ECV

Have I mentioned yet that we have a strong willed baby? Scott and I went in for the ECV this afternoon. As you might have guessed, our little angel failed to vacate her head up position.

The procedure was quite a bit more intense than I had imagined. Scott and I arrived at the labor and delivery ward where they did a non-stress test (i.e., they measured the baby's heart rate and my contractions - I didn't have any). Once the baby passed the test, they did a quick ultrasound to make sure the baby was still in a heads up position. They put in an IV - just in case. Then, they left us for almost two hour to go do an emergency c-section. With nothing to do, Scott read about hematology and I took a nap. When they were finally ready to go, a team of people suddenly showed up and they got started immediately.

They gave me a shot of something that relaxed my uterus but made my heart beat like crazy. Then, the doctor and the chief resident each took a side of the baby (head and bum) and started pushing the baby with all their might in a counter clockwise direction. It wasn't so much painful as it was a ton of pressure with some points of pain - especially where their fingers were pushing. The pushing part only took about 3 minutes. The baby didn't move more than 45 degrees and went back to 12 o'clock as soon as they stopped pushing. The doctors originally told me that they would try three times, but the baby's heart rate plummeted after the first attempt. It was actually very scary and tense. They made me get on my hands and knees immediately to take pressure off the baby and had me breathe oxygen for a few minutes. The heart rate went back up, but I could feel the tension in the room. I think it was worse for Scott because they essentially had him stand in a corner while this all was happening.

Once the heart rate returned to normal, they told me they could try again but it didn't seem like the baby tolerated the procedure well. I opted for no more attempts - it was too frightening to watch the baby's heart rate go down.

So, Scott and I decided to go with a scheduled c-section on Thursday, December 11th at 9AM. Of course, the baby could choose her own birthday if I go into labor anytime between now at the 11th.

I have my next regular OB appt on Wed morning, so I'll file another update then. I'll also write another entry about our Thanksgiving trip to Fruita.