Independent Thinker

I had a 35 week doctor's appointment yesterday (we're a week off of the "typical schedule") and found out that Maya is not the only Tackett child trying to exert his/her independence. The Littlest Tackett is breech. For some reason, the evolutionary/biological factors that convince 97% of babies to turn upside down in preparation for delivery don't seem to matter that much to the Littlest Tackett (which Larkin swears is proof that this baby is taking after his/her Grandpaji, Gene.)

In the big scheme of things, this isn't that big of deal. The baby is healthy, I'm healthy. And those factors won't change. Finding out that the baby is breech just adds another wrinkle to our plans. We've decided to have our OB perform an external version next Friday, April 30th. In this procedure, which will happen in the hospital and should take a couple of hours, the OB is going to try and physically "convince" the Littlest Tackett to turn. There is about a 60% chance that it will work. In the meantime, my OB referred me to the GW Center for Integrative Medicine, where I underwent acupuncture and an incense treatment yesterday. I figured I might as well as try all avenues....

There is a very small chance that something could go wrong next Friday and that I'll end up having an emergency c-section right then and there. Neither Larkin nor I are prepared for the fact that the Littlest Tackett may arrive next week, but we will be by next Friday. It is a small risk, but one that we need to at least prepare for. Luckily, Chelsea and a group of my dearest friends from UVA are already planning to be here next weekend, so IF the baby arrives, we'll have plenty of help, visitors, etc. to tide us over until Mom and Dad arrive.

Most likely, though, the baby will flip, and I'll be able to have a regular delivery when the Littlest Tackett is ready to come out. In the case that the version doesn't work (or that the baby flips back over - which is entirely possible if this baby inherits any of my stubborn Klingler genes), we'll schedule a c-section at some point in May (we do have the option of trying a breech delivery but I don't think I want to risk it). Although I don't want a c-section due to the recovery period, being able to plan when this baby arrives does provide a bright spot in the whole thing.

And, of course, there is the possibility that in spite of all that I'm trying over the next 10 days or so, the baby will wait and flip whenever he/she decides to... in which case, I will be certain that the baby is mine!