Breech baby - what to do - previous precipitant labours and no help at home

[Helspopje]

Ive had 3 fast labours with resultant unassisted delivery. 42 min down to 13 mins.
Its the only bit of baby production that I'm any good at.

This one being breech has totally thrown me as I have other kids at home that need me up and about asap as i have limited/no help. I have utterly no idea how we'd manage if I had a section and, to be quite honest a section and a spinal scare the rubbish out of me.

What do you all think of ECV? And if it fails vaginal breech delivery?

The bit that worries me most is that ive had 2 nearly unsupervised deliveries and have no warning at all. I turn into a bit of a space cadet so if i'm not on my own then they tend to notice but otherwise i don't tend to. The idea of having an unattended breech delivery is too scary for words.

Not sure what to do.

[Sparrowlegs248]

Ds was elcs due to breech. He was bum.down, head and feet up.under ribs, so no way coming out vaginally.

I was offered ecv and refused. He was big, dbro was big and breech and turned 3 times, turned back each time because he had the cord round his neck. Vaginal breech birth, cord still round neck resulted in brain damage. Relatively mild as it turned out.

At the time I also read a couple of stories on here about very bad outcomes for ecv. So that's why I refused.

My elcs was fine, really straightforward, excellent recovery. But, ds is 17 months now and I have to decide on vbac v's c sec. I wonder how I'll manage ds if I have another c section so I know where you are coming from there. How old are your dc?

[Helspopje]

6 and 3 (and a late loss was the other labour in between).

I cant imagine doing the school run pushing a pram days after a csec. At least id have a fighting chance after a vaginal delivery as would be able to drive if needed. There is a lot of picking up and hauling about involved in keeping the house afloat - cooking, cleaning, laundry- and i have no idea how it would get done if i was more incapacitated than last time.

Selfishly i was supposed to be getting back to at least national level competitiin in my sport by summer having missed out on the worlds last autumn so i hadnt quite factored a csec into that.

[mimiholls]

I was surprised how quickly I got back to doing everything after elcs. There really wasn't anything I wasn't able to do round the house bar lifting anything very heavy after the first few days. If you are previously fit and healthy the recovery could be a lot quicker than you think. Could you afford to pay for a post natal doula or home help for the first couple of weeks?
Personally I wouldn't dream of having a breach vaginal delivery especially with a history of fast labours. I would say ecv is worth trying though, I think if it works you can choose to induce straight away to avoid baby turning back.

[ispymincepie]

I would read up on vaginal breech birth just in case. Obviously unassisted not ideal but generally births only progress so well because they're straightforward. Personally I would decline ecv as I think it's too risky.

[Pointlesscrap]

I'm in a similar position to you OP. I've got 3 boys at home to look after and this little blob is breech. I've been booked in for a c-section due to this and I declined the EVC due to having a previous placental abruption which ended in my baby being stillborn at 34 weeks.
Luckily my eldest can walk to school and I enquiried at my youngest son's private nursery and they have space on the school bus take my middle one to school for three days a week just need to figure out what to do for the other 2 days . It may help to enquire if there's a similar service around you can maybe use to help with school runs...all the best

[EurusHolmesViolin]

The prospect of an unassisted breech homebirth would have me scurrying for an ELCS even with the other factors you mention.