37 week curse continued.

I hit 37 weeks earlier this week. I would be lying if I didn't have some anxiety going into it. When I was pregnant with Ryan, 37 weeks was the week I had horrible, debilitating back pain and with Brady I had a 24 bug that left me dehydrated and achy from throwing up non-stop for hours. This one takes the cake however. At this point I would take back pain or the flu with a smile.

The week started off great. I felt great. I was being productive. I cleaned and organized my bedroom closet, the hall closet AND the laundry room. I also cleaned out my front loading washer so it no longer smells like death. (embarrassing that it took me this long to just do it.)  Heck, I even painted my toe nails. 37 weeks and I painted my freaking toe nails! I was on a roll! I was going through my "to do before baby comes" checklist like nobody's business. Then today I had my 37 week doctor's appointment and I was reminded that 37 weeks will always- ALWAYS- be the worst week of pregnancy for me.

Everything was going fine. My blood pressure was awesome, my weight was -ahem- adequate, baby's heartbeat was good and I was measuring just right. Then the doctor went to check the baby's position- problematic. Little baby was head down at my appointment two weeks ago and has since decided to "float" where he doesn't belong. He is transverse. They had to pull out the ultra sound machine and verify his position. The doctor manipulated him from the outside and got his head to move for a moment to a more downward position but I can tell it has since moved sideways again. Once the baby's transverseness was confirmed, my doctor goes into the most horrifying spiel about the dangers of said transverseness. It was seriously the most traumatic prenatal visit I have ever had.

He described a procedure they do called a version where they manually turn the baby from the outside and explained why they only do it in a hospital setting followed by an immediate induction by citing 4 or 5 cases of when he did it in-office and it resulted in a stillborn. Then he asked when I wanted to schedule my version and all I was hearing at that point was "when would you like to schedule your baby's death?" He was very alarming and said that if I feel the slightest, earliest sign that I might be in labor that I need to go to the hospital immediately. If my water breaks, scrap my original plan (to go to a hospital about 15 minutes away) and go immediately to the closest hospital. I have never left an appointment so terrified of going into labor.

Ultimately, I scheduled another office appointment in four days (Tuesday) to check to see if baby has somehow flipped AND an appointment at the hospital for next Thursday to try the version, followed by immediate induction (my body and babies react badly to pitocin) which will then, in my mind, be followed my an immediate c-section because the baby's heart rate is certain to drop once the pitocin starts flowing- just like it did with both of my last deliveries. I left my appointment in tears.

The more I research, the more I realize I will probably have to keep that Thursday appointment. There is a high risk of the cord prolapsing if my water were to break while he is in the position that he is in. I had a c-section with Ryan and a VBAC with Brady. I didn't realized how much I was planning on a VBAC with this one until that option was all but eliminated in my mind.

My sweet mother changed her plane ticket to come a week earlier than planned. She now comes in this coming Tuesday- the day of my next appointment. I am hoping and praying that this baby turns on his own and I'm not faced with the decision  of whether or not to induce. There's always the possibility that he could turn on his own as labor becomes more imminent, but there's always the chance that he could not and things could end badly. Like I said, worst 37 week appointment ever.

On a lighter note, I went with Lindsey and Holly to see the last Twilight movie this afternoon. It was a much needed mental respite from baby stress. I had no idea Vampires' heads came off so easily.