Baby Cash update

I just had my 38 week appointment and we are still in the head down position. However, his head is quite large so I guess it's a bit of a careful what you wish for situation going on. They measured him today and he is currently 7lbs, 2oz, has a head measuring about 40 weeks, a torso measuring 37 weeks, and legs measuring 36 weeks. So big head, medium torso, short legs = medium-sized baby apparently. I'm choosing to believe that his big head is filled with a very large brain and that his legs will catch up in time.

Maternity Leave, Day 2: A Successful Flipping

Yesterday, Ross and I had to wake up crazy early and get to the hospital by 6am to attempt to flip Cash around again. This time we were going to try the version with the added benefit of spinal anesthesia, something that even though I'm petrified of having a long needle stuck in my back sounded like a good solution after last time's excruciating torture session.

So Ross and I got there and didn't expect much out of the hospital - our last encounter had been less than reassuring due to having to wait around for about 2.5 hours to get into a room, a nurse that couldn't find a vein, and the whole "failed" thing - however, this time everything went pretty amazing. We were put in a room right away, had some great and friendly nurses, and everything proceeded very much on schedule. At around 8:15 my doctors showed up, confirmed that stubborn little guy was still breech and said, "see you in the OR in a few minutes". I didn't really realize that I was going to be going to the OR for any of this. Last time, we had tried everything in the labor room, so I got a bit panicked as I was walked into a bright room with a gurney in the middle of it. I think my doctors saw me go a bit white though because they were in there in no time and Dr. Worth held my hand as I got the spinal. After that, Ross was able to come in, my whole lower body went completely numb (which was pretty freaky) and Drs. Musalli and Worth got down to turning Cash around....in about 10 seconds. That is seriously how long it took. They said, "and we're done" and I came back with "are you serious?". After monitoring Cash for a few minutes after his heart rate dropped a bit, he got better and I was wheeled back into the labor room to wait until I got some feeling back into my legs. I felt pretty bad for about an hour afterwards, mainly due to my blood pressure dropping, but that was fixed by the anesthesiologist and Ross and I spent the next few hours watching old episodes of The Office on our laptop. We were home in time for lunch with the knowledge that now we didn't have to schedule our son's birthday and that I could at least try for the natural birth I have been wanting to have all along.

Scenes from Maternity Leave, Day 1: Lighting my foot on fire to turn Cash around

The things I'm am resorting to in order to try to get out of this breech situation. What looks like my pinky toe smoking a clove cigarette above is, in actuality, the ancient Chinese medical treatment of moxibustion. Today, on my first day of work-enforced short-term disability leave, I went and did some acupuncture followed by a field trip to Chinatown to buy some smoking herbs for my toe. Fun! Tomorrow we are scheduled for a second attempt at a version, this time with an epidural, so I'm trying everything I can to get Cash to turn before tomorrow morning. I figure a bunch of small needles in my lower extremities is infinitely better than a large one in my spine.

The acupuncture wasn't so bad. I've done it before for a muscle spasm problem and while I don't find it to be as "relaxing" of a treatment as it suggests, I enjoyed the reclining chair and the peace and quiet. However, I needed to follow it up with some moxibustion in order to realize its full effect and my acupuncturist suggested I buy some to burn periodically throughout the evening. So off to some weird Chinatown pharmacy I went to buy a very cheap, but very large box of this stuff. Basically I stick it to my toe and light it and wait until I feel a warmth in my toe muscle and my qi is supposed to open up and flow energy to Cash to make him turn around. Who knows if this works or not but my pinky toe is now especially toasty and I smell like patchouli. I also have about 180 more of these little moxas left so I need to read up on what I else I can use it for. Probably the best part of the day is that on my way home I was able to pick up a 3lb bag of Chinatown cherries for $5. Chinatown cherries are the best (and cheapest) cherries around and totally worth the trip.

FAILED!

I've never failed anything in my life but today that is what was written on my chart from the hospital. Failed ECV or basically Cash could not be turned.

Ross and I spent a good 7 hours at NY Downtown Hospital today to come home with lame results. We got there at 7:30 this morning and didn't get put in a room until about 10am due to an insane amount of deliveries still going on from the night before. Once we were in the room, I needed to get a HepLock put in. It took the nurse two painful tries to still not get it right. Luckily my doctor is a good sport and just did it himself with one painless try and signed his name "Nurse Musalli" on the form. After some monitoring it was time to get down to it and get down in there he did. I'm not really sure how to even attempt to explain how they went about trying to turn Cash around but let's just say that I wouldn't be surprised if it was used as a torture device back in the day. It felt like someone was dropped two bowling balls on my stomach and then rolled them around, pressing as hard as they could be pressed into my stomach. At points Cash was apparently pushing back against the doctor's hands so that was some extra special times.

The final result was that we did get Cash's little bottom dislodged from my pelvic region where he has apparently settled in for a nice little sit. We were really close to getting him completely turned around but he dodged and weaved out of Dr. Musalli's hands at the last minute. At that point I think they could tell by the little yelps coming out in between my deep breathing that I was done for the day. Still, there is some hope that now that he is a little turned he may turn the rest of the way himself. I need to do some hip raises to help him move around. My next appointment is on Tuesday where we can reevaluate if we want to try again, this time with an epidural so that I'll be more relaxed.

I'm pretty exhausted, sore and disappointed right now. I didn't really expect this to not work. But possibly he will move himself. And if he doesn't, then I guess being strong-willed isn't the worst trait for someone to have in their child.

Booties from Great Grandma Inman

A couple of weeks ago, Ross and I got a surprise in the mail from Ross's grandma in North Carolina. It was a package with booties hand knitted by her back in 2008 with a note asking for them to be given to her first great grandchild. Grandma is currently in a nursing home in NC and we got a chance to see her over Christmas and let her know that her first great grandchild was on the way. We're so lucky that Cash has not one, but two loving and caring great grandmas in his life and we can't wait for him to meet them both.

36.5 weeks belly shot - The Homestretch

Annnndddd I'm huge. I took the picture a bit late this time because I couldn't face what it would look like. I'm about to embark upon my last week of work before maternity leave and it is not a moment too soon. Hauling myself on the 20 minute walk to and from the PATH train everyday is starting to get to me. Mostly because of the watermelon I'm carrying on my stomach. We're so close now that its hard to believe that the next picture I will probably take is right before I go to the hospital. Cash will be there before you know it.

Cravings: Ice cream, cookies, candy. I'm like Willy Wonka

Weight Gain: +32-33

Belly Size: Watermelon-sized, just in time for summer

Still breech....

This is how I will be spending my evenings...followed up by some strawberry ice cream.

We got the disappointing news today that Cash is still breech at 36 weeks. The doctors decided that I was a good candidate to try a version earlier then 37 weeks (the normal time to do it) so I will be heading to the hospital bright and early this Friday morning to have my stomach poked and prodded and try to turn the little sucker around. If it doesn't work, then they will schedule a more "aggressive" version the following week and I'll have to get an epidural for it. But hopefully that won't happen.

To try to ensure Cash's flipping, I've started trying out some old wives' tale solutions I looked up on the internet. Above is me with my hips higher than my head. I'm supposed to do this twice a day for about 5-15 minutes each. I lasted about 2 minutes in that position above and then dropped to my knees to finish out my time. Another method I read about involves playing soothing music down near my "lower pelvic region" to try to coax him head down. Ross has been tasked to put together a playlist for that one. The last one is to put a bunch of ice on the top of my abdomen - I guess to freeze him out. That doesn't sound pleasant so I think we'll wait to use that as a last resort.

I'm trying to stay positive about all this. Versions have a high success rate and apparently my doctors are known for how good they are at it. I just hope against all hope that I can prevent a C-section from happening so everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Doctor Update

So my FFN test came back negative which means that Cash will stay in there cooking for a little while longer. Which is good for him and good for my personal sanity. Trying to figure out how I was going to get everything accomplished that I still have left to do within two weeks was making me a little crazy.

Now we just have to get the little monkey to turn back into the right position...

Topsy-Turvy Day

In many many ways. Yesterday I had a regular OB appointment. Usually I go in and everything is perfect and I'm on my way. Yesterday I learned a few things:

1) My OB practice has had to drop their midwives due to the whole St. Vincent's closing deal. Since my appointment was supposed to be with a midwife, this is how I found out. This is pretty disappointing because my one appointment I had with the midwife was great and she was pretty awesome and comforting and I was hoping that somehow a midwife would be a part of my labor.

2) I've been feeling some regular cramping and tightening in my abdomen the last few days. I told the doctor with the expectation of him saying "oh, that's just Braxton-Hicks". Instead he said, "oh, let's do a test to make sure that you're not in pre-term labor." I get the results back on that one today.

3) Cash, who I had called an overachiever for being head down at 32 weeks, decided he didn't like that position and is currently breech. If he is still breech at next weeks 36 week appointment, we have to begin talk about scheduling a version, which I've read is exceedingly painful.

On a positive note, I did receive confirmation that I can go on a tour of NY Downtown Hospital this Saturday which is quite possibly where we will be delivering. I say quite possibly because the doctors aren't sure if they will stay there by my due date.

I think what I am taking away from all this uncertainty is that I should probably not rely on my obsessive-compulsive planning tendencies in the future because at the end of the day there really is no way to control everything. That, and there is nothing that nightly microwave smores won't fix.

My Baby Shower!

Yes, it was that exciting and warrants an exclamation point. Back when I was about 6 weeks pregnant with our first sonogram of a tiny little nugget, we had our friends Tim and Jessica over for dinner. Jessica, being the awesome friend she is, brought a huge bottle of white wine for us to drink. Sadly I had to tell her that I could not help her drink the bottle because (and with great dramatic flair I pointed at the sonogram on the fridge) I was pregnant. After saying congratulations, the next thing she said was, "Well, can I plan your baby shower?"....

Little did i know that 6 months and about 30 pounds later, Jessica, along with Candace and Erica, would host the most adorable, lovely and amazing baby shower I have ever attended. They went with a safari theme since that is what Cash's nursery corner will be, made some insanely good brunch food, and even put some embarrassing baby photos of Ross and me around for everyone to look at. My mom was able to make the trip up from North Carolina which made it even more special and we Skyped my mother-in-law Mollie in from Texas for the present opening part. It was a truly wonderful day filled with many friends wishing me and baby Cash well and I can't thank everyone enough for planning and attending.

The fancy red velvet cake


Me, trying not to attack the food before the guests arrived


My mom!


My best friends from high school made the trip from PA


Ross made an appearance at the end, just in time to help me attempt to cut the cake. I did a pretty bad job on the first attempt.


Jessica, Erica, Candace and me - thanks to them for making it such a special day!