External Version

**NOTE: I posted this on my other blog, but definitely for my record I want it to be here too, since it is all about our baby :)

This past Monday I went to my 37 week doctor appointment and Dr. Spencer checked to see if this little guy was still breech or not... well... he was. :( He is a stubborn lil fella! So, I was scheduled to go into the hospital on Wednesday to attempt an External Version. I felt really good about it. I googled it (maybe not the best idea... but can you blame me?) and I watched some videos of the procedure and I was feeling really good about it! I honestly never thought it wouldn't work. Wow. I was definitely surprised when Dr. Spencer attempted to turn our lil' guy. 

I went in to the hospital at around 6 am. Yes, that means I woke up at 4:45 because I wanted to shower before the appointment. I had not idea how long I would be there for and I also had things to do after the appointment. Anyway, Jeff took the day off (sweetest husband ever award!) and came with me to the hospital. We went to McKay Dee (where we will deliver) and got a close parking spot... not even surprised because it was sooo early in the morning.... and we went up to the 4th floor - Labor and Delivery. I was feeling a little nervous at this point just because I have never really been to the hospital for myself. I have gone there to visit friends and family, but never really for myself. The nurses in Labor and Delivery were incredible. They were so nice and talked me through everything. As soon as I got there I changed into a robe and laid down on my right side as they hooked me up to some monitors. They put a heart rate monitor on the lower left side of my tummy to watch the baby's heart rate and then they put another monitor near the top of my tummy (over my uterus) to keep track of any contractions I was having. The first nurse, Carolee, asked me a bunch of random questions and was really so sweet. She took my heart rate (123/72) and started telling me about the procedure. I had to sign a waiver giving them permission and then another nurse came in and put an IV in my left hand. It wasn't actually hooked up to an IV but they wanted to be ready in case anything happened and they had to do an emergency C-Section. I was still feeling really good about everything at this point. Like I said, maybe a little nervous, but not too bad at all. Then they gave me a shot of a drug that relaxes smooth muscles, like my uterus. This would prevent me from having any contractions during the procedure. The drug was crazy and made my heart race, but the nurse had warned me that it would do that, so I was prepared for that feeling. 

After about 15 minutes or so (at about 7:00 am) Dr. Spencer came in and he did an ultrasound to look and see where the baby was sitting. His head was kind of by the right side of my ribs and his body went around the left side and his feet were down below by my hips. Still breech. I wasn't surprised though because I can always feel him hiccuping at the top where his head is. I knew he was still breech. At that point he started telling me how he was going to flip him. He was going to kind of lift his bum out of my pelvic area and then try to push his head forward, kind of like a somersault, so that in the end his head would be vertex (face down) and his body would go along the right side and his legs at the top. 

At this point he put lots of lotion or something on my stomach and started pushing on my stomach. He got the bum out of my pelvic area and then he had the nurse kind of hold it there so he could get the head around. Well... the head would not go past my ribs. He tried for a while to push him out and after a minute or so he stopped and looked at me. At this point I was crying. It definitely hurt a lot worse than I had imagined. I had to try to relax my stomach while this man was pushing and squeezing so hard. It was way more difficult that I thought it would be, and it just hurt. I told him I would really like to try again and he kind of asked me if I was sure. I was sweating and crying and I tried to take deep breaths... he tried again and I felt like I did a better job of relaxing my muscles, but they still could not turn him. He looked at me and told me he didn't think it was going to work. When I heard him say this my immediate thoughts were "this is my fault. Why can't I just relax my muscles so they can manipulate this baby to turn!" I was so mad at myself and felt like I was such a wuss. I think my doctor was using telepathy at this point :) He was looking at me and he sat me up and just said "are you okay? How are you feeling? Is something wrong?" I told him what I was thinking... through my tears. Dr. Spencer is such an amazing doctor. He explained to me that really only about 50% of these actually work and that I did just as good as anyone else he has seen. He told me it was not my fault, but that this baby is just too big. He is 37 weeks along and just too big to turn. He reassured me there was nothing more I could have done to make this work. Him telling me those things really helped me feel better about it all, but I still wonder if I could have been better while he was trying the External Version. I think I will always wonder that. 

After talking for a minute, the doctor said that we needed to schedule a day to deliver the baby by C-Section. I have my next weekly appointment on Wednesday. We decided that Aug. 3rd would be the day to do the C-Section. The appointment is scheduled for 1 pm! Now that I am looking back on all of this, I am really excited to know that I will get to meet my baby a week early and that we can plan for the actual day he will be delivered! I am, in a way, really bummed that I won't have the chance to deliver him normally. I feel like that is something maybe I will miss out on, but I have heard that you don't feel the labor part of it anyway with an epidural (which I was planning on) so, I am feeling much better about the C-Section. I just cannot wait to meet our little boy! It is so crazy that it is just 2 weeks away. I hope we are all ready for him to come. There are so many little things that you need and I hope that we have all our bases covered! 

I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father. I know so many people (including Jeff and my mom) were fasting and praying for us and I know that everything happens for a reason. Maybe there is a reason why he is breech and maybe there is a reason why I need to deliver C-Section. Whatever it is, I know that it is in our Father in Heaven's plan for us and our family and I am so thankful that the technology is there to help us deliver our baby safely. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for the gospel and that our baby will be sealed to our family for all eternity. I am thankful for Jeff and his priesthood and that he honors his priesthood and is worthy to give us blessings when we are in need of them. I am so thankful for our families and friends and everyone who supports us and helps us through thick and thin. We are truly truly blessed.