Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Move towards the light... 26 weeks 6 days - *Updated*

Have you heard any tricks for encouraging a baby to turn?

I'm pretty sure both of mine are still breech. I'll find out for sure at my appointment later today. My OB says with twins that by 28 weeks they are probably settled in their positions and won't move. So I suspect that if they haven't moved by my next appointment, he will suggest that we schedule a c-section. Which I really, really, really don't want.

So - we need to encourage baby A to turn over.

In one book I have it suggests 'childs pose' - a yoga pose. I will start trying that.

And I asked at my multiples class last night - both of the instructors are former doulas - and they said they had hear that dad talking to the belly way down low sometimes works - one of them actually said have dad talk to your crotch! They said that the baby is drawn to dad's voice because they are drawn to deep sounds. And if he talks to them down by the cervix, that sometimes the baby will want to be closer to that sound and it will move towards it.

We're having some very hilarious visions of J talking to my crotch. Personally I don't think he's capable of putting his head 'down there' and just talking. The man has little self control in that area. ;-) They said that shining a flashlight onto the lower part of the belly sometimes has the same effect - that the baby might want to move toward the light to check it out.

Apparently there was a very small test done years back - just with singletons however - but I think she said that 13 out of 20 babies turned over after using these techniques.

So right now I'm sitting here with a flashlight on my belly.

Any other suggestions? I'm open to anything. old wives tales, true stories, etc.

In other news ... Class last night focused on pre-term labor, how to recognize the signs, what do to, complications of pregnancy, complications of pre-term birth, etc. And we got a quick tour of the NICU and ante-partum unit. The NICU tour was brief - we couldn't really go into the area where the babies are - but we did see one very tiny little guy through the glass. It was all a little scary. We hope to never see the place again. But it is comforting to know that our hospital - which is about 2 miles from our house - has such good facilities in case we should need it.

but I don't plan on needing it...

Update:

We are just back from the ultrasound. Baby A is still breech - the little stinker. But somehow Baby B decided to flip - so that one is now head down. So I still need to work on convincing A to turn over.

More detail on the ultrasound later - we're off to the OB in a few minutes.

10 comments:

Marie-Baguette said...

From "active birth": place a large firm cushion or 2 on the floor. Lie down on your back with your hips raised up on the cushions and your head on the floor so that your pelvis is higher than your head. Lie like that for 10mn several times a day. Massage the baby in the direction it should turn". It also recommends acupuncture and homeopathy. It also says that vaginal birth can be done in the squatting position. Hope this helps

Heather said...

Unfortunately, I have no advice in getting the babies to turn around. The advice you've said so far is really funny. But, hey, if it works... Good luck.

Nickie said...

check out spinningbabies.com to see if they have any suggestions for twins. Acupuncture and hypnosis are also supposed to be quite good at getting breech babies to turn.

For what it's worth though, I'm healing VERY well and easily from my c/s on Friday. If you end up on that path, I hope you have as easy a time as I have had.

kelly w said...

long time lurker, first time caller :) i just had a singleton, but he was breech at the first vaginal exam at 35 weeks and every week after that til 39 weeks. the ultrasonographer said he was too big and i didn't have enough fluid for him to turn. she said she has never seen a baby as big as him turn. so, i go in for my scheduled section on friday morning. i had BEGGED my ob to do ONE last ultrasound before cutting :) i mean, i had been shaved, had an iv...the whole 9 yards. so, the ultrasound tech comes in, plops the wand at my pelvic bone and says, "uh, his head's right there". like it was NO BIG DEAL!!! so, my ob SENDS ME HOME...and i went into labor on my own on sunday. smooth as pie vaginal delivery. the catch-- the week before i delivered, i had a HORRIBLE cough. i am firmly convinced that all my coughing turned my baby around! the md said it was a possibility...but since he had said he couldn't turn no matter what, he wasn't committing to any of MY ideas. anyway...its not an old wives tale, but its what i think worked for me. so, watch a funny movie and laugh as much as you can, or hang out with some sick kids!!! good luck!

Jaimie said...

I don't know how to make a baby turn, but I got a good chuckle out of the crotch talk!

Sarah said...

hahahahaha, please forgive me for laughing at the crotch talk, i can only imagine my husband in that situation! wish i had some advice, but all i can say is i hope these tricks work for you!

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Good luck with getting Baby A to turn. Hopefully it's a good sign that Baby B is making the move.

OT: The Honda Pilot is a pretty big vehicle. I shopped it a few years ago when first contemplating replacing my ML. It's definitely bigger than my ML -- I think almost identical to my husband's Chev Tahoe, which for me can be a hike to climb into. Just think about the logistics of loading/unloading your kids when you're out shopping for a vehicle; it's a somewhat unexpected perspective.

twirl said...

I just read something about the crotch talk recently too. Something about how babies can hear deep male voices best (after the rumbling vibration of mom, of course.) No idea if it actually works to turn babies though.

Good luck!

ellie said...

Ok, no clue on how to make the baby turn- but the tips your doulas gave were a giggle! I hope a shift naturally occurs for you and if I wander into any internet tips I'll let you know. Glad things are progressing well!

Anonymous said...

We did Moxa (http://mother-care.ca/breech.htm#moxi) and handstands in the pool :-). Not sure if it worked, but my story is similar to Kelly's - (singleton) baby turned at the last minute - except I ended up having a C-section anyway.