37 Down...X to go?

The end of my second pregnancy is quickly approaching, and with it brings new exercises in patience, flexibility, and openness. After flipping herself head down a few weeks ago, the Babe decided to resume a more "comfortable" position by laying sideways in-utero. As of this past Friday her head was located near my upper left ribcage, her butt near the middle of my right ribcage, and her feet in the lower left quadrant of my abdomen. This close to the end of the pregnancy, few choices remain in an effort to avoid a c-section. One is acupuncture. I revisited Tammie last Saturday for a treatment, the result of which was lots of movement and braxton-hicks contractions but no flipping, as confirmed by a doctor's appointment Monday morning. I have since had three more acupuncture treatments, heated acupressure points on both baby toes with a safety warmer every two hours, and burned moxa at those same sites. Has the baby turned? No idea. I will find out in the morning when we head to the hospital for an "external cephalic version," during which the doctor will attempt to manually rotate the baby if she is still breech. Apparently this procedure is effective 50% of the time; the other half of the time the baby either won't turn, turns breech again, or ends up in a position that still renders vaginal birth an impossibility. So as we've approached the end of the week, there has been lots of "waiting and seeing."

It's been an awful lot of work attempting to avoid this c-section; in the end, I remain unsure that it's been worth it. As I've mentioned before, I can think of many advantages that the surgery would have over a more "natural" delivery. My main concern in avoiding a c-section has been Maddy. Over the past few weeks she has become quite needy. I'm not sure if this is a phase or the result of some anxiety as we await the arrival of her sister, but I know that my inability to care for her as much as possible when we bring the baby home concerns me. I really would like the transition to be as smooth as possible, and it seems more likely to go well if I'm recovering from a vaginal birth and not major abdominal surgery. But however this little one decides to make her appearance, I hope it's soon. Every day we wait with baited breath for her arrival and it's torture!!