C-Section Worries

At my last appointment, I was disappointed but not surprised to find out that Baby A was still breech.  After all, I had been experiencing continued direct kicks to my cervix, so I knew his feet had to be down there.  However, I was only at 28 weeks along and I told myself there was still some time for him to turn back to being head down.

Then the more I thought about it, the more the fear started to creep in.

While I am measuring a couple weeks ahead, I am currently measuring about 6 weeks behind what I measured with my daughter when she was at the same weight.  Sure, I'm glad that I'm not measuring 8 weeks ahead, that would be very uncomfortable.  But it also means there is a lot less space in there for these two little guys to move than my daughter had.

Then there are their positions.  Not only is Baby B bigger, but he's taking up about 75% of the space in there, and Baby A is squashed up along my right side.  What if he wants to flip but literally cannot because his brother has him penned in the wrong direction?

I am putting a lot of hope in seeing the chiropractor.  I have my first appointment tomorrow morning, which I scheduled for after I take my glucose tolerance test.  After doing a lot of research online, and after talking to the chiropractor I will be seeing, I have learned that proper alignment is key to making sure the baby has enough space to turn, if it desires to do so.  The chiropractor I'm seeing specializes in pregnant women and children, and is certified in something called the Webster Technique.  Rather than being an invasive attempt to manually turn the babies (which is rarely recommended, especially in the case of twins), it is a method where the chiropractor makes sure your back, stomach, hips, and pelvis are properly aligned so that if the baby chooses to move, it has more room to do so.  This method is highly effective in singleton pregnancies.  It has been known to work for twins too, but from what I can tell it is not quite as much of a guarantee.  I'm really looking forward to my appointment tomorrow to see what the chiro can do for my situation.

Also, I have been doing a lot of exercises at home that I found on the Spinningbabies website (this is a website dedicated to helping people get their babies into optimal birthing position, both during pregnancy and labor).  These exercises are actually more like stretching while staying as relaxed as possible.  A couple of them require a helper to do most of the work.  After looking over the website, I said to my  husband: "I need you to jiggle my belly while I relax."  His first response was, "There will be no belly jiggling."  To which I replied, "Would you rather I have a c-section?"  Needless to say, he has helped me with all of the exercises I have asked him to, without a single complaint.  I have been doing them for almost a week now, and I can tell that they are causing the babies to move around a little more than they were before.  So hopefully that means that they have a little more space in there.  Unfortunately, most of the increased movement is coming from Baby B.  If that little stinker is laying claim to even MORE of the room and keeping his brother squashed up in there, he is going on my naughty list.

I also worry about how much time I have left for Baby A to turn.  If he were a singleton, I would be able to be fairly confident that he would be making it to at least 37 weeks.  With twins, there is no guarantee.  There are just so many more things that can go wrong that lead to an early delivery.  Plus sometimes they just need out earlier because there is simply no space left for them.  This past weekend was the point that I felt my body start to make it's downturn into the third trimester.  It is getting harder to walk or stand, and with the frequent kicks to the cervix, I am having a lot of discomfort and some contractions.  Just a trip to the grocery store on Saturday forced me to nap so I could function for the rest of the day.  In a way I'm happy to know that the end is nearing, but I just wish I had a crystal ball to know exactly how much time I had to get things in order and to get Baby A into the proper position.

Now, I realize that c-sections aren't the end of the world.  Women have them every day and end up just fine.  In fact, some women even prefer them to vaginal deliveries.  However, I have never had a surgery in my life, and would like to keep my record clean if at all possible.  I don't want to have to deal with the physical recovery that comes from having a c-section.  I don't want to make my husband pull my weight and his for even longer than he is already going to have to do it.  I want to be able to hug, hold, and carry my baby normally again without having to worry about pain or injury.  I want to be able to get back to my life and work as soon as possible after the babies are born.  I don't want to have to worry about waiting a certain amount of time before becoming pregnant again (hopefully with another of my own children), and eventually having to make sure I find a doctor/clinic/hospital that is truly VBAC-friendly.

About 6 months ago, I was posting about how much I did not want to carry twins, and here I am.  And really, aside from some annoying doctors and what I have felt to be some over-monitoring, the pregnancy has gone just fine.  If I end up with a dreaded c-section, it will probably be just fine as well.  But in the meantime, I worry.