Mumsnet Talk

Baby is firmly breech at 37 weeks. Have you tried an ECV? How did you go?
Thanks!

I had one at 38 weeks. Mine didn't work as - we fund out after my cs - I have a heart shaped uterus and baby was wedged into ne side. However, I know people for whom they ave worked. You can also do optimal foetal positioning techniques to encourage baby to turn. Good Luke!

What they don't tell you about ECV: it's really painful and if it works, you are no less likely to end up with an emergency c-section than if you gave birth to a breach vaginally - outcomes are just as bad and worse than an elective.

This is what one study concluded "The incidence of operative delivery and other obstetric interventions are higher in pregnancies after successful ECV. Women undergoing ECV should be informed about this higher risk of interventions"

But I bet you weren't properly informed.

Sorry if that sounds negative but it just isn't fair that the NHS doesn't give people proper information.

Good luck whatever you decide.

I wouldn't have an ECV. Seen them done and its pretty barbaric. Risks are far from rare for the baby, though of course most are fine. Some units won't offer them at all. If I was still breech (managed to turn after some tips from spinning babies website) I would have an elcs.

I had successful non painful ecv with baby number 2. I went on to have a successful natural birth. Felt I didn't have anything to lose by giving it a go, as if I didn't would have been a section and if it didn't work it would have been a section. (Due to very large pph after baby one, hospital would not have supported breech delivery for me).

I had an Ecv with dd2! Was freaking out mainly about the muscle relaxant they give you but they did it without! It wasn't painful but it did set things off dd was born following morning my waters broke just a few hours after the procedure!

Thanks all for the advice and for telling me about your experiences. Going to get back to the frozen peas and floor scrubbing!

I have no experience of this (other than in utero, which I do not remember).

There was a thread on the pregnancy forum about this a little while ago, essentially, sometimes, ECVs go very very wrong.

ECV dangers thread

It also doesn't always work - I was turned twice before birth, only to go back breech every time, then eventually I turned of my own accord.

Have been looking at spinning babies website as mentioned by HPsauce after finding out I have an anterior placenta and breech-preferring bub thus far, and it seems to have some good avice and case studies.

I had a successful ECV at 37 weeks. It was brutal, but it worked and I would try it again. I had a straightforward normal delivery at term+.

I had a successful ECV at 38 weeks in my first pregnancy. It was successful, in that the baby turned, but it took forever, and despite me having some kind of anaesthetic patch stuck on my tummy beforehand (no other pain relief) it was very very painful, brutal and took a long time.

I ended up having an EMCS after an incredibly long latent phase for failure to progress/foetal distress. Turns out that the cord was wrapped about the baby's neck and legs in a figure 8 shape and was never going to come out. Of course, this cannot be directly attriibuted to the ECV, but my experience made me emphatically decline an ECV when the baby was breech in my second pregnancy. That baby turned at 38 weeks of its own accord. I still ended up with another EMCS for failure to progress though.

I had an ECV with my DS at 38ish weeks. He was firmly stuck under my ribs and I had an anterior placenta making it very difficult for them to get hold of him at the top. It was unsuccessful, very painful (I had no pain relief) and left me with black bruises along the bottom of my bump. They tried for around half an hour and I ended up with an ELCS anyway. If I had known then what I know now about the risks of ECV (I was only really told that it might send me into spontaneous labour) then I wouldn't have even tried.

My ECV was unsuccessful and more painful (though shorter) than my second time VBAC. DH really struggled to watch and support me, so think carefully who you take along.

Google 'Tunbridge Wells ECV' and the first link is a video of one being performed. Sorry I can't link on phone!