Breech? Who allowed that?

Tiny Dancer #2 is in breech position. She's pretty much been that way since week 20 or so, and the chances of her flipping on her own at this point are unlikely as she's obviously comfortable sitting upright. Therefore, c-section has become a new possibility/likelihood. And I'm not going to lie - I'm pretty unhappy about this. With Romelie, I had no idea what to expect, so any delivery was a good one as far as I was concerned, but with baby, I never really considered anything other than a vaginal delivery (I hate that term, but there's not much else you can call it) would be necessary. And now it just might be. Boo.

"But Danni, can't they do something to flip the baby?"

Why yes, inquisitive one, they can. It's called an external cephalic version, or an ECV. Basically, the doctor tries to manually flip the baby from the outside by pushing on her through my giagantic belly as though kneeding dough. Apparently it hurts like a bejeezus.

"What? Is that even medical?"

Yup, that's how it's done. Science, ladies and gentlemen.

So I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow (every 2 weeks now) and I'm hoping at that time to schedule the ECV. Dr. McEvoy wants me to do it during my 37th week, so I'm looking at October 7. From what I understand, one of a few things may happen:
1. The ECV is not successful. Baby cannot be safely flipped, and then we schedule a c-section shortly down the road.
2. The ECV is successful. Baby stays head down and I wait to go into labor naturally.
3. The ECV is initially successful, but the baby flips back on her own (ouch again) and we move to the scheduled c-section plan.
4. Something goes wrong during the ECV and they have to perform an emergency c-section.

Possibility #4 is why they wait until 37 weeks, because the baby is big enough to do fine on her own should that happen. It's also the worst possible scenario, which is why, of course, I'm obsessing about it. In addition to not expecting a c-section, I also never expected the baby to be early. I have work commitments up through MEA (Oct. 20, basically), and it would be both scary and inconvenient to have the baby 3 weeks early! I guess the moral of this story is, everyone send prayers that baby suprises us all by flipping (safely) on her own sometime in the next 3 weeks so we don't have to deal with any of this!

In other news...Nanny and Papa were here Labor Day weekend! We got to spend a little time with Romelie's wonderful Texas grandparents, which included a trip to the very crowded MN State Fair. Romelie was a little cranky off and on - little did we know this was the start of a week's worth of illness (cough and fever) that kept her out of daycare most of the past week. Boo again. But she enjoyed petting animals, doing some painting, and riding a bunch of rides. Because of the whole pregnant thing, Chason did all of the riding with her, which led to some pretty cute daddy-daughter pictures as you can see.

I also managed to get a video of Chason and Romelie going down the really big slide (don't know if that's the official name, but it should be). She was less enthusiastic about that particular experience.

Sunday night we went to the wedding of our friends Nick and Emily (congratulations guys!) while Nanny and Papa babysat the kiddo. Monday we got to do some shopping (thanks for the adorable new Romelie outfits! Look for them in future photos) and had lunch before heading to the airport. All in all, it was a pretty chill weekend, and we can't wait to see you both again soon!

Now we're just trying to take care of details before baby arrives. We moved bedrooms (we're back upstairs, Romelie stays on the main floor, and the second bedroom on the main floor currently doubles as baby room/guest room. It'll work for at least as long as she's in a bassinet, then we'll have to reassess). I sorted through Romelie's old clothes and toys and now have a huge selection of newborn-3 month clothes all ready to go. Chason and my dad have done some painting in the kitchen and hung lights just yesterday (so close to being done!!). I'm nearly halfway through the volleyball season already, and I start teaching in schools again with The Bakken in a week. All in all, time is moving rather quickly, which is okay by me. I know new baby will bring lots of joy and lots of stress, and while I don't want her to arrive early, I do want the next few weeks to pass as quickly as possible. We'll see.

Speaking of volleyball - two pictures just as a frame of reference taken from BSM's website. The first is me line judging for varsity this time last year. The second is me line judging for varsity about a week ago. I should never compare pictures like this side by side. It's quite damaging to the self esteem.

And through all of this, our lovely little Romelie is getting short-changed again in the blog updates. Well, what can I share quickly? Everyone who meets her comments on her curly hair or her height, both of which you can see in the pictures. She has started dressing herself, which can occasionally be pretty amusing (she picks her own clothes). She has a new favorite book that we checked out from the library and will eventually have to return, so if anyone's looking for a birthday gift for her, it's called "This Little Piggy and other favorite action rhymes," illustrated by Hannah Wood. When she's mad at you, she says "Fine!" in a really huffy, pouty, whiny 6-year-old sort of way which is both amusing and annoying. She loves to ride her red tricycle around the neighborhood and says "hi" to everyone we pass. She dances to records with her dad and leans her head on his shoulder, which is too adorable for words. She has cheese crackers and milk every day when she gets home from daycare. She's finally learning how to pet the kitties nicely. She doesn't listen very well these days, which sometimes earns her a time out, and then she'll beg and scream the entire time (i.e. if I say "Go to bed" and she refuses, she gets a time out; she then scream-cries "I'll go to bed! I'll go to bed!!" for two minutes); we're struggling with this, but I don't have a better plan at the moment. She likes playing with my phone and occasionally calls people on it accidently (sorry). She still gets upset at the church daycare if I pick up another kid, but she's also discovered new joys such as dress up. She often says her colors in both English and Spanish thanks to too much Dora the Explorer. And when we say goodnight, Romelie, we love you, she often responds with "I love you too." Gotta love that.