A Breeched Amabo

Amabo's head is creating so much pressure in my ribs that I am completely convinced that she will come out with permanent rib indentations in the side of her head! Hopefully she will have good hair - otherwise it is going to be a hard road in elementary school.

Seriously ... this is ridiculous. Do all pregnant women have this kind of pressure? Not to mention the fact that my stomach is now living uncomfortably in my throat, along with my lungs and whatever organs are in the region.

I recently found a website about turning a breech baby - one of the suggestions was do a hand stand in the pool. Since I have a water aerobics class for pregnant women every Tuesday, I thought that tonight would be a good opportunity to do this. Let me just state a couple things for the record: 1) I am not a graceful person. 2) I am not a good swimmer...I know, you would think, well, it's just a hand stand, you don't have to swim. Let me restate this ... I like to lounge in the pool - preferably with a drink that includes a small toothpick umbrella. Water aerobics (which does not involve swimming) is as active as I get in the pool. Let's just say that I will likely not be embarrassing myself again by attempting this next week.

So - on to the next attempts to get this baby to flip herself around. The next tactic involves taking an upside down position on an ironing board that is reclined against the couch (or stairs). This should be about as graceful looking as the head stand in the pool. Maybe next I'll just have Dan hold my by the ankles and shake me up and down.

Okay - so the truth is, I don't really have to worry about this right now. The doctor said that they don't start to worry about the breech position until 37 weeks - which means I have a little less than 5 weeks. However, I am a planner - which means that if we can go ahead and get her head down in advance then we will be ahead of the curve. My other concern is that since she is measuring big (which I also know I have to take with a grain of salt) is that she will get to big to turn and then there will be nothing I can do. So - none of these things are going to hurt the situation (at least in theory....) so I may as well try.

Why is this so important? It isn't ... truthfully. Although I would really like to do this whole birth thing the natural way (of course I am not above accepting the epidural)! So why do I want to do it the natural way? Because I have a fear of doing pregnancy wrong. Even though many people I know, many wonderful mothers in fact gave birth by c-section, somehow I believe that this child birth thing is an experience I want. In the end, what I really want is for Amabo to come the safest way possible for her and for me ... and if that is via a c-section because she is a giant baby who refuses to turn then que sera!

On another note: In a recent email exchange with a good friend who has offered to dog sit and clean house while we are in the hospital laboring away (and when I say we, I mean me!), she wrote, "Knowing you, it will be a quick labor, which you will have pre-planned into 15 minute increments. Everyone, including A-bot [Amabo], will have a copy of the birthing itinerary, and they damn well better stick to it." I was pleased at this remark because it shows how well this friend truly knows me. It's true. And for the record, as part of the birthing plan it states that Amabo will not be in the breech position - clearly she has not read her copy of the plan! Really, though, I do everything by a schedule. When I was in college (not that I am proud of this ... well, yes I am), I used to take the syllabi for my classes and break out the number of pages, etc...that I had to read each night in order to get through the book/chapter/project by the due date. I clean by a schedule, I work by a schedule. Everything is a schedule. It is the way that I keep myself organized and therefore sane. I have a feeling the motherhood may change some of these things - in fact, pregnancy is teaching me in many ways to let go of the things that I cannot control. Clearly, I still believe that I can control the position that Miss Amabo is in!