The details to yesterday...

Yesterday was a very full day with lots happening all at once. I thought I'd explain what an external version is and how it all worked yesterday. I had only heard all the negative stories and it went much better than I anticipated.

Our morning started early. I hadn't slept at all the night before and I was still wide awake at 5:30 when the alarms went off. I took a shower and got myself ready. I pulled my hair back, but I did my make-up. I figured if I look good, I'll feel better. We got to the hospital right on time and they took me up to L&D.

I got settled into my room and sported my new hospital gown. At first they were all concerned and didn't want me to ruin my pretty gown. However, once I showed them that it was a hospital gown with all the proper openings, they all thought it was awesome! One of the nurses even wanted to know where to get one for her! Even my midwife got excited and said, "I wish I had done something like that!"

I was there for about 20 minutes before the nurse came in to give me an IV. Her name was Jamie and she was very sweet! However, I was dehydrated. I was told no fluids after 2am, and I wasn't thinking at dinner the night before & was drinking iced tea (that doesn't help with hydration!). My veins did not want to cooperate. She gave up after 2 attempts and brought in a different nurse. I ended up with the IV in the back of my right hand. That was a bummer, but at least it worked!

The nurse went through quite a list of questions and finally Dr. Kemmer came in. She was very sweet and felt around. My belly was soft. That was odd for me since it's usually rock solid. I think my belly being soft was the result of so many people praying for me! She pulled in the ultrasound machine and when we expected to see a feet-first baby, we were all surprised by a very high transverse baby. As of yesterday, the baby's head is under my left ribs, the back across my sternum, and the hiney is under my right ribs and down my side a bit. We were all hopeful since this one has already started moving that s/he would maybe cooperate with the version.

Dr. Kemmer started right away trying to move the baby. She basically dug her hands into my gut and tried to push the baby or pull the baby. It was uncomfortable, but not nearly as bad as I had built up in my head. She tried for a few minutes and then one of the midwives came in to help. The two of them together was a lot more intense, but it could have been a lot worse. The only times it REALLY hurt was when she'd hit the spot where the baby has hit a lot and it feels like the muscle is separated. Unfortunately, that was the spot to dig in to try and pull the head around.

Together, the doc & m/w tried for about 2o minutes going both directions. We'd start to get the baby to move and the s/he'd duck her head out away from their hands and float right back to where we started. The entire time, the baby showed no distress. S/he didn't even get annoyed or angry and start kicking or pushing.

I will tell you that this was very uncomfortable. However, it was not unbearably painful. I've heard stories about how awful these versions can be and I was really worried about it. It was not near as painful as I expected. Today I'm VERY sore and it hurts when I move. Again, it's not unbearable, just uncomfortable. The spot where the baby likes to hang out and was already tender is rather painful today, but that's just one spot that was already sore. Even though this didn't work, if I had to do it again, I would. I just hope it would work next time!

I figure that this kid is very easy going. Maybe since we've had so much going on and lots of stress in our daily life, this kid is very well adapted to stress! I just need to relax and that will freak the kid out! haha! Also, I figure s/he was just enjoying the backrub s/he got yesterday and kept going back to where the rubbing was! Maybe that's why s/he would duck back and away from them. I honestly don't know how s/he could duck away like that. They had their hands so deep into my gut that they could tickle my spine (or at least it felt like that).

David was fantastic through it. He was kind of stuck at the end of the bed just able to stroke my legs and remind me to relax and not to fight it. That was good. I was trying to. Stephanie was there and she was awesome! She could see the u/s and understand what was going on. She would give me some encouraging faces and say, "oh, we're getting the baby to move!" and that would help me relax quite a bit! Plus once we stopped, Steph read all the monitors and kept saying how fantastic the baby looked and was doing even after all that. It's handy having a former L&D nurse as one of your support people! It was great having her there to visit with and keep my mind off of things too.

I wish Steph could stay until next week. However, the kids have school and everyone has real-life responsibilities. Plus, we'll see them next month when we go to Colorado Springs. Also, my mom will be here when it gets time for the baby to be here.

I'll update everyone again on Tuesday as to what has happened. Hopefully the baby will flip and we can just have an induction!

For now, we are going to enjoy our visit with the Baileys! I hope you all enjoy your weekend.