ECV

I went to the hospital Monday for an ECV. It wasn't the most fun thing ever, but the good news is that baby turned. The doctors warned there's a good chance he'll go back to breech, so we're hoping he stays put until he comes out. We're also hoping he comes out soon, which is probable (I have a bit less than 3 weeks until my due date at this point!).

Here's Tim hanging upside down on the inversion table. I did this, too, but usually not at quite this angle.

And here are some before and after shots of my belly. I'm not sure how apparent it is, but the baby is definitely positioned quite differently in there after the procedure and it feels totally different. Which is kinda crazy. I'm told by a select few that it looks different too. It sure feels lower.

The Process of Molding Breech Baby into Head-Down Baby

image from here

We've resorted to some interesting measures recently in order to try to get Breech Baby (that's what we're going to name him) to turn head-down like a normal fetus. Gee whiz, what's his deal? The midwives told us about using moxibustion. So basically my pinky toes have been smoking weed (well, mugwort herb, more precisely) recently. And the apartment and our clothes testify to it. That stuff is pungent. I might have to go outside next time. In full view of the neighbors, preferably, so they can really start wondering/complaining about us.

Other methods we've been using:

• Swimming pool acrobatics
• Playing music to my pelvis
• Applying frozen veggies to the top of my uterus
• Hanging on an inversion table 

My friend from work (who just birthed her own baby yesterday!!! ack, exciting) lent us the inversion table:

At first I was hesitant about the idea. I wasn't sure what an inversion table was, and I read that it can be dangerous for pregnant women, especially those with high blood pressure. Also, it's not like we have a ton of extra space in our apartment. (Our front room looks like a wannabe fitness center with the inversion table and birth ball and exercise mat.) Tim and I have both enjoyed hanging out upside down on this thing. Also it seems like it should be really effective for the remedying of Breech Baby because I can flip back upright quickly without abdominal effort.

Although these would be effective remedies to boredom if we were bored, which I sometimes am, they've proved thus far ineffective as methods to get Breech Baby with the whole preparing-for-birth program. I'm going to be adding the following method to my list of techniques on Monday:

• ECV (external cephalic version)

If you want to watch a weird (mostly in the sense of the musical accompaniment) video showing what this is, please enjoy the following:

The silver lining to this is that I might otherwise be getting pretty anxious at this point to go into labor because pregnancy sucks, but since laboring with Breech Baby could very likely lead to a C-section, I'd like to get him turned first.

Also, I hear the ECV procedure can be pretty painful so that could prepare me well for the pain of contractions? Give me a good opportunity to practice hypnobirthing?

Yeah, we so excited!

breech

This morning, Tim calls out to me, "Amanda, come look at this!"

I come out to the front room and see Tim as pictured. "I can feel my uterus moving toward my ribs!" he says.

Silly boy. You don't have a womb.

So thanks to Tim's contraption, I'm hanging out upside down in an attempt to jostle this baby into head-down position. Silly baby.

Tim's contraption has also necessitated a complete rearrangement of our apartment, as the board being used is the top of the computer desk that formerly housed his desktop machine. I think we're pretty pleased about the adjustments. I'd post pictures just to prove that is possible to rearrange furniture in a <500 sq. ft. apartment, but it's still a mess.

Being married really changes you in so many ways. I never imagined I would watch (and enjoy) so much Star Trek in my life.

attempts at Valentine's Day festivities

Our classic pesto-tomato-mozzarella pizza with a romantic twist . . . 

and let's not forget the so-appropriate pizza slicer. (Lest ye think that I'm super festive, I should point out that we received this apparatus as a gift from Tim's step-mom, Joleen, a while back. It's never felt better to use it than today, though.)

our new-to-us car

About a month ago, we purchased a new car. Say hello to [insert name here].

Why yes, that is a car seat. We don't have a baby yet, but we did purchase a car seat and wanted to make sure it would fit okay in the car. And then we left it there because it seemed like as good of a place as any to store.

It wasn't exactly a planned purchase. Our dear Jetta had started acting up (again) and we decided it was time to give up on that blasted vehicle once and for all. We had taken it into the shop two days before Christmas because the engine had been completely disengaging. They recommended clutch replacement, a costly fix. (Merry Christmas!) We wondered if it was worth it to pay so much to fix a 2003 VW Jetta with 97000 miles on it, but we figured we'd go for it and just hope the Jetta ran perfectly for us for many more thousands of miles. 

A couple of weeks later, the same problem started recurring. Instead of occurring intermittently, though, the problem left us stranded when we were visiting Tim's mom. She helped us tow it back to the shop. This time, they found problems with the fuel injection system. They knocked 50% off the cost of the fix due to the misdiagnosis, but we were told the clutch had been quite worn out and needed to be replaced, even if it wasn't the specific cause of the problems we were experiencing. As the Jetta was refusing to run at this point, we had little choice but to go ahead with the repairs.

It's too bad we went through that series of repairs, though, since we decided to trade it in after that and get something that would hopefully be much more reliable. The cost of the repairs wasn't really offset by the trade-in value we received. But the Jetta has sort of always felt like a time bomb. Ever since Tim bought it, it's had quirky issues and generally been a finicky car. So it was a relief to be rid of it. 

I was convinced we should get a Honda Civic, a car with a reputation for reliability, perhaps because of the strained relationship we'd developed with the Jetta. So we landed a 2008 Civic with about 35000 miles on it. 

Buying a car felt like a rite of passage for me since I've never made such an adult purchase in my life. It was stressful! I don't really like cars, mechanics, shopping, spending money, or adult responsibility in general. But we made it through okay and hopefully it was a good decision. Cross your fingers this car will last for us.

  

Temple Square lights

Two months is how long it's been since I pulled out my camera, apparently. Yowza.