28 Week Update on Our Little "Lady" Bug

Thursday was our 28 week appointment.  To be precise, I was 28w 5d on the day of the appointment.  Everything is looking great as this point.  Here are some details:

• I did my 1 hour glucose test two weeks ago.  Both the fasting blood glucose and 1-hour glucose levels were well within the range of normal.
• Hemoglobin level from 2 weeks ago were good, so no issues with iron.
• No protein detected in my urine dip in the office today, and the urinalysis from 2 weeks ago was good (and protein in the 24 hour collection that I did at the end of the first trimester was in the normal range). 
• Remainder of the blood work looked good - this included kidney panels, liver panels and some other random stuff that they look at a little later in pregnancy.
• Got my Rhogam shot two weeks ago.
• My blood pressure is still really good!
• Belly measurements were exactly where they should be for 28 weeks
• Bug's heart rate was measured in the 140s in the morning and 130s in the afternoon.
• Bug's estimated weight was 2 lbs, 15 oz...which puts her in the 62nd percentile for overall growth.  (Jenna was estimated to be 2 lbs, 11 oz. and in the 61st percentile at exactly 28 weeks, so I would say that we are right on target!) 
• Blood flow through the umbilical cord was "excellent", size and health of the placenta appeared to be "excellent" and the volume of amniotic fluid was "excellent".  Cord flow and placental size/health are again big things for us at this point. 
• The most disappointing news of the day is that Bug is still situated in a frank breech position with her butt snuggled down in my pelvis.  She was like this at 20 weeks and has not shown any desire to move or turn. 

Bug still does not have a name.  At the rate we're going on names, she might be 10 years old before we come up with something that we can agree on.  Other than that, things are going well overall, but this pregnancy has been a completely different experience that our pregnancy with Jenna.  The midwife that we more or less 'found a home with' during our pregnancy with Jenna left at the end of last summer to return to school for her PhD.  The midwife that delivered Jenna also left to take a job much closer to home.  A new physician also joined the practice after Jenna was born, and there are quite a few new nurses in the office.  We have been in the office for appointment 5 or 6 times now, and I've left feeling pretty frustrated after at least 4 of those appointments.  I'm back to feeling like we are just a number since most of the people we've encountered don't know us like the 2 midwives who left the practice knew us.  I have had to reiterate the 36 week stillbirth story to at least 3 different nurses who couldn't be bothered to read my chart. 

We met the second of the new midwives during our last appointment 4 weeks ago, and we weren't impressed.  She was more or less in and out before we could blink our eyes.  Our first appointment with the other new midwife was a while ago, and since then our encounters with her have not left me feeling overly warm or fuzzy.  And... there is apparently no communication or common opinion between the providers in our OB office and the MFM providers about when I am supposed to start NST and biophysical ultrasounds and how often they are supposed to be performed.  As a result, I had to schedule an extra appointment with my primary OB doc so he can make a decision about this.  With Gracie, we started NST twice each week with weekly biophysical ultrasounds (even though we tried to keep the ultrasounds limited to every two weeks, they turned out to be weekly) around 32 weeks due to my preexisting hypertension diagnosis.  With Jenna, we started the same routine around the same time, due to our history with Gracie and my history of hypertension.  So, when the midwife told me this week that we would be starting weekly NST, I was surprised.  As long as things continue to go well, I honestly don't care whether we do them once or twice a week; I just want to know for sure what the plan is...

After much discussion, we have decided that we will try to ride out the remainder of the pregnancy with the only midwife who has been in the practice for both of our previous pregnancies.  She is the midwife that we saw one week before Gracie died, and simply because of that there has been some negative association since then.  But she knows us and knows our history and we're not just a number to her.  Our next regular appointment is scheduled with her, so we'll see how it goes, I guess.

In the meantime, I am investigating various options for turning this little bug around and getting her head down where it belongs.  In addition to the 'basic' things like positioning, ice on my belly, music and warmth near my pelvis, I am looking at seeing an acupuncturist for moxibustion and/or seeing a chiropractor (gasp!) for the Webster technique.  If anyone reading here has had 'success' with any of these techniques, I would LOVE to hear about it!!!