Baby Boy is Big & Breech

So March 17th, Russel and I had two doctors appointments.  The first was my 36 week appointment where the Maternity Counselor (a nurse) tested me for Group B Strep (which came back negative), blood taken (hematocrit - 37%, which is good), and went over my birth plan.  She asked questions about pain medication, when I want the baby bathed, if Russel will cut the cord, etc.  Then she felt/measured my belly, where she asked if I was having a contraction (which I wasn't) and then said my belly was measuring 39 weeks!  I am thinking she measures differently than my doctor because this past Friday I was only measuring 37 weeks (right on).  After that she sent us on our way to our next appointment with the ultrasound tech for our growth ultrasound.  Well the first big news was that he is breech!  Which essentially means he is upside down.  However he isn't 'normal' breech, he is 'frank' breech.  His head is right between my ribs, his back is on my left side, butt down, and his feet straight up on my right side.  The picture below is a little creepy (google image) but that is what he looks like. 

The tech said she could see him grab his ankles and he probably sucks on his toes.  She tried to get a good profile/face picture for us but he kept hiding behind his feet and hands.  We got a picture of his boy bits again, his face (the best one she could get), and then she printed a picture of his hair!  I was surpised that we could see a picture of that but it is pretty cute.  I will try to post the pictures later but I don't have a scanner and it would be a picture of a picture. 

Well afterwards the tech did all her measurements on the computer and his projected weight is 8 lbs!  Obviously this can't be exact but that is their estimate.  He is in the 90th percentile which a baby at that time is supposed to be int he 50th so he is quite the big baby.  The doctor said it could be from the Gestational Diabetes but also could be that he is just big. 

Well the news about him being breech meant a couple things.  He could turn around on his own (which isn't too likely because of the size and I was already 36 weeks 3 days along), they could try to turn him (it is called an external version), or schedule a c-section.  Well after a lot of thinking and family opinions and because of many personal, physical, and financial reasons we decided not to have the version done.  There is only a 50% chance it would work (and end up with a c-section anyways) and there was a lot of other factors which wouldn't make it work either.  We decided to go for the scheduled c-section and my doctor was very nice about it.  However he did say that the day of the surgery he will have a portable ultrasound machine and if he had happened to flip by then I would get sent home and wait for labor.  I am pretty sure if he flips I will know it though because I can feel his head on the top of my belly and he is such a big boy!

So...coming up on the blog, 2 more belly pictures (before the big day), pictures of our finished nursery (just need to hang things on the wall), and I will try to post the ultrasound pictures.