You spin me right round

So, that post I had where I talked about playing with Burpy’s feet? Turns out that’s actually the kid’s head. That’s right folks, we have been playing whack-a-mole with our baby’s head for a few weeks now. Baby is breech.

If they aren’t already in the right position, it is normal for most babies to turn to head-down between 30 and 34 weeks. So our midwife is not too concerned yet (I am 31 weeks now). On the other hand, worrying is really my normal state of being, so I’m now obsessed with flipping kiddo over. I’ve had a few friends who required c-sections for breech babies, and we’d obviously like to avoid that. I’ve spent copious amounts of time on spinningbabies.com and other sites that advise ways to flip. Here are some of the more normal things we’ve done in the past few weeks to encourage flippage:

• Trying to sit up straighter, to create more room in the pelvis for Burpy’s head.
• Doing more cat-cow yoga stretches (also known as pelvic tilts).
• Spending some time on my hands and knees, with my butt in the air and my head and forearms on the floor. Not the most comfortable position, but not as bad as the next one.
• Lying on the floor with my hips either propped up on a bunch of pillows or up on the couch or yoga ball. Lots of blood rushing to the head.

And here are some of the crazier things we’ve done:

• Sticking my iPhone earbuds down the front of my pants and playing music down low, basically in my crotch, because apparently babies love music and so will position themselves to try to hear better.*
• Similarly, Josh has been talking to Burpy way down at the bottom of my bump, trying to coax him/her down.
• Shining a flashlight down at the bottom of my bump. Swim towards the light, Burpy!
• Keeping a bag of frozen corn at the top of my bump for a half hour or so. Supposedly babies like to keep their heads warm. I don’t blame them.

Has any of this nutso-ness worked? We’ll see on Thursday! If we get to a point where the midwife DOES start worrying, we’ll bring out the big guns: acupuncture, moxibustion, chiropractors, and, if it comes down to it, an external version (where trained medical professionals try to physically move the baby from the outside. I’ve heard that it’s just as uncomfortable as it sounds. Goody.)

*Confession: I’ve been doing this at work. Because really, I’m just sitting there, it’s nice to feel like I’m multitasking. Anecdotally, Burpy seems to prefer songs with lots of strings, whistling, and/or lots of vocal harmonies.