There is no doubt that this child belongs to us… last minute, and stubborn. We had an ultrasound yesterday and baby is still in a frank breech position, which means that its head is under Kris Ann's ribs on the right side, and its feet are under her ribs on the left side, with its bottom sort of cradled in her pelvis. Well, cradled might not be an adequate description… "firmly planted" is more accurate. During our visit yesterday, much to Kris Ann's (very vocal) discomfort, the doctor tried to push baby's butt up and out of its current position to see if there was any chance at trying to turn it. No dice. The kid is nestled so tight in there that there is no point in trying to do the external version (massaging it from the outside). Hence, we wait and hope that baby will turn on its own in the next two weeks. We have had a variety of suggestions on things we can do to coax the baby to turn, some of them more reasonable than others. For example, to tell a woman who is 8 1/2 months pregnant to stand on her head (or anything even close) is NOT reasonable. Our favorite suggestion so far has been from Kellie, who says that shining a light at the bottom of Kris Ann's belly will entice baby to want to move towards the light. We'll see!
In two weeks we will have another ultrasound to see if our efforts have been successful and if baby has turned. If not, we will most likely have to schedule a cesarean section. Not exactly the way we envisioned things, but then again, it's probably good practice for the go-with-the-flow attitude you need as parents.
Other than being upside down, baby is doing fine and getting big… 6 pounds and 10 ounces big! Kris Ann is enduring gigantically swollen feet and the other general discomforts that go with being near the end of pregnancy, but is in full nesting mode and doing ok. Jon is learning the middle-of-the-night grocery store hours (Safeway closes at 1am, if anyone else needs to know), and how to graciously cope with a woman who is nesting. The hardest thing for him has been the realization that not everyone in our baby classes has found him to be as funny as he really is. Boy, are they missing out.
We will keep you posted as our little world changes. Until then, think thoughts of head-pointed-down babies, and if you know a sure way to turn the kid, we'd love hear from you!
