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17 Ways to Spin a Baby like Wesley James

{Written back in May}

As many of you know, I am currently 35 weeks (36 weeks on Sunday) pregnant with a sweet little boy, Wesley James Sullivan. I can't believe he will be here any day! We are excitedly awaiting his arrival but thankful he is not here yet!

Here is his picture as of 34 weeks. Hope it doesn't freak you out.

This pregnancy has been quite a bit different than with Kate, but that was to be expected - to a certain extent. I just didn't know how different it would be; he has kept us on our toes, or on our knees, if you will.

The first trimester, I experienced a not-so-fun few months of regular morning sickness, which for me was more "afternoon sickness". With Kate, not so much sickness of any kind. Nothing to complain about though.

Then we had a bit of a scare a few months ago when we learned of a 'spot' on the baby's heart that led us to several additional check-ups and a visit with the cardiologist. Nights of waiting and possibilities filled our heads along with many prayers lifted up for mercy, for health and for peace. We prayed and really had a peace regardless of what news we heard in the office that day, as it could have represented one of several things, but God was gracious and all is well and healthy and fully functioning. How comforting those words are to hear in that moment. Then, about a month ago, we went in for the 32 week sonogram and we hear that Baby Wesley has decided to his "own" thing and remain in a breech position.

Hmmm...OK, so that is different. Now, what?

As you might guess, I looked online with the obvious search words, "how to turn a breech baby?" Who knew there were so many ways to spin the baby?! One article came up with 17 ways! A website that a doula referred me to, www.spinningbabies.com.

Some of my favorites that we had to try just for fun were:

1. To place something cold on top of your belly and something warm at the bottom, so that the baby will turn toward the warmth. No luck.

2. Place clothes pins on your pinky toes to stimulate a pressure point. No luck and extremely painful.

3. Get into an inverted pose where your rear is up in the air and your arms down - almost like an extreme downward dog.

(You should have seen David's face when he would return from work and see me in some

contorted position with a very red face) Yes, Kate would try them too. Nice.

4. Place headphones playing classical music "down there" to help lure your baby to turn his head.

Stop laughing. I could go on and on.

Ok. You can laugh. I still tried it. All.

Well, "They" say that weeks 34-36 are the crucial weeks and the prime time to turn the baby. So,

after some of these methods didn't work, I decided to pull out the big guns heading into week

#35.

35 weeks: Acupuncture. A bit scared and mostly skeptical I take a 40 minute cab ride down to

Union Square to meet with an acupuncturist who specializes in a method called

Moxibustion.

Moxibustion uses a tightly rolled stick of mugwort herb much like a stick of incense. The coal at the end of the moxibustion stick is held over an acupuncture point to heat the point. Repeated 2-3 times a day for 2 1/2 minutes per side of the body has given success to some mothers in flipping breech babies.

For us - it came to be known as the "pot stick", because it smelled like I was smoking a joint. Not only did I go for a treatment in the acupuncturist's office, but she gave me a stick to take home and try on my own. I tried it once on my own and David came home from work and quickly told me we needed to air out our apartment before everyone in the building would report us to the management company that we were the neighbors "smoking pot". Then David kindly helped me with another Moxibustion session outside on our patio, at midnight, so that our neighbors couldn't see where the smoke was coming from. Didn't work.

SO...

Week 36 & 37: Chiropractor. I was referred to a wonderful woman on the Upper East Side who specializes in turning breech babies. She was amazing. She spent hours getting my muscles relaxed enough to allow the baby more room to move. She pushed on my belly and tried and tried to turn him. My back and pregnant body had never felt so good. I guess she was worth the $100/a visit that we paid just for that!

I saw her on that Wednesday evening during Week 37. May 26th. On Thursday morning...our lives were about to change forever. Read on.