Lord, Protect My Child

I was going to do this self portrait session yesterday, but I didn’t feel good. I was utterly exhausted and had zero motivation. I just felt…yuck.

Last week I found out this baby boy was breech.

And I’ve been in a funk ever since. I know it’s not devastating news, but anything at all that could potentially get in the way of a safe delivery is not what a hyper-hormonal 37 week pregnant momma wants to hear. And then there was the potential of a c-section that I wanted nothing to do with. I had just been talking about how excited I was to go into labor…and it felt like that was rudely yanked away from me and baby boy.

I needed to decide if I wanted to have a ‘version’ (where your Dr. tries to turn the baby from the outside). I’ve heard everything from ‘it’s uncomfortable’ to ‘it’s excruciating’ and admittedly I wasn’t too keen on finding out which side of the fence I would fall on.

Over and over Susan Tedeschi’s song ‘Lord, Protect My Child’ started playing in my head. After all, at the end of the day all I care about is that this child is safe and healthy…something that is so frustratingly out of my control. So I just kept praying for God to protect this child. And I prayed…that he would take this decision out of my hands.

I wound up scheduling the procedure. I visited a chiropractor certified in the Webster technique. I elevated my hips (only once…my heartburn and nausea was too powerful). I checked into the hospital this morning feeling fairly calm, trying not to focus on anything other than the best outcome.

In walked two of the cheeriest, funniest women ready to take care of me.

‘Alright I’m gonna do your ultrasound before anything else because I’m on a roll…the past three babies I checked all presented vertex’ (head down).

I perked up, they were bringing some good mojo I could feel it. They gooped up my belly and started to search for his head. Within seconds she moved the wand down low and…

“Head down!”

He had flipped on his own. What a very, very good boy.

I nearly burst into happy, relieved tears.

I realized as the day went on that while my heartburn had subsided, my waddling had accentuated. But for real ya’ll, waddling beats heartburn any day of the week. I felt rejuvenated and decided today was the day for my maternity self portrait session.

Luke helped me make sure my setting were right.

And with my trusty remote app on my phone connected to my Canon 6D I snapped away.