Operation: Flip That Baby

A trip to the doctor last week (baby is totally fine!) and a sonogram gave us some news that we were not anticipating. Apparently, our little baby is breech as of right now. This means that instead of being head-down, his head is hanging out near my right rib cage and his spine on my side and his legs and arms are folded up in front of him. And note that when I say "little baby," I mean "ginormous baby." OK, not necessarily ginormous, but according to my all-knowing BabyCenter app, our little guy should weigh in around 4 3/4 lb. Nope, according to our sonogram technician, he's weighing around 5 lb, 5 oz. It's just a matter of time before I start having nightmares that my baby will come out this size:

But back to the whole breech baby sitch... Basically, my doctor and nurse (and 8-10 other not-necessarily-qualified-to-answer people) I asked seem to think the baby still has a few weeks to flip. If he doesn't, it's scheduled c-section city for me and I'm not a happy camper about it. And note that when I say "not a happy camper," I mean "I cried at the doctor's office, then cried at lunch after the doctor appointment, then cried some more at home." It's one thing to go through labor and for one reason or another, things don't work out and you have to have a c-section, but as a first-time mommy-to-be, I feel like a scheduled c-section is sort of robbing me of the experience. (Healthy baby is obviously the #1 priority!)

So, enter Operation: Flip That Baby (said like how they say "Spin That Wheel" on The Price is Right or is it Wheel of Fortune?). My yoga instructor has been talking about this pose you can do that helps to balance out your uterus (TMI?) and can help in flipping a breech baby. It involves kneeling on the edge of a couch with your forearms on the ground, head-tucked for 30 seconds. So, I've been doing those religiously. I'm also currently blogging live from my living room with my rear up in the air. (again, TMI?) I even entered the dangerous, but very informational Internet vortex of home remedies for flipping a breech baby. So far, we've tried almost every (perfectly safe) option:

• Inversions (yoga poses as noted above)
  
• Talking to the baby, being encouraging, asking him to flip, if he can. I'm pretty sure the hubby looked at me like this when I explained this one to him:

  
But bless his heart, he's trying to be supportive of my craziness, so he even got down at the bottom of my tummy and talked to the baby. I'm pretty sure it started out something like, "Connor, this is your father speaking..." :-)

• Putting a cold pack up by where the baby's head is (apparently babies don't like this) and something warm down at the bottom of my tummy. I think this pissed him off quite a bit as there was quite a bit of movement. No telling if he flipped, though.
  
• Playing music at the bottom of my belly (It's like a "go toward the sound" idea). I've set up a pretty awesome Baby Lullaby Pandora station. Hopefully, he's not all like "Ugh, Mom, turn that shiz off..."
• Shining a flashlight at the bottom of my belly (similar to the above craziness, babies are supposed to "go toward the light.") Thirty seconds after starting this, we felt bad and worried he might get scared so we stopped this one.
  
• Peppermint oil - I haven't tried this one yet, but apparently you rub it at the top of your belly and babies don't like the smell, so it makes them want to flip.

I go back to the doctor on Thursday, but won't have another sonogram until next week, but we're hoping he flips before then. If you can, please send your prayers, good vibes and whatnot that he flips. Or if you know of any other tips or have experience with this issue, I'm definitely open to them!