It's 18 June, and R is now 37 weeks and 3 days* pregnant. Last week there was a mild panic after one of the midwives raised some concerns about the baby. He's in the breech position but a scan also revealed an unusually low level of amniotic fluid around him. From what the medical staff were saying it sounded like a Caesarian section was going to have to be performed fairly promptly, possibly by the end of the week. So by Friday we were mentally prepared for an early arrival.
However, a subsequent scan on Friday morning showed that the fluid level had risen back to within the normal range, and a follow-up consultation with an excellent midwife at the hospital this morning put our minds further at rest: Although they now almost never try to deliver breech babies naturally, if R were to go into labour it would be unlikely to be considered an emergency and there would be at least a couple of hours before the c-section would take place. Critically, she explained, it almost definitely wouldn't have to be one of those emergency caesarians that have to be completed within 15 minutes (the likes of which you see on One Born Every Minute, and which tend to leave the mother rather worse off), which had been our fear.
So unless the baby turns around of his own accord they are now going to schedule in the procedure for around the 6 July; we'll find out the exact date this Friday. And in the meantime we can finally be slightly less anxious, although I'm not allowed to set my phone to silent.
*For the uninitiated: 40 weeks is the average 'full term' pregnancy, but after 37 weeks a baby isn't considered to be premature, and is unlikely to require special care.
