Time is Spinning Away

34 weeks, 1 day

There has been so much to do over the last month, I feel like I have just turned around and May is almost here, heck, Piper is almost here! My belly keeps growing and it looks like I am trying to shoplift an overripe watermelon under my shirt. Piper now moves in big, strong ways - rolling, pushing and stretching. I have only 2 weeks left at work before my maternity leave. The nursery is now painted a beautiful sunny yellow, thanks to my wonderful father-in-law, Jan. I have only 2 more progesterone shots left and my ass is excited. We have been getting hand-me-down baby things for several weeks now and I am still stunned at how tiny the clothes are. And tomorrow is Piper's baby shower - thrown by two of my favorite people - my mother-in-law, Claire, and my sister-in-law, Jenn, both of which are far more baby oriented than I am. But, let me tell you what has really been going on.

At our last and final visit at the NJ Perinatal Group in St. Barnabas hospital we got to see Piper via ultrasound again. She looked fine, growing like a weed. And then we were informed that she was now breech, but we have 'plenty of time' to get her to turn around. That was Monday, March 29th. It made sense to me because she had been kicking at my waistband every time I would wear something tight. So, I accepted their statement and carried on with my life.

When we saw Judy, our midwife, later that week she felt my belly and was trying to decide which way Piper was pointed. With the evidence from the ultrasound and the kick, kick, kicking at my pants line, I told her that Piper must be breech right now. Judy felt around some more and decided the big, hard ball at the top of my uterus was, indeed, the head. So she is breech. So, so what?

Judy looked only slightly concerned when she told us that we could not have a home birth if Piper was coming breech. In fact Judy was not allowed as a certified midwife to knowingly deliver a breech baby at home. My jaw hit the ground. What? No home birth? But what does that mean? Visions of c-sections floated in my head.

There are ways of getting the baby to turn, Judy assured us. The website spinningbabies.com is full of ideas. When our visit was over, and I got in Griffin's truck, I was already looking up the website. In fact, I looked up several websites with tricks for turning a breech baby. And so began my two week journey of spinning that baby.

The easiest thing to do is just massage in a circular motion, around and around and hope she just goes with the flow. I rubbed my belly every chance I got - like I was my own Buddha. It is difficult to rub a belly in big circles with a shirt in the way, so I would sit on the couch in the evening with my shirt yanked up and over my belly and rub away. I couldn't tell if it was doing any good, but it felt nice. I tried to massage every chance I got, but there are a lot of times where you just shouldn't be yanking up your shirt - like while driving, for example. One truck driver got an eye-full one day when I was going home from work and I decided to stick to rubbing during couch time only.

Another trick is to try to get the baby to turn its head towards the direction you want her to spin by encouraging her to look at something. The website suggests using a small, but strong flashlight. Start the flashlight where you think the baby's head currently is and then move it slowly to where you want her to go. When she sees the light she may try to follow it like a cat does with a laser pointer. I don't know if that worked either, but I did it every night. I would cringe and yet stare deeply at my glowing belly thinking I might actually see her inside that red-yellow haze. It's like candling a chicken's egg to see if there is a chick inside. How creepy would that be? I didn't see her, but I almost didn't want to.

Another technique is 'aversion' - it's the opposite of the flashlight trick. I only did this one a few times since it bugged me and I am sure it bugged Piper. The idea is to put something cold on your belly in the area that her head is and then something warm in the area you want her to turn to. I only did this one in the afternoon after work, because by nighttime I like to be warm and snuggly. So I would put a package of frozen peas on the top of my belly and put the heating pad at the bottom of my belly and hope that Piper would get chilly and try to escape the cold. I don't know if this worked, I never felt her move when I would do this and it seemed kind of cruel to me - chilling half of her fishbowl.

The last technique that I really made a big effort to do was 'inversion'. I would lie on the couch with my head on the footrest and my feet over the back of the couch. I would try to get my butt as high into the air as possible. We were watching The West Wing at that time, and I would usually stay that way for half an episode or 25 minutes. I remember being a kid and watching TV this way. What was I thinking? Ah, to be a kid again! It is so uncomfortable now and it would kick my heartburn into high gear. The idea is to just get her head to 'sink' into position. I would visualize her giant noggin drifting down with the massive weight of her brilliant brain. (Guess I am already biased about my kid's intelligence) I would combine this with circular, bare belly rubbing, boy that must have been a sight!

After two weeks of torture, we were back meeting with Judy. We sat and discussed options if Piper remained breech. I wanted to avoid the hospital at all costs, so I was open to any ideas. She said that the OB she is associated with in case of emergencies could try to manually turn her. The doc could give me a muscle relaxer and try to spin Piper around. Judy said it would be painful, but could work - or it may not stick and Piper could just go right back to breech.

Another option is to use a different midwife who isn't restricted by the certified midwives rules. Apparently, Judy has a friend or colleague that is a midwife in Uganda and she is here either visiting or has come back home to NJ. My ears starting ringing when I heard the word Uganda and I missed most of the rest of the conversation. I pictured myself squatting in a field in Africa . . . hyenas laughing in the distance - but we are getting ahead of ourselves here.

Judy checked my belly. She felt all around and listened to the heartbeat with the doppler. The heartbeat was lower in my belly than it had been last time. The hard lump at the top of my belly seemed to turn into a squishy one, like a butt, and she said she thought she could feel the head just above my pubic bone. Piper had spinned! Somehow - one, some or all of my efforts paid off and Piper was now in the proper position. We were delighted.

As we were leaving, Judy told me not to do anything to disturb Piper now. We don't want her spinning back around. Okay, I will keep the frozen peas away from my belly. That won't be hard. But why did she turn in the first place? Was it those tight waistbands? Or the back brace? Or how I sit leaning forward while squinting at the computer? I can't be sure. I will try to send her 'head down' thoughts as often as I can. Just keep your head down, kid, and everything will be okay.