Baby is Breech!

Little Baby has been a "lazy" one throughout this pregnancy, always in a lying / horizontal position when scanning. It's good for the scanning because he's always facing the right directions to make the gynae / sonographer's job easy. But as the pregnancy advances, I've been waiting for him to start turning the right side down to get ready for labor. It's supposedly a natural process for babies to turn head down - due to effect of gravity, according to my gynae. However, even at week 29, he was still in his comfortable, horizontal position. It's surprising, because I have a tall and slim physique, and he's a tall baby. I'm not sure how he finds the space to remain horizontal, but he seems to find it more comfortable than being vertical where I imagine there will be more space with my slim but long torso.

At the 33 week checkup, gynae said he should have his head down for natural delivery. At that check up, he still insisted on remaining in a horizontal position. Ok, slightly diagonal, which I attribute to him needing more space as he grows. But to the gynae, it's still considered a transverse baby and only C-sect as an option. However, because there was a lot of amniotic fluid space all around the baby, the gynae was very hopeful that the baby could still turn in the next couple of weeks. We scheduled a closer checkup at week 35, so we could monitor his positioning. Dr Wong also recommended I do some exercises to promote his turning. Since I was already walking quite a bit (to no avail!), she suggested I do an "inversion" exercise in addition to walking. This involved me first getting on all fours on the bed. Then lowering my head and chest down to touch the bed, to create a maximum tilt for the baby to "sink" into the large space in my uterus. I was supposed to do this twice a day, a minute each time, before doing 30 minutes of walking. The idea was to get the baby into a large space, then walk to use gravity to pull his head down. Some online sources indicate a longer 15 minute inversion, but 30 minutes of walking was the maximum to avoid inducing early labor. The inversion part was really tough on my arms and neck, but for the sake of the baby (and myself), I did it daily. To be honest, I sometimes only did once a day.

By week 35, just before the checkup, I could still feel my baby in a transverse position. I told him if he doesn't turn, he will get a scolding from the gynae! Miraculously, right during the gynae's scan, he turned!! YES, HE TURNED!! But, he turned the wrong direction, and ended up vertical - with his head up and legs down. O.o I guess the "scolding" and "warnings" worked, but my baby has a sense of direction as poor as his mom's. So now he's no longer a transverse baby, but he's a breech baby. Still scheduled for C-sect. And the gynae noticed significantly less space left in the uterus for him to turn. Furthermore, instead of needing to turn 90 degrees, now the baby needs to turn 180 degrees. So we made plans for a C-sect, which will probably happen in 3 weeks' time.

Til then, I'm not giving up yet on my baby. There are many advantages to natural birth (more on that the next time), and I'm educating both my husband and my baby on that on a daily basis. I know he's a smart boy and he will listen. He's just, maybe, a procrastinator who likes to do things at the very last minute - just like his dad. So I'm giving him the benefit of doubt, and will keep my fingers and toes crossed until our next checkup at week 37.

For now, I'm going swimming to create turning space for my baby :)

What to eat - Diet catered to fetal development

During pregnancy, everyone advises you to eat more, eat better, so the baby can grow well. How much more is more? How much better is better? What exactly do you need to eat to help the baby grow better? Eat healthily, people say. But that's still too vague. What exact nutrients does my baby need, and when? Every week, the baby is developing a different organ, and thus different nutritional needs are necessary at every developmental stage. Instead of saying "just eat everything healthy!", I prefer the more targeted approach. So below is a table I've tabulated, which describes each week of pregnancy, the corresponding developmental milestones the baby is expected to be undergoing then, and thus the type of food that I should eat more of. Hope it helps in your diet plans, as well as add some joy in knowing what your baby is working on that week! :)


Note: Some weeks are "empty", which means no change, so just continue eating what was recommended in prior weeks. Also, suggested food sources are just examples, there are way more food sources that provide that nutrient, so feel free to diversify your intake to make life colorful!

Despite our more "nutritional" diet, the baby sometimes needs even more than what we can generally get in our diet. So usually gynaes will recommend taking supplements. below are a list of supplements that we should be taking:

First Trimester: 

• Folic Acid (~400-800ug, up to 4mg if you are assessed to be high risk for neural tube defects)

Second and Third Trimester: 

• Calcium (~600mg). Essential for bone development. Total daily requirement is ~1200mg, but body intake maxes out at ~600mg, so either take calcium pills twice a day, or get the remaining from your diet of milk / cheese / dairies.
• DHA (~300mg). These are necessary for brain and eye cell development. 
• Prenatal Vitamins. These should generally include Vit A, Vit C, Vit D, Vit E, Vit K, Vit B6, Vit b12, Folic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin.  

These are just a rough gauge. Everyone is different, please consult your O&G doctor for a customized nutritional and supplement need for yourself and your little one! 

Recommended Baby Weight Chart

At my 20 weeks detailed scan, the sonographer gave me a shock by telling me there were a few things she needed to "double check" with a more senior and experienced sonographer. Apparently, my baby's thigh bone length and abdominal width is way higher than average. In fact, when the experienced sonographer came in to check, her re-scan yielded even larger figures that were off the charts. They then decided to take the original, smaller number that would at least fit within the regular charts at ~95th percentile. Talk about trying to make us first time parents feel a little better.

During the review of the results with my gynae thereafter, she was not too concerned with the thigh length being long, as both my husband and I are considered tall for Asians (and myself even tall amongst some caucasian ladies). However, abdominal width was a small concern, because big babies tend to be more difficult to deliver naturally. Her comforting words were that "at least the head is of average size, because the head is of a fixed size, if it is too big, it cannot be pushed out easily. As for a big tummy, since it is slightly flexible / malleable, you can do it with just a slightly harder push". Also, this being only a 20th week scan, there was still alot of time for "weight correction". Furthermore, at only 360g (average is ~200-300g), my baby was actually just 60g "overweight". Which isn't too big a number actually. If, at 37 weeks he was still just 60g "overweight", that was just within standard error of the machine's calculations. So, conclusion was, it's not the end of the world.

With the sonographers' and gynae's reassurances, my hubby and I returned home with a calm heart but strong resolution to stop all excessive tonics I had been given from the start of the pregnancy. I also decided to check websites for a comprehensive table so I could continue to track the progress of my little one as he grows in the next couple of months. After some searching, to my dismay, there were either a lack of measurements in metric units, or differed largely in recommended weight/length to gestational age. Hence, I decided to compile my own table, pooling together various resources and doing my own calculations, so that I can see both weight and length on any preferred measurement unit of choice in a single table. I also added an additional column to the right to suggest how that length equates to, so that it is easier to imagine how the LO looks in terms of size. (I really loved doing that... every week I would update my husband by saying "He's a little Mango now!" And that association really helps us to connect the numbers to something we see on a daily basis)

One note about the table though, since it is compiled from websites that do not really cater specifically to either the caucasian or asian population, it may be neither here nor there. Measurements and estimations also vary according to gynaes and clinics, because different machines use different formula to calculate weight, so there can be a systematic bias. Just take it as a point of reference. For example, although my baby has since become "average weight" according to my gynae, he has always appeared to be ~1-2 weeks faster if I compared his weight to the table below. As long as the growth remains consistent (i.e. progress 2 weeks in 2 weeks, not gain weight equivalent to 4 weeks in 1 week), then I believe you will be fine :)