Turning my breech baby

Since about 32 weeks, my baby has been breech. This kind of gave me some anxiety because my OB told me I would need a c-section if she didn't turn by d-day. I've made it through three other deliveries without any stitches and was hoping to keep that pattern going. The idea of trying to recover from a surgery with a newborn and 3 little ones sounded to me like a nightmare.

I asked my OB what type of breech she was and after a ultrasound check, she appeared to be "complete breech". Which was fine, she said. "Footling breech is what you don't want." Here are the types of breech presentations if you're curious. Then she told me "you also have a ton of amniotic fluid, so if baby does turn around now, she may end up just flipping back again since she has the room. We can schedule a version but we don't do those until at least 37, usually 38 weeks." Here is where I really had to advocate for myself.  Something I've learned to do with doctors by now (my 4th pregnancy).  I pleaded with her to turn my baby early anyway. I've never been 40 weeks pregnant - mine always just show up spontaneously early.  They've come at 31, 38, and 37 weeks. So I was worried that I'd waddle in the hospital in labor at 37 weeks or something with this baby still breech. Thankfully my OB agreed to do a version to manually turn her at 36 weeks. Big sigh of relief!

I asked why don't they just deliver her breech, and was told it was too dangerous for the baby. But after researching it further, it looks to me that it's much more about a money thing. Nobody wants the liability in case there is a possible lawsuit, and the hospital gets paid more for a c-section.

My older neighbor lady told me she was delivered breech. The lady who gives my son horse riding lessons says she was delivered breech. My aunt was delivered breech.  A random women I spoke with at the grocery store told me "I was born breech."  It's totally possible, and since 1 out of 25 births are delivered breech - that means it's actually part of normal pregnancy.  I called around to various hospitals but no one nearby delivers breech in hospital. It's all c-sections.  I was now pretty nervous.  So I looked up every possible way to get this girl to turn.  Here is what I tried:

1) Spinning babies inversions. 
Just google "spinning babies" and there will be many articles and you-tube tutorials for you to check out.  Some of the positions I tried daily were getting on all fours for about 10 minutes a few times a day. and the ironing board inversion.  We had given away our ironing board, so my husband brought in a plywood board, put lots of pillows on it, and leaned it on the couch. I laid on that with my feet up and head near the ground for about 10 minutes a time twice a day. Brandon had to help me get down on it. This one was tough. I tried to do it right after I ate because then she would be moving around like crazy... however I have terrible acid reflux if I eat anything. So it was basically a form of ten-minute torture.

2) Webster technique.
Of the 8 chiropractors I called in the area, only one of them knew how to do this. Maybe it's just where I live? The chiropractor I found did some minor adjustments but really focused on the muscles on the sacrum area, which she6 said connects to the uterus, and she did something to the roof of my mouth that I don't totally understand.  She also put tiny beads on certain pressure points on my pinky toe.

Aw, look at that cute little bead on my pinky.... And my month old manicure...

I have no idea how the science behind the Webster Technique works since I'm not a doctor.  But I have heard some really great things. Women have told me that a few adjustments turned their babies.

3) Using Myrrh.  Apparently there is something called a "myrrh session" where you just rub it on your belly and hang out. I bought a little vial of the oil and mixed a few teaspoons with about 5 tablespoons of a carrier oil, then I rubbed this in circles on my belly.

Behold my very oiled-up belly. Baby's head is pushing out my belly button in that pic. Ouch!

This essential oil is supposed to work on a cellular level.  Supposedly, it has blood regulating abilities, helping with circulation and the nervous system.  It's even supposed to balance things on an emotional level. Usually I'd put it on twice a day. At night I'd apply it before taking a bath.  The first time I did this my baby went crazy! She went into a transverse position for awhile. This happened a few other times too.

4) Using heat and cold. I didn't actually try this one. But I hear you can put an ice pack on your upper belly while taking a hot bath.

5) Talking to baby:  Many times a day I would tell my little girl to turn. Or tell her "your feet go up, your head goes down." Turn baby turn!

6) Prayer: Something else I did throughout the day. For most of us, trust can be really hard. But I tried to turn to God like he was my father who provides for His daughter. "Please take care of me. Please turn this baby" I would ask. He knows I don't have people around to help me with the kids while I recover from surgery.  I don't need to tell Him my situation. I tried to rest in the fact that He already knows. Then I would ask for peace in my soul for the wait ahead of me.

7) Headstands in the water.  I read on babycenter about a girl who did 50 headstands in the pool and turned her breech baby. My husband and I went to the gym and put all the kids in the child-center. Then I waddled on out to the pool in my bikini.  It was about to rain, so although no one else was out there, I'm sure at 35 weeks along it was a funny sight. Once I was upside-down under water, I held myself down with my legs bent over the edge for as long as I could hold my breath. I don't know how that babycenter girl did 50 headstands..... Maybe this was a 20 year old or something.  I do not have that kind of stamina. I did maybe ten. Didn't do anything though.

Yesterday was my scheduled version at the hospital. I am happy to say they were able to turn her! Very easily it seemed.  They're protocol has you stay for a few hours even though the version doesn't take that long at all. This is for monitoring, stress test and all that. With an ultrasound, the doctor showed me that she had gone from complete breech to frank breech. So butt down, and one little foot was in her face. With a doctor on each side, they dug way deep into my belly (it feels bruised now) and turned her in 20 seconds.

What did this feel like? Between extremely uncomfortable and painful. Nothing near the pain of childbirth of course. But it felt like they were forcing around my organs and all the wind was knocked out of me as well. It was so much pressure. Strangest feeling ever - to have a baby be completely turned around inside of you! But now that she is turned it's like this huge weight is lifted from me and I'm just excited for the birth! Also the skin around my belly button where her head was resting is no longer as tight and sore. Such a relief! Praise God.

Did everything I did actually help? I am believing some of it did. The way baby reacted to the myrrh... it was obvious she was trying to turn but was stuck. And I think the torture inversions on that board helped her get up out of my pelvis so that it was so easy to turn her. I know for sure that my Father in Heaven had my back.

If anyone has any great ideas that may work, please share!

Last Few Weeks of Pregnancy...Please Knock Me Out

When I started this blog, I named it “Sunshine and Vinegar” for a reason.  It was because of how I see life, and how life has been for me. I am a total romantic in personality, (an INFP if you know the Myer’s Brigg’s) and I tend to see the world through rose-colored glasses.  Life is so beautiful; it is such a gift.  For me, to live is to see the beauty of what is and of what could be.

That’s the sunshine part.

The reality is that a LOT of tragedy and dysfunction has happened in my life. I’ve never been much of a realist though – it’s both a personal weakness and a strength.  The upside of not being a realist is that I’ve remained full of hope in the worst of times, but the downside is that sometimes I can expect too much and then be unable to move on when I need to.

What I’ve been through in life, and just the general sorrow that life has been doled out to so many close ones around me…. death, drugs, chronic illness, mental illness, etc.  – that’s the vinegar part. It affects me daily in ways I really try not to focus too much on.

If this blog were to accurately reflect my life, I couldn’t pretend it’s all rosy all of the time.  But also I don’t want this blog to be just a place I can complain at.  Real life isn’t one without the other anyway.  So Sunshine and Vinegar it is!

Case in point:  pregnancy has made my life hell lately, and I need to talk about it.  So let’s do this. I will now complain. Here is some vinegar for you. Don’t worry, nothing too serious for this post. But can I just vent about how I physically feel for a sec?

So I’ve pretty much hit my “done” point of pregnancy.  It’s all the usual stuff.  I can barely walk anymore because of sciatic pain or abdominal cramping. And the skin on my stomach feels like it’s going to split open each evening.  I’m a bit past 36 weeks and suuuuper bloated. There is forever a river of fire that defies gravity by constantly running up my esophagus. Thank you, relaxin. And to my giant bottle of Tums -  I hate you. There’s nothing on your stupid bottle that says when one is far enough along in pregnancy, tums become totally ineffective.

Don’t go away - there’s more. Veins are popping out of my left leg and it hurts. I can’t sleep because my bulbous body is so freaking uncomfortable. I can't feel my hands for 5 minutes when I wake up.  I’m done being physically active but do I get to be done? Do I? No because it’s my fourth kid, and the rest are all under six. So, I keep having to bend down and pick stuff up, help little people, ref fights, and sprint - yes - SPRINT after them daily. My poor body. Tell me one of them will take care of me when I'm old and it is failing.

Except this one day in Target last week, when dammit, I took a stand for this worn-down body. I dropped a can in an aisle.  There was only one other person around me. A woman in her 40’s who I had glanced briefly. I looked at the dropped can and set my jaw, then kicked it to the side of the isle. Then our eyes met. Thankfully she just laughed and didn’t judge me. “Sorry,” I said “I’ve… I’ve quit”. She was sweet and picked it up for me, saying she has been there.

Also, my OB has me bummed. “Wow that’s a small baby.” She exclaimed while feeling my tummy. 

“Why. Why is she small?” it was almost more of a demand. “I’ve gained ALL the weight. My ass isn’t small. Why is she small? Why is everything I eat going to my ass? I’m spose to be growing a baby not a second caboose.” But that is in fact what I’m actually growing, a second ass. On this point, I am a realist. Because none of my pants fit.

These days, my total misery is embarrassingly obvious to the public. Example: after said OB appointment last week, I still hadn't woken up for the day (coffee stopped working 2 weeks ago) despite one of the boys accidentally hitting me the head with something while they were fighting in the car. Always fighting. Always. I zombied over to a drive-through coffee shop for something I never order: double espresso. I sat awaiting this drink, kids fighting, with my stomach skin feeling like it would split down the middle with what FEELS TO ME like an enormous baby (I swear she's wrong). The barista said "I gave you half off" with a look of pity, handed me a new drink card after clicking off like 4 drinks from it. "It looks like a rough day." 

I do not remember being this miserable in my first couple pregnancies. Is this a fourth baby thing? Luckily, I have the best husband in the world. He knows I’m crabby, he sees my limping, asks how I’m feeling, and has even let me steal his pillow before.  Just a few more weeks of this hell! Aaaaaand that’s all the positivity I can muster today. 😊

My Fourth Pregnancy Thus Far

Get ready for maternity pics! The purpose of this post is to document my current pregnancy up until now. As I said in my last post, I'm 35 weeks with my 4th baby currently.

This pregnancy started off rough. It was winter and I was taking on 16 credits, while caring for my little 3 kids, hoping to graduate in May. I was late on my period but I've never been super regular. I only tested when I woke up one wintry morning to a gut-punch of nausea. I felt like I was going to puke but not in a flu way... please God no.... I thought as I stumbled to the bathroom for a pregnancy test. Positive. No way. 3 more were positive.

I bundled the kids and drove straight to target for more tests. I took many tests for two days and they were all positive. I kept on testing because I was in desperate denial. The shock was huge also just from the fact that we completely prevented this baby. We also prevented the last one, so one or both of us is just super fertile apparently.

This was the end of January and I had just taken on more credits than I should have (with no family around and all these little ones).  ***I'm being super vulnerable in admitting that I cried nearly every night for three weeks when I found out. I understand that babies are a gift from above and that many people struggle for years to conceive and would love to be in my shoes. But you don't actually know what those shoes are like until you've walked a mile in them.***

It was frustrating because I've physically and mentally needed a break....

I am pregnant every 20 months or less, and not on purpose. 

My stomach is always sticking out with a new baby by the youngest child's second birthday, haha.  At that point I'm making a beeline past a toddler birthday cake to go puke somewhere appropriate.  This isn't my first surprise/prevented pregnancy.  Read about the last one who blindsighted me here.  She is now my two year old daughter who is my absolute pride and joy and has stollen my heart!

So if my kids are so great... why did I prevent the last two? My pregnancies are hard, and it really takes away from the youngest child.  Since I'm always high-risk with complications.  And I was absolutely terrified because my last pregnancy was a total nightmare in which I almost died - no joke! I suffered from both Hyperemesis Gravidarim (extreme non-stop puking, even water) and then I had Choleostasis (think torturously itching bloody sores). You can read about that pregnancy here.

Belly shot in the very beginning of this pregnancy. I pop early.

My body still hadn't recovered from the last baby. I mean yes I had lost the weight but there were a few other issues still unresolved that needed to heal.  Diastasis recti for one - super weak core that I was trying to heal - it was a 4-finger split in my stomach muscles.  (Also some things I care not to mention that I was seeing a physical therapist for).

It's not that I never wanted another baby again, I just needed to wait for 4 or 5 years.  I'm well aware that many women choose to have baby after baby - some women in my church do this, and hey my own grandma had nine! But I do not know how they do it... my body def cant take it and I've only had 3 kids (but in 4 years).  It's just not really me.  So there I was 8 months ago, just terrified.

However, as I'll soon tell later in this post, God really came through for me.

I was honestly pretty angry about the pregnancy for a good three months.  I needed to grieve my plans and get over what I thought the future would look like. To take my mind off things, my sweet husband took me on a baby-moon to Mexico. Isn't he amazing? This is seriously the world's sweetest man.  The vacay was my first time out of the country! It was sooooo beautiful.

During this time, we posted our announcement to social media. I was 12 weeks along and my tummy pops very early so we knew there would be no hiding the news.

Here is our cute beachy announcement of our soon-to-be four kids:

These are some belly shots from during our vacay:

My husband and I made a few changes to things as I struggled with the idea of another pregnancy. One night back in February, while I was in bed depressed for the evening and nauseous, my husband came in and said "we should move to Florida".  The idea was uplifting... we live in freezing Minnesota.  He works long hours often and winter is a big challenge with stir-crazy kids.  We don't know a soul down there. So I'll still have no help - but hey - it wont take an hour just to bundle and get all the kids out to the van. Also they can play outside year round; no more cooped up kids in frigid weather!

We talked more and more about it for a few months, and decided for sure we were definitely moving. We are not huge fans of Miami (been there) or of Inland Florida.  We are choosing to go somewhere on the east coast - Jacksonville, Fernandina beach, or near by there.

Below, here is my bump at 13 and 16 weeks:

Here I am at 19 and 22 weeks. (Yep, that's a dirty mirror, not stuff in my hair, haha).  This is around the time we discovered she was a girl! Around this time was when the morning sickness lifted.  It's funny, with both girls now my cravings and aversions are the same. Upon getting pregnant, I immediatly loathe coffee, and I became super sensitive to anything sweet. I can taste the sugar in tomato sauce in a pizza.  Since I needed the energy to chase my 20 month old and do my homework, I plugged my nose and downed a cup of joe every morning despite.  What got me through morning sickness was my chicken's eggs. They had never tasted so good!

This is around the time when most women who are going to get choloestasis start to get hit with the itching. If you've already had it, you are statistically very likely to get it again. I am happy to say that I was truly seriously blessed - I never did get it this pregnancy! 

Below is 25 weeks on a date with my man. And then 26 weeks: I had been having serious debilitating migraines since around 18 weeks. They would sometimes last 3 or 4 days, often with me puking from the pain. Still a better pregnancy than the last though! :)

Here is 27 weeks, as you can see I like to continue my workouts. I didn't so much with the Hadassah pregnancy since I was deathly ill. But I had done so with my second pregnancy (cardio and weight-lifting) and it gave me loads of great energy!  

I had to have a few brain scans around this time to figure out why I have such severe migraines.  The results came back looking good though, there is nothing wrong with me.  Some pregnancies just do this I guess - (especially with girls I hear - something about the excess estrogen. My OB is managing it with a medication though, so it's really not the end of the world. 

Here I am (below) with my brood at 28 weeks. This was in June, the day before my husband took my oldest son to Florida for a week to scope out which area we wanted to live in. I had just entered my third trimester.  Such an exciting time for our family. 

These pics below are 30 and 31 weeks. At this point, a sweet bond had been brewing for the past weeks with my little unborn. I really felt connected to her, and was getting excited to meet our girl. 

I need to take more pregnancy pics, lol. My baby is apparently breech.  Hopefully the doctors can turn her at my appointment for a version next week. I am 36 weeks in two days and so ready to be done. It's flying by!

It's been a year - and I'm Back!

Hello blog of last year. Anybody reading this? Well I can tell by looking at the "stats" bar that people from all over have read it. (I see you Norway - Sup!). We have been having lots of good 'ol summer fun in the country! Here are some reecent pics of my adorable children:

Where did I disappear to and why am I coming back to this blog? two questions both with multiple answers.

my last post was back in April of 2016. It is now August 2017. I had posted that I was flying to New Mexico  with my 3 little ones to see my mom. While I was down there, I got to see my grandpa, a quiet WWII hero. He was an amazing bomber pilot, and he was at Pearl Harbor. He was 95 years old when I flew down. A shut-in at that point, with all of his friends and my grandma dead, and just my mom caring for him. I was the only grandkid who stayed in touch and wrote him letters. He died while I was there, and that was really hard for me - much harder than I wouldve expected.

In a way it was a blessing - the timing was. he had fallen and broken his neck while I was there, which a 95 year old just cant recover from. My mom and aunt were there back and forth at the hospital, so dedicated. For some reason, he was in a coma speaking to no one for a few days, but he only spoke to me and we conversed. then he died. I couldn't have gone to the funeral if I hadn't already been down there.

That's not why I stopped blogging, but it was one reason. There was just a lot of things I needed to process over that summer. Then August hit and I went back to school! I had last been in school in 2009. I had gone for 4 years in my early twenties and was a few classes shy of my psychology degree.  I didnt need the income from an extra job, but I always told my dad I would graduate (before he died) so this loose end weighed heavily on me for years - to the point I would dream about it. I needed to go back and I knew it - plus I worked so hard for years for it anyway and it was nearly finished. So that also postponed making more blog posts. I did fall and spring semester. And let me tell you - that is tough with 3 little kids!

But I did it! I graduated a few months ago in May and now have my psychology diploma, with a focus on child psychology! The above pics were my graduation day, celebrating with my husband.

What threw a wrench in my schooling last year was....a surprise pregnancy! Yep, Im pregnant since January. Due in September. this was another huuuuuge surprise. We very much prevented it, as we did with my now two-year-old. We are calling this one "the immaculate conception". It will be my 4th baby in six years. sufficive to say, I'm apparently quite the fertile myrtle (two very prevented pregnancies in a row!) Here are more pictures from May:
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Currently I am 35 weeks along with another girl. So this will make two boys and now two girls. Not our plan, but The Lord surely works in mysterious ways. What I wanted was to let my 2 year old be the baby for 3 to 5 years more. She is so sweet and clingy.

Also there is the fact that my husband and I do not have a good support system. We live far from our church and we don't have family help (grandparents).  Sometimes I am still in shock and wondering "how am I possibly pregnant?" since like I said, we were well preventing. At the same time, this feels like an act of God, therefore he must have a plan. I am praying for The Lord to provide us with grandparents for our kids. And for my sanity. Some sort of help.

My plan before getting pregnant was to start working at big girl job soon. I am dying to get out of the house, but I just cannot be away from a little one all day. I'm the type who feels guilt over everything.  So that about puts us up to date! Here are some more pics of my babies.  :)