You've Got To Move It, Move It

Originally, I was going to title this post "Might Our Baby Have Butt Feet?" because I had noticed in recent days/weeks that I can feel kicking on both sides of my belly. I was starting to get nervous because if baby was indeed in the correct position for delivery (which it has been for the last 8+ months), then I should have only felt kicking on my right side. Needless to say I've been a bit confused, able only to come to the conclusion that Baby Mittman must have an extra set of feet attached to its butt, which would explain all the kicking on the left side of my abdomen.

Well, I had a visit to the birth center today, and the presence of butt feet is just the beginning (if you can imagine that!)! While midwife Sandra thought baby was in the same (correct) position, midwife Clarice did a lot of pressing and fondling of my belly, only to surmise that "baby's position is suspicious"! She couldn't get a clear feeling for the head, so she's not sure that baby is head-down anymore, although she got the best reading on the heartbeat in the area of my belly where baby's chest would be if indeed, it was positioned correctly. However, we are going to get a third opinion--Kip's--on Wednesday to rule out the possibility of a breech baby. I was pretty disappointed by the thought but not altogether surprised. This past Saturday, while at a friend's birthday party, I squealed a bit when severe abdominal pain and a protruding joint/appendage occurred just above my belly button. At the time I wondered if it were possible that baby had decided to make a command decision and move from one cramped position to yet another. But continued kicking in the upper and lower right quadrants of my belly settled any fears. However, Clarice said that kicking on the right side "doesn't impress [her]." Turns out that baby could still be breech if s/he is a jacknifed in my uterus, with feet still positioned on the right (oh joy! Lots of squatting and belly rocking in my future to get baby to move back into proper delivery position). Guess we'll have to wait and see. If Kip can't make a firm determination on Wednesday, I might have to get that second ultrasound after all--a pretty little picture for all to see. I'll be sure to post it on the blog.

Oh, and as for the butt feet? Turns out all that left-side activity wasn't actually kicking at all. Baby was hiccuping. Too much amniotic fluid at the uterine martini bar last weekend--s/he doesn't handle hangovers very well.


This is normal positioning for a baby in utero, and what I'm still hoping Baby Mitt is in.



Here are some of the possible breech positions...look at that jackknife--flexible baby!


Here's just a weird photo to skeeve you a bit