I can't work this baby out....

[ann_of_loxley]

Or I can but it doesn't make any sense to me! lol

I am 35 weeks pregnant.

My son was breech and big (near 11lbs! lol) - and I am going for an HBAC this time around.

Now - whilst a breech baby will not change my minds about my choice to HBAC... I would of course prefer a more prefered position! lol

The problem is ...I have been so good about my diet this time around (lots of protein, low GI, no sugary carbs and stuff...instead of my eat all cakes diet with my DS! lol - Which is why I think he was big though I never did have gestational diabetes)... and it must be working because this baby is MUCH smaller. I am measuring a week behind and MW says there is plenty of amniotic fluid so baby is a bit smaller and so has plenty of room to move all about...

And there lies the problem... they STILL have plenty of room to move all about! lol They havn't settled in any position! (I almost feel like I should start eating nothing but cakes for a few weeks to plump them up a bit so they can pick a position already and get stuck there! lol)

Anyone else have a small baby who has been able to move all about still this late in pregnancy?

Also - I am not having doppler use - my MW uses a pinnard. And actually, I think this is a good thing because the pinnard is very exact - it took her awhile (about 15 mintues) to figure out baby's position at the last appointment - but at least with the pinnard, she could also more precisely pinpoint the heartbeat to confirm that position which she found very difficult to map in the first place.

And I am finding it difficult to map as well.

I am worried baby is breech right now - and whilst all that spinnningbabies stuff is FAB - what if I am trying to spin a baby who isn't breech? It is seriously pretty hard to know with this very little one inside of me! lol (and my MW struggles as well!)

No one knew my son was breech. I had doppler use with him so it was much easier to pick up a heartbeat in not such a localised position for starters. They assume his head was his bum and the other way around! lol - I figured that as well. I used to rub what I thought was his bum and he would push it way out every time...I figured it couldn't be his head because babies necks are not that strong (I was wrong about that - he was born and was able to hold his head up from birth - so his neck was plenty strong! lol)...also - where I felt 'kicks' they were more like very tiny flutters/wiggles...so we all asssumed they were his hands. Turns out he was just so big and had such little space in there he couldn't move - let alone kick at all...he was probably just wiggling his toes which is why we all thought they were his hands! lmao

This baby also likes to see the world a lot lol - so if I cant feel any deffinate firm areas that could be baby's back...its because they are posteriror.

Now - the only way I figure what I feel is ahead is when baby gets the hiccups - because the 'buldge' that I thought was the bum (just like with my son! lol) has the hiccups - and they arn't down low where they sould be instead! ...of course baby still never stays in that position for long.

So here is what I have mapped out so far. http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n...llymapping.jpg

I have included my sons as well.

Now - this is what doesn't make any sense to me. The top right hand map is mostly how baby is. I always figure buldge = bum and kicks = feet which means they are heads down and perfect just like that...until they get the hiccups and then I know that bum is a head!... Which means this baby is in a VERY odd position.... They are completely V shaped! Is that even possible? lol I guess if they were breech, that would be ideal as it means a bum coming out first! lol But can they be V shaped in there? (where the top of the V is the head and feet and the bottom is their bum?)...cause thats is how I am feeling it...

Any other ideas on this baby anyone? lmao

(sorry thats long lol - am I making any sense? lol)

[etsdtm99]

well.. to start.. I had an 8lb baby at 41 weeks.. and he was breech at 34 weeks and turned head down at 35 weeks (with hte help of a chiro, he had room enough to be transverse and breech, but not so much that it was easy for him to turn head down i guess) i think he turned a few more times after that but by like 38 weeks he ran out of room (according to u/s, which i requested because i was so tired of wondering where he was) and could not have turned again..

[2sweetboysmom]

I had a breech babe turn at 36 weeks. My best friend was scheduled for a C at 39 weeks with her second for breech (not responding to gentle version or chiro) he turned on his own (very uncomfortable for mom) and engaged the night before at 38w6d. Don't give up!!

[Calleiah]

I was born at 41 1/2 weeks. Mom said I was breech till 2 weeks before that and she never even felt it when I flipped. I was 7lb 6 oz.

[sanguine_speed]

You're desperate to know the position of your baby?
Why not have an u/s to confirm then? You could go crazy trying to guess. Even experienced hands can be unsure.
And yes, a 'v' shape is a frank breech position. Most breech babies are frank breech, and this is the most favourable of breech positions for vaginal birth. ATM, I have a head in my right ribs and feet up on the left side, bum down.

[Mosaic]

I've read that second babies don't pick their position until MUCH closer to birth, within days sometimes. I hear your concern because I'm also paranoid about baby#2's position and it drives me NUTS that there's so little I can do about it.

I think V-shaped IS possible, but not terribly common, plus I also find belly mapping really tricky. I'm addicted to spinningbabies and doing everything in my power to focus on the best positioning. I'd recommend just doing the exercises to encourage good positioning and hope they fall into the right place.

[MiaMama]

My baby was "unstable" at 36+. She would go vertex, breech, but mostly hung out transverse. I saw a chiro for webster, not sure how much that helped, but she is head down now (39.5w). (My baby is on the smaller side)

So, yes, it is possible for some babies to turn. Even late. My mom almost risked out of my homebirth in 1983, because I was breech at 38 wks. She did lots of positioning, talking, icepacks, belly rubbing, and I turned. I was over 8lbs, I think 8lbs 4 oz, so not a huge babe, but not a tiny one either.

[triscuitsmom]

I can't helping with the mapping... but with the breech thing I have some experience.

My baby was not at all unstable. He was breech every single time they checked from 24 weeks one. Firmly bum down and head up (and interestingly enough, he would also move his head when I touched it ). I felt instinctively that I shouldn't try and flip him, so I didn't. (Although I didn't know about spinning babies so maybe that would have felt more comfortable for me, but I knew I wasn't going to get an ECV or even moxa etc).

I prepared to birth him vaginally if he was breech. And then he flipped. All on his own, just one day he flipped. I was passed my due date. We didn't know if he'd stay because he had been so persistently breech. He did and I birthed him vertex at 43 weeks.

He was not as big as your son, but he was almost 9lbs and still had room to turn so hopefully your baby will too.

Interesting to me too is that my grandmother carried a persistent breech baby (her third child) who flipped vertex at 36-37 weeks, stayed head down, and then during her labour he flipped breech again. Horrific for her because of how they delivered him because of it (it was vaginal, but it was definitely very surgical), but she says that she always felt he was meant to come out that way so she wasn't surprised that he flipped again at the last second.

Babies sometimes do flip right into labour. It's amazing what they can do.