At about 34 weeks my doctor was a little concerned with the size of my belly. When you are pregnant they measure your belly from the top to the bottom. It should be about the same length in centimeters as you are weeks along. My belly was a little too small so the doctor had me go in for an ultrasound.
The ultrasound showed that Abby was growing just fine but I was just carrying her tight inside of me. My mom never really showed when she was pregnant with me and the same goes for her mom. At the end of the ultrasound we were told that the baby was still in the breech position-no big deal. I was a little concerned but we were told she would probably flip on her own.
A week later we were at the doctor’s office and she told me the baby had flipped. She could definitely feel a head when she did the cervical exam because of how bony it felt.
During the next week Abby got the hiccups repeatedly. I could feel the hiccups in the same place as I had the entire pregnancy. I wasn’t entirely convinced she had flipped. Shouldn’t I be feeling them in the opposite spot?
At the next appointment we told the doctor this and she kindly did a quick ultrasound, which revealed that Abby was still breech and she just had a really bony butt.
That was on a Monday and we had to either decide on a “version” where they try and force the baby to move from the outside and can be painful on Friday or a c-section a few weeks later. After a lot of thought and prayer we decided on the c-section.
On Monday September 22, 2008 we arrived at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning. It was raining. We were walked to a big room in the labor and delivery area of the hospital. I changed into a gown, was hooked up to a machine monitoring Abby’s heartbeat and my contractions and Fluke started filling out paperwork. I wasn’t having real contractions, just the small ones that you get throughout the pregnancy. Abby got the hiccups while I was hooked up which was neat to hear.
Fluke trying to appear calm.
The time went really quickly and at a little after 7 I walked down to the room where Abby would be born.
The anesthesiologist gave me a spinal, which was probably the worst part of the whole thing. I was really cold and scared at this point because I was going to be cut open in just a few minutes and didn’t know what to expect. I was shaking uncontrollably. The doctor was having a hard time numbing me and I was so uncomfortable. I could feel the crunching of the shot going in and out oft my back and was freaking out. Fluke was really good at holding me still and letting me squeeze him REALLY HARD to get through being so uncomfortable. I remember the room was really cold and really white. After the doctor finally found the right spot I was laid down given a catheter and a sheet was put up.
On a side note, I was more worried about the catheter than anything else and it was completely easy and painless and not that bad at all.
I wasn’t numb by the time I should have been and the anesthesiologist was getting a little worried but they waited a few minutes and all of the sudden I could smell something funny and could feel my tummy being tugged on. I asked, “are the doing it?” and someone told me they were.
Fluke was really nervous about me getting a c-section. There was so much going on he didn’t know where to look. They had given him a chair in case he fainted but he really wanted to see Abby being born so he kept peeking over the sheet. Our doctor saw him peeking and explained what was going on and he got to watch the rest. Abby’s little butt was poking out and everyone was pulling at my tummy and someone was pulling on her butt and out she popped.
They told me where to look and I got a peek at her as they walked her over to be cleaned and weighed and checked out.
Fluke said it took a few long seconds before she took her first breath but she checked out okay. She weighted 6 lbs and was 17.5 inches long.
Fluke got to watch all the layers being stitched up which he loved because he has had so many abdominal surgeries.
The whole thing went really quickly and was a good experience overall.
I highly suggest the c-section.
We love our baby girl.
Here is Abby at only a few hours old.
We had to put a hat on her so the other babies wouldn't be jealous of all that hair.
We had to put a hat on her so the other babies wouldn't be jealous of all that hair.
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