Update on Madison Grace

Well, yesterday I had my “36 week” checkup at the OB. All is going great!

Madison’s heartrate was at a whopping 174 bpm (fine for a girl who was wiggling the whole time the nurse was trying to get her to settle down to get her heartrate!)

Madison is measuring at about 5.5 pounds (this is perfect for 36 weeks). He believes that she could be approximately 7.5 pounds at birth but that he always gets weight wrong at delivery so to add another ½ pound or so and she’ll probably be about 8 pounds.

I have gained 7 pounds since my last appointment 4 weeks ago (I’ve now gained a total of 27 pounds). He says this is great weight gain and expects me to gain another 3-6 pounds.

I might be ½ cm dialated but nothing really to speak of. He’s not thinking I’m anywhere close to delivering on my own this or next week.

Now to the big news – Madison has now moved from breech to transverse – which means she is laying sideways in my uterus! I’ve been wondering since I’ve seen a “head and butt” sticking up when she moves the past week or so! My doctor believes she’s on her way to moving herself to the head down position but doesn’t want to take any chances at guessing. He’ll see me next week for an ultrasound to see what position she’s in. If she’s still transverse or back to breech, we’ll schedule a external cephalic version and induction for the next week (I’ll be 38 weeks then) and we’ll have a baby! Doing the manual turning and then inducing right away will not give Madison another chance to turn back around to breech and having a natural delivery instead of a C-Section will allow for her lungs to be “decompressed” and for almost 0chance of a NICU stay to be involved. Even though this timing will be about 2 weeks earlier than our due date, he believes that it will be fine for Madison because of her healthy status and proper weight. He said that the risks that are involved with having a breech baby are more than having a healthy baby 2 weeks early.

My doctor, however, also believes that Madison will turn herself to the head down position and he won’t have to do the external cephalic version or induction. He believes she’ll turn (on her own) and we’ll end up having her full term naturally on or around her due date (9/26). We’ll see how it plays out, but just to be safe, I’m going to get busy!!

So, we’ll be even busier bees over the next few weeks getting all the final preparations done just in case we have this baby in 2 weeks!

Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Amanda & Family