The version~

If you ever have to have a c-section and you need a little distraction during the 2 hour wait beforehand, you can borrow Zachary. Those 2 hours flew by. I just sat there watching the Zach show. This is a picture our Doula/ birth photographer took of Zach taking a picture of himself with Mikayla taking a picture of him. He was also taking pictures of his belly button.

Anyway, back to the ultrasound, which was June 5th, 2009. I remember the ultrasound tech was the one I didn't like best and she kept saying he wasn't breech even though I could see it very clearly. A giant round circle up by my left ribs was the giveaway, but I am sure she was just trying not to freak me out. However, she did admit it at the end. She also said he was about 8lbs. 6oz. and I was measuring 39 weeks 6 days(both incorrect however). Everything else looked great and I was so thankful to see my sweet boy and see that all was well. Seemed like it took forever for them to contact my midwife and tell her and for her to call me to tell me what to do next. Basically it was either just do a c-section right away, wait it out and stand on my head, or schedule a version to try to move him to the right position. I don't think I mentioned that the whole week before this I was having contractions 5-10 minutes apart and very bad siatic pain. It was the kids first week of summer and I could barely walk. Zach's labor was only 3 hours long, so I felt like this one was going to be fairly short as well. So, after a lot of thought and prayer we decided to go ahead and try the version. The midwifery practice had a Dr. they worked with for cases like this and she apparently had a very good success rate.

The next morning at 8 am we were at the downtown teaching hospital that was in the "not great part of town" for the version. This is the hospital that they used if anything were to go wrong at the birth center, so that is why we were there. The nurse was actually great and my midwife was able to also be there for support. I decided I didn't want Jeff in the room, but to stay with the kids in the hall. I am so glad I did that because it ended up being very painful. And by that I mean worse than the 24 hours of labor without an epidural I went through with Mikayla. The Dr. wasn't having much success turning our little stubborn boy, so she called in another Dr. to help. So there was one pushing down on his head and another pushing up on his bottom. He was actually facing my back. They got him to a sideways position, but he just wouldn't budge past my hip. He was being monitored through the whole procedure and his heart rate was exactly the same whole time! The little stinker just didn't want to move. I remember wanting to just get out of there so badly, but at the same time wanting it to work so badly too. In the end it was not successful and I really felt like it was all my fault because I couldn't relax enough for it to work. The midwife and nurse were so sweet and reassured me that I had done great. Thankfully, Jeff had done his research and found out that the Dr. had priveleges at a much nicer hospital closer to our house, so we were able to schedule the c-section for the next morning. I feel like I am making it sound like an easy choice, but it really took a lot of prayer and agonizing that day to come to the decision to do the c-section. We went to my favorite cafe, Three Sisters, for brunch after the failed version and just kind of went over and over our options. At this point waiting for him to turn on his own would have meant going to the downtown hospital first for an ultrasound and then a c-section there if he was still breech or rushing to the birth center if he had turned. Neither option was very safe since at that point he was sideways, which is actually a higher risk for cord prolapse. Anyway, I feel like I am babbling so I will end it there for now and post more about what I remember from his birthday, hopefully on his birthday!