baby was coming.  It was meant to be, out of all the midwives, Karen, the midwife who discovered Mila was breech, was on call.  Five minutes later my phone rang.

"Hi Natalie, this is Karen.  I think you should come into the hospital immediately."


Mila's Birth Story Part I
Mila's Birth Story Part II
Mila's Birth Story Part III





* Doctors are no longer allowed by most, if not all, insurance companies to deliver breech babies in the United States.  If a woman wants to have a natural delivery with a breech baby her only choice is to have an at-home birth with a doctor familiar and willing to deliver breech (or go to another country).  From what I'm told many of the OBs today are not even taught the technique.  I had the ideal situation for a breech birth, a healthy baby, on the small side of average, in a frank breech position.  Unfortunately I'll never know if we could have done it naturally.  I truly believe Mila was breech for a reason, a reason we will never know, but whatever it was, it was important and I'm not upset she choose the position she did.  I'm upset that in 2012 we don't have a lot of choices when it comes to our childbirth in this country.

The Team Meeting Show

If you are interested in listening to a podcast about nothing, check out this week's episode of The Team Meeting Show (a podcast by my husband and his business partner).  I think you'll recognize the very special guest.  Or maybe not, being a blog and all you never hear my voice.  Well, if you want to hear my voice, check it out here!

Mila's Birth Story Part III

*** Let me say upfront that I think Dr. S. is a fantastic OB/GYN and is very well known and well respected in the DC Metro area.  He just didn't have the bedside manner I, as a very high maintenance first time mother, needed.***

We anxiously awaited Dr. S's arrival in our exam room to perform our version consultation, I was now 36 weeks along.  I thought it would go something like this:

Dr. S.: Yes, the baby is still breech.  The manual versions are about 50% effective and we'll perform it when you are 39 weeks at the hospital.  If it works we'll induce, unless your body spontaneously begins to labor from the version, if it doesn't work we'll do a C-section.  

Me: Okay.

Dr. S.: Do you have any questions? No? Have a good day.

It actually went like this:

Dr. S.:  Yes, the baby is still breech.  Hmmm.  Are you drinking plenty of water?

Me:  Yes.  Most definitely yes.  I'm never dehydrated.  I always have water with me.  I've always drank plenty of water, even before I was pregnant.  Why?

Dr. S.:  Well, you must not.  You have a low amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby.  We won't be able to do a version and this baby will not flip on his/her own. 

Me:  Wait, what? But I drink plenty of water.

Dr. S.:  How much?  In ounces.

Me: Ummm, ahh, my cup is a reusable venti iced cup from Starbucks.

Dr. S.: How many ounces is that?

Me: Ummm, ahh, Matt? How many is in a venti? Umm, [now trying to do the math of how many ounces are in my cup multiplied by the number of trips I  make to the kitchen to refill it all under the pressure of a doctor basically saying I didn't take care of my unborn child's temporary residence], my pee is always clear!

Yeah, I can really think on my feet.

He proceeded to tell me the normal range for amniotic fluid index, or AFI, is between 8-22 and I was at 9.5.  In my mind that means I am in the normal range, I mean it is a range for a reason.  After I realized this number wasn't low enough to worry about the baby's well being I was dejected.  He was telling me all my efforts were for nothing.  He wanted me to have the midwives measure my AFI every Monday until I delivered (9.5 is the lowest it ever was, it went up every week following).

The only positive news that came from this appointment was that he was comfortable allowing me to go into labor naturally instead of scheduling my C-section so the baby could decide when it was time to make an appearance.  Of course I would still need to schedule one in case I didn't go into labor prior to 42 weeks.

I left the appointment heartbroken.  This was my final chance of hoping for a natural birth.  That chance was now gone.  I've wondered a million times over if I would have rather gone in for a natural birth only to end up having a C-section due to failure to progress, etc.  I think it would have been easier to accept because when you're told in the hospital, "This isn't working, we're going to have to do a C-section" there is no iPhone, iPad or computer in your hand with Google at the ready, there are not 21 more sleepless nights to worry through, there's no time to think, you just have the procedure.

For the next two weeks I stayed the course and kept my acupuncture/moxibustion and chiropractor appointments on the off chance they could help.  Leaving Frederick one day during my 38th week I received a call asking to schedule my C-section.  I picked a date in my 42nd week and I hated it.  I didn't want to pick my baby's birthday, but it was scheduled.  A little over 24 hours later it would have to be cancelled...

Mila's Birth Story Part II

*** Let me begin with clarifying that I fully understand how lucky we are that Mila was not a high risk pregnancy nor was she ever in danger or unhealthy. I know that many parents are not as lucky.  We are blessed.  This is just a diary of my experience and my emotions as my due date approached.***

My biggest fear was confirmed, Mila was breech.  Her head was up under my right rib cage and her feet under my left, this is called "frank breech".  Through my tears I heard Karen tell me there were ways to get the baby to flip, that 34 weeks is still early, yada yada and she handed me a sheet with tips on how to flip a breech baby.  Matt took the tip sheet, Karen left the room and I broke down.

After I collected myself we left and I headed home (it was my telework day) to research what I could do to make Mila flip.  I started doing everything on the tip sheet, which looked very similar to this list, and scheduled a Webster's Technique chiropractor appointment, an acupuncture/moxibustion appointment and a version consultation for 36 weeks with a doctor in my midwives' group. 


I started my chiropractor appointments that week and continued to go twice a week.  My chiropractor was wonderful and came highly recommended by numerous people including my midwives, she had a nearly perfect success rate with flipping babies. 

My acupuncturist also came highly recommended and I drove out to Frederick twice a week to see him.  Matt performed my moxibustion nightly at home on days I didn't get acupuncture.  I did just about everything on the tip sheet regularly and even swam twice a week at my gym, as this is also said to help.  I held out hope that one of these techniques would get Mila to flip since we were aggressive with our "treatments" and it was still relatively early, most breech babies flip prior to week 40.  But I just knew in my heart she wasn't turning.

Ready for my first acupuncture/moxibustion session

Moxibustion on the deck

(good thing is was summertime)

* Wow, I didn't think my feet were very swollen during pregnancy until I looked at this picture!*

 

Our last hope would be the manual version.  At my midwives' group the doctors will not perform a version until 39 weeks and you are checked into the hospital.  That way if it works, they induce you (or you may spontaneously go into labor), if it doesn't work they perform a C-section.  I was bummed to hear this because many doctors perform the version at 37 weeks when the baby is still a bit smaller and you can then go into labor naturally if it is successful.  Not that any of this would matter.  Two weeks later we met with Dr. S. for our consultation...