It's Been a Wild Ride

For the week following us learning that baby was breech, I spent all my free time doing handstands (ok - not really, but I had my knees up on the couch and my elbows on the floor), placing ice on top of my belly with a flashlight on the bottom, I would do squats, lunges, and tell baby all the reasons why it should flip back.  I had an appointment with a chiropractor in Hudson who did the Webster Technique to encourage baby to flip back.  It was such a gentle appointment until she loosened my ligaments - which was quite painful.  I imagine that the OB manually flipping the baby would have been worse, so I tried my best to relax, closed my eyes, and did some deep breathing.  I also practiced my power of positive thinking.
The evening prior to our next ultrasound, I was woke up from a deep sleep with an explosive movement from the baby.  It startled me so much that said, "HOLY SHIT!" out loud.  On my way to the ultrasound the next morning I noticed that the baby's hiccups had moved back down where they were before it flipped into the breech position.  I was feeling hopeful that we would find out that the head was down again.  My hopes of having this perfect water birth had all of the sudden had gone from feeling sad about possibly not having this dream childbirth that I wanted to fear that I couldn't even push the baby out vaginally.  The ultrasound tech placed the probe on my belly and told us that the head was down right away.  I burst into tears!  I'm sure this lady who delivers terrible news about babies every day to expecting parents must have thought it was strange for her to have someone crying because we learned that the baby wasn't breech anymore, but I was so relieved that I didn't have to imagine this baby being brought into the world through a hole that was cut into me that I cried tears of joy.  I still long to have my dream water birth, but we're all extremely thankful that I can have this baby vaginally.
On August 1st we had a full scan to measure the baby's weight again.  IP-B guessed that the weight would be in the 12th percentile, so I had been thinking the same so that we were on the same page with our energy being sent out into the universe.  We just needed to have the baby measure in the 10th percentile in order for us to qualify for a water birth.  Baby looks so great on the ultrasound and everything tells us that it's a healthy but small baby.  The Perinatiologist came into the room after the ultrasound and gave us the best news we've heard in 10 weeks - Baby is in the 15th percentile!!!!  This news was HUGE for us all.  Baby is head down and big enough for us to have the water birth of our dreams!
Every step of this pregnancy has been interesting and new.  We learned the very same day that the baby was big enough to have the water birth that my group strep B swab came back positive.  I find it interesting that I have had three pregnancies where it was negative and this is the second positive one that I've had and in no particular order.  I guess it can come and go.  This means that I will have to have a dose of IV antibiotics every four hours while I'm in active labor.  The good news is, is that I can still be in the tub while I get the IV.  Whew, I think we can handle that news!  I'm already over it.

We went camping with my brother's family and sister's family at a nearby campground last weekend.  I was a little over 37 weeks pregnant and it went fantastic.  The worst part was having to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and being eaten alive by mosquitos.  My nieces had a lot of time to love on my belly and asked all weekend to feel the baby.  They were all so adorable!

We Tented it at 37 Weeks

My Sister said it perfect:
Feeling this sweet miracle move in auntie's tummy. ‪#‎nottheircousin‬ ‪#‎notconfused‬ ‪#‎surrogacy‬

 

My brother and sister-in-law left on a quick getaway this past week to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. My parents did the majority of the babysitting for them, but crazy Auntie JoJo volunteered to take just one night with their 5 year old and 2 year old girls.  First off, they were extremely easy to take care of.  Second, they both had a lot of love toward the baby in Auntie JoJo's belly.  My two year old niece would ask once every five minutes, "I feel your baby!"  I finally thought it would be best to show her my IP's and Spencer's picture and tell her how this is their baby and not ours.  She didn't skip a beat when she instantly put her hand on my belly and said, "I feel your present!"  She absolutely melted my heart!





Tomorrow Ben and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary and Lydia turns 12 on Tuesday, so I hope baby waits until the end of this week or after to make his/her grand debut.  Next update will hopefully include a photo with a perfect little bundle of joy!  My body is feeling like it's starting to make progress toward delivering a baby.  My birth plan is written and sent to all eight spectators (This includes Ben, my IPs, Lydia, and others, but doesn't include Liz and all the other medical professionals.  I believe we counted 13 people that will be in the room).  Ben jokes that we need to have stadium seating, so I sent out an email to explain the "rules of the game" and encouraged our "fans" to make custom shirts.  It's probably time to get that bag packed for the hospital! 

Lydia's Birthday

Rainbow for my IPs and blue and pink for boy or girl
I joke that people who don't understand the meaning must think I'm a lady in my 30's trying to be 15 again!  Hahaha