Wednesday, August 13, 2008

weeks or days?

I am due to give birth to my first child in two weeks. For the last month I have been living with a breech baby inside me, which means I've spent a lot of my spare time in front of the tv lying head down at a 45 degree angle. It's not the most comfortable position. I literally feel like I'm being suffocated from the inside, like someone is sitting on my lungs. Not fun.
Two weeks ago my doc offered to do an external cephalic version, which basically means she'd put her hands on my belly and push the baby in a circle until she was head down. So, this procedure is performed in a hospital, requires drugs to relax the uterus, necessitates that you not eat for 8-12 hours, and involves a lot of pain. Doesn't it sound like something you'd want to do when you're 8.5 months pregnant? The good news was my doctor was generally over 75% successful. Last week, however, I find out that in our particular case the success rate probability has dropped below 50%. Pain and discomfort maybe all for naught to gain a natural childbirth.
I would have liked a natural childbirth for a couple of reasons: it is a right of passage. Its an experience less than half of the world gets to have and I could say, "Been there, done that!" But really what is important is having a healthy baby, no matter how she comes out. My mother had a c-section for me, her mother had a c-section for her. I don't think it's a bad way of coming into the world. We all turned out healthy. So, I opted out.
Now I'm just waiting to schedule a c-section sometime in the next two weeks... waiting...

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