A Big Day for the Leitch's

Today is a "D-Day" of sorts for Kirk and me.

We're headed to the hospital later this morning to try out this procedure to flip our son, who is currently very content in the frank breech position.

In all my sonograms, baby boy had been head down. And then at 30 weeks, he suddenly decided that wasn't kosher for him, and flipped himself breech. I've since spent the last six weeks attempting to get him to turn. I've inverted myself for periods of time throughout the day, done hip rotation exercises, drank more water than I thought was possible, and put peppermint oil on the upper part of my belly (babies are supposed to "turn away" from the smell of the peppermint. Why yes, I've walked around for the last several weeks smelling like a ginormous stick of gum). All of this has been in vain. Little dude is happy sitting on his rump.

I don't blame him. Mama doesn't like being upside down, either. Why do people like twisty-turny upside down roller coasters? Yeah, no thanks.

Here's a fun comparison on just how big he's gotten: on the left, I'm 23 weeks. Notice all the room I have in the drawstring! On the right, I'm over 35 weeks and trying to cram it all in there with a maxed out drawstring...

My midwives won't take me if I have a breech presentation - they'll refer me over to the hospital that's across the street. Since it's my first baby, I haven't found a doctor that will let me attempt a regular birth by going into labor (his head is too likely to get stuck in the birth canal since there hasn't been a baby traveling through there to "pave the way" before).

An ECV at nearly 36 weeks is our last hope of having him naturally with our midwives. If he doesn't get with our program or there simply isn't room for him to move, then they'll immediately transfer my files/medical records over to the hospital, and I'll schedule a c section for sometime between 37-39 weeks. Whoa. That could be in as little as nine days!

Hopefully our strong-willed little one wants to play today, and gets himself assisted into the head down position! All thoughts, prayers, fingers crossed and good vibes sent our way are greatly appreciated.

In brighter news, IF it does work, I'll have the "green light" to start all natural labor induction methods I can think of. Bring on the power walking, drinking pineapple juice, suffering through spicy food-induced heartburn, applying primrose oil, and doing other things I won't mention on a public blog to get this little bugger out ASAP! C'mon lil' baby, it's too hot to be so pregnant, let's gooooooooo!

And... If it fails, I'll likely have a c section scheduled within a week or two since we need to work around Kirk's travel schedule. I'm trying to get excited about this option, but I'm just not there yet.