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Since learning of optimal baby positions for birthing in our antenatal classes, I've been waiting for our little one to make his first move in his inevitable journey south. All my pregnancy books say that it's around now that he should be moving into a head down position. Well I'd been waiting, and nothing had happened so far – he'd remained resolutely transverse (head and feet on either side of the bump) or just head up for weeks.
Of course there is plenty of time for a baby to move head down - theoretically it can even happen as late as 35 weeks or even beyond – it's just that, in typical first time mother fashion, I got a bit anxious about it all. So I read all I could on the subject of getting a breech baby to turn ("breech" being head up, feet down).
I discovered that there are many ways you can induce your baby to point in the right direction – from talking to him quietly about it and visualizing , to having an obstetrician or midwife turn him manually. There are exercizes you can do in the water, as well as Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Essentially, whilst some women can deliver breech babies naturally, it is usually decided and/or recommended by your doctor that you have a caesarian, so having him turn before labour is by far the preferable option.
As it turned out, he ended up turning of his own accord one night this week with no help from me (apart from the talking quietly and visualizing). Funnily enough, I didn't actually feel anything for such a major positional change, but I woke during that night to an overwhelming feeling of wanting to weep. And weep I did – a lot. P was very worried about me as at first he thought something had happened to the baby and when he asked what was wrong I was unable to give him a reasonable or coherent answer. I really didn't know why I was crying myself. Whilst I've found no written evidence to link the baby changing position with an extreme emotional reaction, anecdotally a very close friend of mine told me a very similar story of her own response to her second baby getting into position, and had heard of other women behaving the same way.
Did you feel your baby turn head down? Did you have any emotional response? Please feedback your experiences in the comment section below.