Baby Josiah is HERE! Part 1

Baby Boy has finally arrived! He entered our lives on June 7, 2013 at 9:43pm.

For the last 3 months of my pregnancy I have been hush-hush because I was working hard to have a home birth. At the third trimester mark, most babies turn into a head down position, in preparation for exiting their mother's body. Usually at 28 weeks and beyond this can happen at different points for different women.

For most, that being about 97%, babies turn, and mom is in the clear. For about 3% of pregnancies, baby doesn't turn, and this is named breech presentation. The breech baby could be bottom first, foot first, etc...

Needless to say Josiah was apart of the 3%, breech presentation, from 28 weeks on! The entire third trimester for me was stressful, I tried exercies, went to the chiropractor RELIGIOUSLY every week, even increasing my visits to up to 3 visits a week to get the baby to turn. I tried acupuncture, tried to direct him to turn using music (yes even the Mozart), ice, and talking techniques. I crawled, washed my floors on my hands and knees, washed the baseboards... nothing...

I tell you there are so many things that people suggest you do, from walking to standing upside down in the pool! I must say, I didn't do that one :)

At about 36 weeks I begin to accept the fact that maybe just maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

Unfortunately, in Florida midwives can't deliver breech births at home. So my quest for home birth seemed bleak. In meeting one, my midwife told me that if at 36 weeks the baby hadn't turned that I would legally have to transfer my care to the back up OBGYN. She did however reassure me that if the baby turned after this period I would be able to still have the baby at home.

I'm not gonna lie, it was a VERY emotional time for me, especially around week 36-37. I had set my sights on a home birth, water delivery. It seemed that going this route was the only way I would have this VBAC delivery (Vaginal birth after c-section). I cried when I found out he wasn't turning.

Thankfully this emotional state only lasted one full day, I was a wreck.

But I gave it over to God, really just prayed and came to grips with him turning if it was meant to be.

Babies can turn at any point, some turn day of delivery, so I felt that it was best for me to keep in mind that I shouldn't manipulate nature if it wasn't necessary, if the baby was to take me to week 40, and turn, so be it, if he was to take me to week 40 and not turn, so be it :)

So my midwife, gave me my options, which the back up OBGYN gave her to give to me.

Option 1: External Version, this is when the doctor physically maneuvers the baby from the outside of the stomach, and attempts to turn him by shifting his position.
Option 2: Planned C-Section
Option 3: Midwives in Tennessee (Trained and legally allowed to do breech births)
Option 4: Transfer my care to a breech specialist about 1 hour away

Looking at my options, I felt the best choice for me was #4

I didn't want to do the external version, because if certain things went wrong, I could've been rushed into an emergency c-section, the very thing I was trying to avoid at all costs.

It's one thing to medically NEED a c-section, its another thing to put my body in an unnecessary situation and potentially cause an emergency by choice.

I knew I wasn't planning a c-section, and I REALLY knew I wasn't going to Tennessee.

So I chose to transfer my care to the breech specialist.

I met with the doctor, liked him, explained my situation to him and he told me he would take me on. Hallelujah! He told me he had done 2 VBAC breech births before... yes... just 2, I felt, 2 was better than none!

So at about 38 weeks I was officially in the care of  the breech specialist about an hour away from where I lived, and went to my appointments weekly.

He told me that my case was rare and presented a few problems. Although he specialized in VBAC births, breech births, and multiple births, I had a combination of things working in my situation. I NEVER had a vaginal birth, so my body never experienced a body coming out that way, I had a C-Section so it would be a VBAC and baby was not head down.

He said he only performed 2 of the 5 breech presentations, he wanted to see a bottom first.

Only in this case would he do the vaginal birth.

I knew from an ultrasound done about 1 week prior, that baby was in fact bottom first, so I was at peace with going forward with the VBAC breech birth.

That brings me to, how Josiah actually came :)

Part 2...