Turn, Baby, Turn!

I had an NST on Wednesday and Friday of last week and both were good. I had one contraction during the test on Friday but it was very small. The nurse wasn't concerned at all.

Yesterday I headed up to UCSF for my weekly appointments. First, I had the ultrasound. Sometimes I hate getting ultrasounds...they always make me nervous. The technicians seem to have this look on their face, probably a look of concentration but I mistake it for a look of concern. I'm always afraid they see something wrong but I know I can't ask them because they're not doctors and can't tell me anything anyway. So, I lay there for 45 minutes just watching them do their work and pray that there's no bad news forthcoming. At any rate, I guess it was just a look of concentration because there was nothing new to report from the ultrasound. I did, however, find out that the baby is now 5lbs, 2 oz. which, I was told, is normal for his age.

I had some time after my appointment, so I grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to OB for my NST. The baby seemed to be asleep for the first 5 minutes of the NST, which didn‘t make the nurses very happy. They woke him up by putting a loud buzzer (which they call a baby alarm) on my tummy and set it off. He jumped when he heard the noise, which made me jump. He moved a little bit after that but then settled back down. The nurses then gave me chocolate, which they claim stimulates movement but that just gave him the hiccups. The nurses did seem a little concerned, as did I. With the membrane separation, there's a chance the umbilical cord can get pinched and that's why they want me to get NST's so often. They showed the results to Dr. Wu and he said there was enough movement and his heart rate was fine but I should continue to get the NSTs three times a week as a precaution.

After my NST I met with Dr. Wu. He said that the baby is developing normally and he looks good. He was concerned that the baby is still breech. Because of the membrane separation, my fluids are a little low and the baby is running out of room to turn. He gave me three options to consider. The first is to just schedule a C-section, probably at 39 weeks. The second is to try to turn the baby by trying an external cephalic version (ECV), which involves manually turning the baby around externally. He said there's a risk that this might break my water (again because of the membrane separation) and they'd have to do an emergency c-section anyway. There's also a risk that it might lower the baby's heart rate and, again, they'd have to do an emergency c-section. If it is successful, then they would monitor me for some time and then send me home and wait for me to go into labor. The third option is to try Moxibustion – an acupuncture technique using the herb moxa. Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese technique used to encourage a breech baby to turn around. Moxa sticks or cones are burnt close to the skin at the acupuncture points on top of the fifth toes. The heat from burning moxa sticks can stimulate the baby's movements and encourage it to turn. It sounds weird but he said it's been known to work about 70% of the time. He said he will bring it up during their weekly meeting this morning to get everyone else’s opinion and give me a call later today to let me know what they thought.