Unexpected Complication

During the last month of pregnancy, prenatal visits become a little more involved.  Up until this point I've seen my doctor once a month, then every two weeks once I hit the third trimester.  The majority of my time was spent traveling to and from the office and waiting for a good 20 minutes so I can see the doctor for 5 minutes while he/she listened to the baby's heart beat and measured my belly.  Now, I've hit the stage where they start checking my cervix to see if I'm dilated.  I had my first of these visits last week, at which point the doctor told me "you're 1 cm dilated, but I can't feel a head."  I immediately knew what this meant, but I had an odd urge to make a headless baby joke (I thought better of myself and kept my cynical comments to myself).  I was told to head back to the waiting room and twiddle my thumbs until the ultrasound tech could seem me.  Luckily it didn't take long and I was soon looking at a black and white image of my baby boy, whose head was in my rib cage.   Once we had confermation that he was in fact breech, I met with my doctor again to hear the options.

1. Do nothing.  He may still flip on his own, although the likelyhood of that happening decreases as he gets bigger and runs out of space.  The fear being that I show up at the hospital in active labor and he's still breech resulting in a breech delivery (very unfavorable) or an emergency c-section.
2. Scheduled c-section.  They would wait until his lungs were fully developed, around 39 weeks, then deliver by cesarian.
3. External Cephalic Version.  The doctor attempts to manipulate my stomach and encourage the baby to flip over. 

I knew immediately what I wanted to do: attempt to flip him over.  He is what is known as complete breech which is easier to turn.  I know a few people who have had this procedure and it's supposed to be extremely painful.  However, I want to give this baby the best chance possible for a vaginal delivery.  The baby will be monitored by ultrasound the entire time during the turn so we can stop if he isn't tolerating it.  If we are unable to turn him, then I'll have to choose a second option.  For me, that means a scheduled c-section.

In my line of work, I have cared for way too many babies who have had a traumatic birth.  Breech delivery can be very traumatic for an infant and has a high risk of brain damage.  I want to avoid this at all costs.  Sometimes, a c-section is the best option to deliver the baby safely.  Although it is not what I had imagined for the delivery of my second child, it's far better than the alternative.  It will probably be more traumatic for me than it will be for him anyway.

I go to the hospital tomorrow to attempt the flip, hopefully he has already decided to turn head down and I will just get a quick ultrasound and be sent on my way!