3 Weeks Left

Last week at my doctor's appointment, the doc was worried that Baby Hiller was still sideways and not headed south. She said that if the baby hadn't turned by today (37 weeks), then she would want to schedule me for either the process to turn the baby from the outside (an aversion), or if that was not an option because the baby was stubborn, then she would want to schedule a C-section. The aversion didn't sound like a lot of fun - pushing really hard on my belly could be risky - torn placenta, ruptured uterus, not things to take lightly. Since I had Miles early, the other danger would be going into labor with the baby still sideways and then I'd end up in an emergency C-section. Well, I said I provide a penthouse suite for my unborn children and they just have so much room to hang out, why would they move? Plus I have read that the more kids you have, the later the baby turns. Plus, plus, I am afraid of C-sections for some reason. I know logically it will be fine, but I guess I was looking forward to the possibility of an easy third labor with a slip and slide exit, not a stomach surgery with no tummy tuck to show for it.

Well, today was my ultrasound and the last appointment with my wonderful specialist who is monitoring my thyroid, as well as the baby's thyroid. Everything looks good (thyroid is pregnancy level good, he says)and they estimate the baby is 7 lbs 4 oz already. During the ultrasound, where we managed to avoid an accidental gender discovery, we found out that the baby is head down. Yippee! I had felt some major movement last week after doing one whole yoga pose that I was told would help use gravity to move the baby (similar to downward dog).

However, I credit the super human amount of ice cream I have been eating to get the baby hyper enough to move around and find their way to the exit. The doctor said to eat something cold and sweet to get the baby moving, then do the yoga pose. Well, that equals milkshakes in my world. Here are some pics from the ultrasound - it's pretty squishy in there, so we weren't able to see a true profile. But here is the baby's ear - we have elfin children, apparently.

And here is the face - a sideways view of the nose and lips. We could also see a lot of hair on the baby's head already - both Claire and Miles were born with a lot of black hair, so this baby seems to be following the trend.

I am excited to meet this little person. I have decided my favorite part of pregnancy (other than it ending) is to feel the baby moving. It is sometimes a freaky there's-an-alien-inside-me feeling, but usually it is just a very cool reminder of the life I am carrying and trusted to take care of. I am usually a little sad to lose that feeling once the baby is born - though holding the baby is a nice trade off.