And Neil is breech

Little Neil - not even born yet and is already causing me stress! I went to the doctor yesterday and Dr. Wilson (back from maternity leave) had trouble finding Neil's heartbeat in the location where it should be. So, she got out the ultrasound machine and realized the reason why she couldn't find his heartbeat in my lower abdomen is because he's BREECH! We don't know how long he's been in this position, but he's definitely completely breech - and even a little sideways. His head is basically underneath my right breast and his shoulders are under my left breast. No wonder I've been feeling so much movement in my pelvis - he's been kicking me like crazy!

After speaking at length with Dr. Wilson, our options are to either schedule a c-section for the first week of December or we can schedule an appointment at the hospital and have Dr. Wilson try and externally turn Neil into a head down position. Rodney and I thought about it a lot and I of course did a lot of research on the Internet (check out this link to watch a video of the procedure - it's not graphic at all: Turning a breech baby) and have decided to do the procedure tomorrow. It was either tomorrow or not at all because of the rate at which Neil is growing in my uterus - he won't have much room to turn the longer we wait.

My thoughts behind the decision to go with the procedure are mainly because I want to do everything I can to avoid a scheduled c-section. I know many people would love to avoid labor and have a scheduled c-section, but I really would prefer to have a vaginal birth. Just personal preference I guess. We'll see what God has planned for us!

So, we check into the hospital tomorrow at 11:00 and Dr. Wilson will come in around noon to do the procedure. She will try for about 10 minutes to get him to turn - it either works pretty quickly or it doesn't. If he turns, great - we'll continue as we have until I go into labor. If he doesn't turn - we'll schedule a c-section for the first week of December. Either way, the end result is the same - we are going to have a precious little boy in less than 3 weeks! So exciting.

Please keep your fingers crossed that Neil cooperates and decides it's in his and my best interest to flip tomorrow.