Decision

Well, back from the ultrasound and surgery consultation. The baby is fine, measuring right on schedule, and, as I suspected, has his feet buried under my pubic bone and is firmly kicking my bladder every time he moves. "A classic footling breech!" the sonographer said, as though this was somehow exciting news. But she said not to worry that he'll stay there; at least half of babies are still in breech position at this point in pregnancy. Phew.
He still has the requisite male genitalia, though it was a little hard to get a shot this time, what with his butt wedged in my pelvic cavity and all. But we got him to give us a nice moon shot, finally. "See that dangling?" asked the sonographer. "Yes!" Jim confirmed with much relief. I was glad he got to see it, since at the last ultrasound he was neither present, nor could he really discern what was going on in the picture I brought home. It was good to get a second opinion. I'll feel a little better about going out and getting boy bedding and clothes.
In other news, my OB was pretty firmly in the surgery now camp, saying that the heavier I get in my pregnancy, the more stress will be on my knee and the more danger I will be in of falling on my belly. He thinks it will be safer to have the surgery now and get recovered before the baby comes. He also said if I have a spinal, the baby will get hardly any of it, and that the effects of just a couple of days of pain killers or an hour of sedatives will be very minimal. Apparently if one has to have a surgical procedure while pregnant, the middle three months are the best time, because the baby is big enough that its organ systems are all done developing and won't be affected by the drugs, but it's also small enough that the chance of triggering premature labor is very small.
So I guess we're going with surgery... I am by no means thrilled about it, but I feel resigned after talking to the OB. He said all things considered, he thought it was safer for the baby, for Adelay, and for me to do it now.
So the surgery will be scheduled for some time next week, probably. Let's get those freezable brownie and casserole recipes pouring in!
P.S. Please forgive my completely arbitrary use of the words "effect" and "affect"- I have literally no idea which is appropriate for any given context, so I just guessed because I didn't feel like digging out my grammar handbook.