While finishing up the last of my to-dos for the week on Tuesday, I stopped in at Babymoon to see the chiropractor that actually works at their office. After believing the baby to be head-down, I had started to think that maybe he had flipped and become breech again. I was feeling kicks wayyy down low in my hips and a big bulge at top that seemed like a head. I'm getting to the critical point where this baby really needs to get into position or else things could get serious. I'm not sure if anyone can understand the extent to which I desperately do not want to be cut open (or have any sort of spinal block/epidural), but I was starting to mentally prepare myself for this possibility. No matter what, it will always be a possibility...but it'll be nice to head into my final month thinking I have a chance at a delivery that looks somewhat like what I'm hoping to have.
So, the chiropractor had me do some unique exercises that involved raising my butt up higher than my head, and she used some instruments I had never before seen. She indicated that a lot of work was to be done if this baby was not in position. Though I did not have an appointment with the midwife, I was able to sneak in with her before heading out so that she could tell me her thoughts on whether or not the baby was breech. After a good feel of the belly, she was "95% sure" that he was indeed head-up and ordered a stat ultrasound. With the holiday coming, we needed to know what we were up against before my appointment early next week. So, the owner of Babymoon got on her texting device and got me an after-hours appointment the back-door way as a favor from a nurse midwife friend who has a practice on the St. Joe's campus with an ultrasound machine.
By this point, Tess had been waiting at the airport for a couple of hours because her itinerary changed, and she got on a direct flight arriving a few hours earlier. So, I swung by Sky Harbor, which was just down the street but took a long time because we were getting into traffic hour. From there, we grabbed Gavin at Dawn's. No biggie. Then we headed back into downtown Phoenix where, at my appointment time, we were stuck at a dead stop on the I-10. I, being punctual by nature and because I believe it's the right way to be, began to panic. The office was closed...I couldn't call them. So I called Babymoon to have Julia warn her friend of my tardiness. Meanwhile, Tess was throwing snacks and water to Gavin and keeping him entertained because he gets bored in two seconds if we're not moving. His repeated requests for "Jingle Bell Rock" got a little tiresome, but whatever it took to placate him was fine with us.
We strolled into the office a casual 35 minutes late, and I was way too distracted to worry about whether or not the baby was where he needed to be. Tess was incredible and carried Gavin down the stairs of the parking garage, through some big courtyard called a "Healing Garden" and into the 500 building for me. (Apparently I'm not supposed to lift Gavin anymore because he's throwing off my alignment, and I'm also not supposed to twist my torso. Haha, yeah right.) Then she played with him in the office while I did the paperwork, and finally we all got very excited to see an image of the baby. Except that the ultrasound machine came from like 1864 and projected an image of undecipherable black blurriness. But...the extremely nice nurse midwife could somehow draw a conclusion from what she saw on the ancient computer, and you know what? We were all WRONG. The baby is head down! He's not in an optimal position for delivery, but we still have a month for that to happen. Good enough for now!
To celebrate we got some chemical-ridden yet delicious food from a drive-thru and pulled into the Scottsdale Airport because our timing was just right to see Dylan arrive from a long international flight. At this point, we had spent the better part of three hours in the car, Gavin was completely restless, and Tess had been on the ground in Phoenix for about six hours and had either been sitting and waiting or acting as my awesome companion the entire time. We were all happy to see Dylan and then get home and get Gavin to bed. It was not how I was projecting the kick-off to our holiday to go, especially because I hate traffic and would normally avoid downtown Phoenix at 4:30 like the plague...but in the end, everything ended up just right.
Right now, we have so much to be thankful about. We love having Tess in town, Dylan is home, and we have a big feast planned with family...and so much more. I hope everyone has a Thanksgiving filled with good food, love and warmth (and possibly football, maybe a parade?).
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