Its All Fun and Games Till Someone Pushes Your Belly
This morning Chris and I went to the hospital for the version procedure. The doctor was going to see if they could get the Beaner to move into a head down position by pushing him from the outside. I’ll save you the suspense.
He didn’t budge.
Clearly, this kid is happily positioned just how he wants to be positioned and no amount of pushing or pulling or promising ponies when he’s born could convince him that he needed to turn. He just sat there. And kicked. The little jewel.
We got to the hospital at 9:00 this morning and I was admitted and sent to the labor and delivery floor. That was kind of exciting. We could hear babies crying and Chris squeezed my hand and smiled at me. Obviously we are new parents because babies crying is still a beautiful sound to us. So, we get to triage and they take me into one of the rooms where I am told to “get comfy.” Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to “get comfy” moments before you know you’re about to be in intense pain, but its kind of hard to do.
They hooked me up to a fetal hear monitor right away. I’m not really a mushy kind of person, but I swear, that is just about the sweetest noise in the whole entire world. Hearing his heartbeat instantly slowed down my own. And throughout the next few hours, I would concentrate on that thump, thump, thump every time I started to get nervous or whenever the pain got really intense. It was such a soothing sound.
…And I’m crying again at my computer. Perfect. Damn hormones.
Moving on…
So, they get me all hooked up to the heart monitors and then Nice Nurse Lady comes in to get my IV going. She walks in and takes a look at the heart monitor and the monitor that was on my uterus (I think that’s what it was on?), and she says to me, “Did you know you’re having contractions?” Uh. No.
You think contractions are all movie-like. That contractions indicate pain and that a baby is on his way down the shoot. But nope. I couldn’t even feel these suckers. But there they were. On that little sheet of paper that was printing out mine and the Bean’s every inner movement. Regular, steady contractions.
“I better go ahead and get your IV going,” Nice Nurse Lady said. “That will help stop those contractions. We don’t want you contracting during the procedure.”
Now, everyone tried to prepare me for the actual version procedure, but no one prepared me for my first IV. They freaking hurt! And apparently I have very “thin, fragile, and curved veins” cause Nice Nurse Lady could NOT get the IV in to save my life. It took her three different tries. And these are not in the most forgiving places either. It wasn’t like she was shooting needles into heftier parts of my body, like my giant arse or upper arms. She was down in the hands, people. The hands. In case you haven’t looked lately, not that much room to shove needles into in your hands. Finally, she switched arms and found a “good, sturdy vein” on the other side.
With my IV in place, Chris and I camped out for a while by ourselves and waited for the contractions to stop before they could begin. We watched Regis and Kelly. My sister text messaged me celebrity gossip (did you know Brad Pitt has been drunk dialing Jennifer Aniston?!?!?!). We took pictures illegally and talked on cell phones we weren’t supposed to be using. Good times.
And then the doctor came in and all the fun left the room. Instantly.
Well, not really. He’s a pretty nice guy, and he was as upbeat and positive as he could be to a woman whose uterus he was about to change the shape of. Manually. Without drugs.
The actual procedure was rough, but not as bad as I expected, really. They first laid my bed back so that my feet were up in the air (kind of like the exercise I’ve been doing at home). This was supposed to help dislodge the baby from my pelvis and give them more room to help turn him in. Once I was in position, the doctor put one hand on the baby’s head and one hand on the baby’s rump, told me to breath in, and then he just started to push. There’s really no other medical term for it. He just held the baby and started trying to twist him.
It literally took my breath away. I think that was the hardest part of the whole procedure. They had to turn the baby’s head way up into my ribs and with me laying there with my feet in the air, there’s already so much pressure on your ribs. Now, it felt like they were…well…shoving a baby up in there, too. It was hard to breathe and the pressure was excruciating. But the doctor was really fantastic. They monitored the baby on the ultrasound machine the entire time, and the baby never skipped a beat. It was like he had been through these a thousand times before.
Me, on the other hand? He would very kindly stop every minute or so to let me catch my breath and then he’s slowly start up again when I was ready. All in all it took about 20 minutes, I guess. Though, I only know that because of the clock in the room. If you asked me to guess, I’d tell you we were in that little room for a week.
In the end, the Bean just did not want to go. And I’m so glad they didn’t force him. The doctor said the Bean’s butt is sitting low in my pelvis and he couldn’t get him to come out of that funneled area of my body, so they couldn’t get him to turn. I picture the Bean sitting in there like a little Buddha. Just chillin’ in my pelvis. Getting his head rubbed every few minutes by his mom. I probably wouldn’t want to move either.
So, here we are. 37 weeks pregnant. Still breech. Probably not likely to turn because he’s dropped so far down. Looks like I’ll be keeping my c-section date on June 1 (though they may try to get me in on May 29 instead…fingers crossed!). I’m actually totally fine with that. Some babies are just meant to be born this way, I guess, and mine happens to be one of them! If it keeps the baby happy and healthy, then I’m all for it.
YAY C-SECTIONS!
16 Comments
Lori
I am glad that everything went okay even though Mr. Man doesn’t want to turn for you!
I have tiny veins and it is always a pain in the butt to have blood drawn and IVs put in. I swear, when I came home from the hospital the arm with the IV hurt more than any of my lady parts that just birthed a person.
Jes the Bes
I’m glad it wasn’t as bad as you were expecting. Glad the Beaner didn’t mind too.
Why in the world did they try to stick the iv in your hand and not your arm?
Liz
I am sitting in the waiting room of my doctor’s office while reading this, and it makes me laugh to think of other innocent people notice the look of horror that MUST have been on my face a while ago.
You’re a trooper. I admire that you went through that because I’d be far too scared! Try your best to relax these next few weeks! 🙂
Laura
Anything for you little man, eeeeeeeeeeeep! He’s just waaaaaaaay too comfortable I guess. You’ve now made me nervous about the IV, Dr. already said I HAD to have one, urgh!
I’m glad you both survived though!
Hilary
You know, you’ve carried that little guy around for nine months. Nourished him, protected him and gave him lots of love. It doesn’t matter how he comes out of your body. I have friends who have had C-sections and vaginal deliveries. In the end, as long as the baby is happy and healthy and Momma’s happy and healthy, that’s all that matters! I can’t believe you’re going to meet your son in a few weeks! Enjoy these final days!
DeAnna
Now you know when your having the bean! That is one good thing about C-Sections, they are SCHEDULED!! Good idea, ask the nurse to please warm up and then freeze your hand before trying to put in an IV next time…trust me it is so much nicer to not feel all that jabbing and poking around to find a good vein. Good luck!!
Heather
You’re a trooper. I had Csections with both my babies. The first was after 17hrs of labor (didn’t progress past a nine, how annoying!) and the 2nd was scheduled… Lets just say, the scheduled one was MUCH BETTER! You’ll do grand! Can’t wait to see pics of the Bean!!
Hugs
Heather
Camille
OH MY GOSH. I can only imagine what “manually” implies. Heavens to Betsy, Katie! I’m glad you’re still alive. (If it’s all the same to you, I’d way rather have my stomach sliced open than my crotch!)
Jayme
Hey Kate,
I just started following your blog. I am hooked!! Sorry to hear the bean wouldn’t flip for you, but truly…. C-section is much better!!! I just had my baby 8 1/2 months ago by c-section after trying to push the little guy out. Sure recovery might take a tad bit longer, but it’s worth it. I’m not going to give you all the advice or tell you what to expect… just in case you don’t want to know or whatever… but if you would like to know….just ask and I’ll tell you what you can expect. if you would like to email me, just shoot me a line. Best of luck to you and the husband!!!! Having a baby is the most rewarding thing!!! Congrats!!
jayme_soller@hotmail.com
julie
I remember thinking that my IV’s hurt worse than my epidurals. I hate IV’s!! Sorry the little guy didn’t move for you after all that you went through.
We’re praying for ya’ll these next couple of weeks!!
Rachel
Glad it all went okay, if not entirely to plan.
Eeek! Can’t believe it’s so close. I’m excited for you and praying it all goes well!
Donna Knight
The end is near. C-sections are not so bad. I had a c-section with my breech baby last year, one thing no one ever told me (that I wished they had). Your insides will feel like they are moving around. I kid you not, laying on your side is not good, just trust me. Also, if you have not gotten a boppy pillow (even if you are not breast feeding) you might want one to help keep you little one off the tummy just b/c it is tender. A regular pillow would work too, I am just the type who wanted a pillow only for the baby that the cat could not have access to…
Ashley
Your a tough Momma!! I love reading your stories, their SO funny! Glad that everything went ok!!
PS: your sister cracks me up!!
Nancy
Yes, yay c-sections! With my first I spent 16 hours in labor and not until after the forceps didn’t work did they finally decide to give in and do a c-section . . under general anesthesia. Then for the second baby, a SCHEDULED c-section! Wonderful! Until I let an idiot anesthesiologist scare me out of the epidural. So I had baby number two under general. Then finally with baby number three, I was scheduled, had an epidural and the BEST birth experience of all three. And whatever you do, don’t watch the c-section birth film beforehand . . . it was unnecessarily scary–and part of the reason that the 2nd birth anesthesiologist was able to scare me into a general.
Roseanne
Hi, found your site recently and enjoy it very much. Sorry to hear the baby is breech, but don’t be too worried about the C-section. I had to have one after hours of labor and that’s worse, working at delivering and then having them tell you sorry you’re going in for surgery. Second baby was much better as it was then a planned C-section.
Hang in there, you’re almost finished and then the real fun begins.
Casey
Well at least you know when he will be here. I didn’t have a c section but was always scared to death to go anywhere bc I thought I would go into labor in the middle of the grocery store of in the middle of dinner when we went out to eat. Thankfully I talked my doctor into inducing me so I knew when they were both going to be here too.