A version: 37 weeks

Nan at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, January 3, 2006

Nan and I went to the obstetrician today for a 37 week checkup. Everything has been going smoothly so far, but we wanted to see if the moxibustion that we've been doing for the last two weeks was effective in changing the baby's breech position.

Our doctor did an exam and found that Nan is about 1.5 cm dilated and 30-40% effaced. He also thought that he could feel the head. To confirm, he did an ultrasound, and to our dismay, he found that the baby is actually still heads up.

Our options at this point were:

1. Wait for labor and try to deliver the baby in the breech position
2. Try an external cephalic version, which is basically manually rotating the baby in the uterus
3. Wait a couple of weeks and do a cesarean section before labor starts
   

After hearing the risks and benefits of each, we decided that we would try the external cephalic version. According to our doctor, he has about a 70% success rate, and the literature seems to say that about 4% will flip back before labor starts.

The procedure is going to happen tomorrow afternoon (Friday 1/6) at the hospital. There is a small risk of the baby not liking the procedure and then needing to have an emergency cesarean section, but the literature seems to say that it's pretty rare.

We'll let you know how it goes, but if you don't hear anything, maybe we'll be parents tomorrow!