Here was Dean’s and my conversation in the car today:
Me: “I hope the fact that this baby’s a breech-sitter won’t make her have dysplasia.* But it’s most commonly oldest daughters who get it, and I guess there’s not that much gravity with her in the amniotic fluid, so I hope it won’t be a problem; it just makes me nervous that she’s always in that position. The other thing is that with my other babies I couldn’t really make out what body part was what — I mean, sometimes I could tell their little bum was poking into my rib cage, but their head was down so it was more like they were sort of vaguely swimming around in there and I wasn’t always sure what was what. But this one has her little bum down and her head right up in my rib cage, and sometimes she’ll even push her head against me, and when I push back, it’s almost like I’m patting her on the head. It’s just weird to have that kind of knowing, almost-direct contact with her before she’s even born.”
Dean: “Do you know that I’ve never heard you talk about any of our fetus’s bums without your saying ‘little bum’?”
Me: (Laughs.) “Yeah. Well, that’s what it is, it’s a little bum. I guess it’s a compound noun.”
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*In two sonograms and my most recent external exam, she’s been in a breech position, with her head up and her bottom down. And we learned about dysplasia when Henry was a baby because one of his hips would make a clicking sound when it was rotated, so we had to take him to Primary Children’s Hospital for a sonogram on it. (His hip was fine.)
My Imaginary Blog 
I’m the first to comment! I beat Kristina P. Wahoo! Unless she’s frantically typing at this very moment.
Oh, I hope your little bum can handle the babies little breech bum.
🙂 I think you and I are the only people online right now.
My midwife said when I get past 35 weeks I might want to try “inversions” — lying with my head lower than my (not-so-little) bum for about 15 minutes at a time to see if the baby will turn. I hope it will work.
Your use of the bunnies all over the place cracks me up! By the way, I use http://www.sxc.hu/ for FREE stock photos for my preparedness blog all the time. They have a lot of good photos and the price is definitely right.
Thanks, Kerri! I’ve bookmarked it.
Here’s hoping baby turns. My first did at 37 weeks–way after doctors said was supposedly “possible.” Yay for no C-section! (But breathing is hard when they’re sitting on their “little bums” and the heads is rammed into your rib cage, no?)
Good to hear. Did you do anything to help the baby turn or did he/she turn on his/her own?
And yeah, breathing is hard, and I’m also measuring large (although the sonogram said she was only very slightly larger than average.)
My baby was transverse (sideways) rather than breech. I did those inversion exercises. Then, when I went to the hospital (because they were going to try to move the baby “do a version”) I was very relieved to learn that she had turned on her own. I was lucky. Thank goodness though that we live in a time when things can be done for the babies (and their moms) who don’t decide to turn.
My babies come out the way they’re supposed to–just not WHEN they’re supposed to. They were two and five weeks early, respectively. But they were healthy, so I guess when all’s said and done, it’s not so bad to skip the last month of pregnancy.
Pmom, I agree about the availability of medical interventions — and also that it’s nice when they’re not needed.
Melanie, I think skipping the last month would be fabulous EXCEPT I seem to never get my act together to be ready for the baby until the very last weeks. (This time I’m wondering if I’ll ever get my act together at all.) Also, I’ve heard that term babies sleep through the night sooner, usually.
I am going to be in for a lot of surprises when I get pregnant. I know nothing about anything.
Dear Zina,
Sarah was breech. She didn’t turn and my doctor wasn’t a fan of attempting to get them to turn. I will tell you that a breech labor is EASY (at least it was for me). I never dialated with any of my pregnancies until 1) my water was broken and 2) at the very last hour of labor. So, for the nurse to tell me I was fully dialated and effaced was shocking when I had no hard breathing or pains AT ALL. I could only say, “ARE YOU SURE????” But then . . . . she refused to drop down (which was the absolute reason why I didn’t have bad labor pains). Six hours later, with no contractions at all because my body thought I was done, my doctor said, “I can pull her out of there and cause this, this, or this problem maybe, or we can do a c-section.” She was a c-section. The three births after her were normal deliveries. It took me three months to feel like I had any energy at all after the c-section. Further, I despised anybody who made me laugh for weeks and weeks.
Aunt Ginger
Thanks for the story, Aunt Ginger — which confirmed what I’d kind of gathered from other sources, which was that if the baby doesn’t turn, a c-section becomes your best option. I’d heard of at least one instance where a baby was delivered breech and the mom and baby did fine (other than it being a horrible delivery for the mom,) but then I read somewhere about the risks of the baby’s legs breaking or the baby dying from cord prolapse, etc., so I just thought it sounded like c-section becomes the least risky option in that case.
My midwife seems to think it’s early to be worried about it; I think I just can’t help worrying a bit because as far as I know the baby prefers the head-up position all the time. And I think it will be worth seeing if I can get her to turn if she’s still breech by 35-36 weeks or beyond.
Rose was posterior when I was laboring with her, which doesn’t mean an automatic c-section but was causing really bad back labor. The midwife had me get on hands and knees for about 10 contractions, which was excruciating — but worked! Rose still came out a bit turned and her broad shoulders were a bit harder to deliver than her head, but at least with her turned the back labor went away.
I’m with your midwife that you probably still have time for baby to turn. If I remember right Mitchell was pretty much heads-up at this point in the pregnancy too, but he got himself in the right position when it was time. In the meantime, I’m sending positive thoughts your way because I REALLY hope you don’t end up having to go with the c-section. I felt so horrible for months after mine that it was much harder on me than any of the three natural births I’ve had. Believe me, I’m grateful it’s an option (Marcus may not have been without it), but one I hope you don’t have to experience.
Aunt Ginger is right about the laughing part. . .