Operation "turn that baby"

[CKJ]

There are 4 types of breech positioning; Complete (kind of like siting cross legged but knees up), Frank legs up by ears, footling or kneeling. If baby is complete or frank VB is possible.

ECV is External Cephalic Version where they try to turn baby from the out side. the procedure is U/S to check position and a CTG, some times they give a drug called a tocolytic to relax the uterus. the woman lays on the bed and the doctor pushes on the bottom and the head of the baby to move it around in to the right position, then you have another CTG. It should NOT be painful and if it is they need to stop.
The risks are - Placental seperation (which means immediate CS)
-Rupture of membranes ( which can lead to augmentation of labour then puts you in the cascade of intervention)
- Cord entaglement (which can result in C/S)
- Onset of labour

the stats say that an ECV is effective in 50% of women who have it. of those 50% 95% stay head down.
Breech vaginal births are possible and c/s will put you and baby at further risk of complications then a normal birth.

You might need to organise someone to care for your DD as of your next appointment if the ECV does not go as planned.
You also do have a choice and depending on where you are i am sure i can help to find some advocates that will help you if you do not want to have the c/s you have been told you will have to have if he doesnt turn

HTH

Thanks glorious. Dd is at her dads from the 7/6 to 15/6 and appt is on 12/6 so have a few days leeway.

I'm birthing at gosford hospital (nsw central coast)

Last scan on 6/6 had his feet near his head under my left rib. He has been doing a lot of flips tonight so he seems to be having fun

Ive had a not so pleasant pregnancy so this is almost the icing on the cake. I had a long and traumatic labour with dd (43 hours) so really wanted this one to be "easier"

Thanks again for all your help

[Maruschke]

You can also ask for a trial of labour! Let me try and refind a paper I read, because if all women who weren't head down at 37 weeks had cs's, 50% of those could have been avoided (from memory!).

[glorious]

First labours are almost always traumatic and lengthy (we all have our own ideas of length)
Your body has done this before and therefore is "easier" on the body, not always easier in our own eyes but there is a definite difference between 1st and subsequent labours and births.
only you can decide what you want to do. If you want more information feel free to PM me

[Maruschke]

Thanks glorious. Dd is at her dads from the 7/6 to 15/6 and appt is on 12/6 so have a few days leeway.

I'm birthing at gosford hospital (nsw central coast)

Last scan on 6/6 had his feet near his head under my left rib. He has been doing a lot of flips tonight so he seems to be having fun

Ive had a not so pleasant pregnancy so this is almost the icing on the cake. I had a long and traumatic labour with dd (43 hours) so really wanted this one to be "easier"

Thanks again for all your help

Oh Gosh, I know all too well the feeling that you want this one to be easier, I had a similar length birth with DD1, and this bub is posterior. The fact that your bub is still moving should give you some hope that he can continue moving into the right spot. How are you feeling mentally after having a long first labour and a difficult second pregnancy? I don't mean that in a negative way, but our mindset can influence our decisions and it isn't always simple to pick what is best for bubs at the expense of us having no control or guarantees etc.

[Maruschke]

First labours are almost always traumatic and lengthy (we all have our own ideas of length)
Your body has done this before and therefore is "easier" on the body, not always easier in our own eyes but there is a definite difference between 1st and subsequent labours and births.
only you can decide what you want to do. If you want more information feel free to PM me

I don't mean to be rude but that seems like an unwarranted statement. Many of the women here had straight forward first births and I would hope the first timers here aren't reading this as a guarantee of birth trauma to come.

[Liz]

Yeah, they prep you for emergency c/s when they do an ECV. So if you go down that path, keep that in mind for any assistance you'll need for your DD if anything were to happen. The success rate of ECV isn't wonderful, but saying that, they gave me less than 20% success rate because she was a 'big' baby. She turned easily, and it def wasn't painful, and she stayed head down. I had the injection to relax the uterine muscles (I thought this was standard, not a sometimes thing?) which can give you an elevated heart rate and make you a bit shaky. The procedure itself was quite quick, and they monitor with ultrasound regularly to make sure it's not distressing bub. Re discussing risks... my midwife and I couldn't get over how much they listed all the risks of the ECV, yet quite flippantly spoke of a c/s. Not once did they list any risks of a c/s. I had plenty of scare tactics thrown at me re the ECV, with c/s only being spoken of like it's the risk free option. pfft.

As for c/s.. no one can MAKE you book in that c/s. If bub is in a favourable breech position, VB is still possible, but I would be ensuring that your care providers are experienced with breech.

i remember all too well the decisions and options and everything that goes along with a persistent breech bub! We (my midwife and I) were desperate to have bub turned so that I could go ahead with my homebirth (plus I hadn't had a pregnancy go longer than 37 weeks, so there was a risk of my going into early labour while still breech). Nothing else worked but the ECV. I sat for what felt like weeks burning that damn moxi stick next to my toe (stinks btw LOL), lying upside down on my ironing board, 3 visits to the chiro for websters technique... none of them working.

i hope you can get bub turned nice and easily. It's such a relief to finally get bub head down, so you can get on with planning the birth. Will be thinking of you.

[glorious]

trauma is only definable by the person experiencing it straight forward to you might not mean the same to others. Again MOST women feel that their 1st labour and birth is more traumatic then their subsequent. Just because a couple of women on a forum have had good experiences (often associated with great knowledge and brilliant support) on the whole MOST women feel their birth did not go as they expected therefore being traumatic for THEM.
Usually they become more informed through, having BTDT or searching for information.

[HotI]

Wow I am so glad you mentioned this because I am asking my MW to do rebozo to turn bub from posterior to anterior. How quickly did it work?

EDIT: I have a large separation too. Did they do this only during labour or during pregnancy too?

We did it a number of times during pregnancy from 37? weeks, cos he changed position again. Each time, it was less than 5 minutes of rebozo and baby changed position and turned head down. My midwife did say that was really quick though, and probably due to the muscles not providing structure for baby. My baby was a big one too, over 10lb.

We planned to do it during labour if needed, but it wasn't needed. i was able to move around freely (and did wiggle my hips lots) and i think this helped to get him through. i don't know what position he was at the start (ant v post) but he came out ant.

One of the more 'natural' communities actually promote baby to be in posterior position prior to labour, something about lining them up and then they do the twists and turns during labours. i can't remember where i read that but will try to find it again.

[CKJ]

The more I read and research the more I'm getting annoyed. I'm through a community midwife program and have had the same midwife from the start.

I feel like she basically said this is what will happen at next appt - but simply added the words if you want. Making a decision on the day would have been impulsive as she never told me what would be done, how it would be done, the risks, alternatives etc.

I've got a slightly moving "lump" under my left rib but don't know if it's bum or head. He was having a whale of a time last night but has been quiet since.

Off to do more reading again today! Try not to freak out too much

[Liz]

My midwife taught me to feel for the head. If you get your hands on either side of the lump you want to identify and wobble it, if it moves quite freely it's the head. If it seems to move the whole baby, it's a bum! It was so easy once she showed me. Feels like you're moving a tennis ball between your hands. So my poor dd had her head wobbled every day to see where she was at lol.

[Maruschke]

trauma is only definable by the person experiencing it straight forward to you might not mean the same to others. Again MOST women feel that their 1st labour and birth is more traumatic then their subsequent. Just because a couple of women on a forum have had good experiences (often associated with great knowledge and brilliant support) on the whole MOST women feel their birth did not go as they expected therefore being traumatic for THEM.
Usually they become more informed through, having BTDT or searching for information.

You didn't say "more traumatic than subsequent" you said "first labours are almost always traumatic". There is a big big difference! Birth doesn't have to register as traumatic to first timers. Why instil birth fear? I won't buy into a mindset that tells women to expect trauma as par for the course.

[HotI]

Maruschke - these pics are more like how my midiwfe did rebozo on me. It feels a bit wierd (like all your organs are jiggling) but its not uncomfortable

http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/03/...technique.html

[Maruschke]

Maruschke - these pics are more like how my midiwfe did rebozo on me. It feels a bit wierd (like all your organs are jiggling) but its not uncomfortable

http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/03/...technique.html

Thanks heaps! I spoke to her about it today and while she doesn't do it often, she is happy to give it a go for me. I've gone from a bit uncertain to quite excited about this upcoming birth . Will be interesting to compare notes afterwards on rebozo.