Experience of ECV please share

[doodlethepoodle]

I apologise for posting here but the Pregnancy board is often very quiet and I am keen to get info ASAP!

Today I found out my baby is breech. I am 35weeks. Whilst I will be doing all the exercises etc in the hope I can encourage baby to turn, I think he has been like this for a good few weeks so I'm not holding much hope.

I am currently considering ECV but want to hear other people's experiences, good and bad please!!

Hi
I had an ecv with my youngest now 8 months old.
They gave me a muscle relaxant and an hour later the doctor came and tried to turn him.
3 doctors tried, including tilting the bed backwards (felt like I was going out fall back lol) unfortunately it was unsuccessful for me and have a c section.
It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable.
You have to weigh out the pros and cons, but you can refuse.
Hope all goes well, anymore questions feel free to ask

I found it painful ( but I wasn't given a muscle relaxant like the op- maybe this made a difference). It was so painful I had to tell them to stop.

I had one with my youngest. It was successful. I don’t recall them giving me a relaxant. I found it uncomfortable but not horrendous. We found out at 40+1 she was breech and after the ECV she stayed head down albeit back to back...!

I had my breech baby 8 weeks ago by c section. As you can gather from that my ECV wasn't successful.

We didn't find out baby was breech until 39 weeks and I had my ECV at 39+1. The consultant did an initial check to see where baby's head was by palpating my abdomen quite hard. This was very very uncomfortable and consultant declared baby was very low in my pelvis. She did say she could continue but due to baby's position it would be difficult. As I felt so uncomfortable with just the initial check I decided not to proceed.

I had always considered myself to have a fairly decent pain threshold (first labour with no pain relief not by choice) but I was surprised how much the initial palpating hurt me. However I hadn't been given a muscle relaxant like a PP which may help.

DD arrived by elc two days later and I felt happy I'd made the right decision.

Good luck with whatever decision you come too. Make the decision for you, not to keep others happy. I felt I would upset the midwife/consultant if I refused to continue with the ECV but a talking to from DH made me stand up for myself.

I had an ECV with my DD at around 37w.

It was pretty painful and they kept telling me to relax - kinda hard when several people are pressing on your tummy for what seemed like hours! They gave me gas and air but I found it pretty hard going so they stopped as it became clear that DD was pretty well wedged in there.

I then had a CS at 39.5w and all went well I'm glad I gave it a try though as you never know!

I had one with my 3rd baby. Not a particulRly pleasant experience but didn’t last long and I went away being told it had worked (one of three dr was doing that day and other 2 didn’t work). However my baby got stuck and was born by emcs. She was in the wrong position for natural birth. Of course we don’t know if she moved again after the procedure or if it didn’t quite work after all.

I did have the muscle relaxant by the way. Relaxed my muscles and made my heart beat feel like I’d run a marathon!

I had it to try and turn Thing 2 mid-twin labour. They had put pressure on me to have an epidural in case she needed to be turned, but I had said no (didn’t want or need pain relief).

When the time came, I literally didn’t notice it happening. I asked when it would happen and they said ‘but we just did it’.

On the other hand, it didn’t work, so Thing Two had to be dragged out by her ankles.

But the ECV was nothing like as bad as I had been told.

Had it. It failed.
The section was straightforward and I was up and about within a couple of days and experienced far less pain than my natural birth.

So a good result!

Painful and unsuccessful. Iv been told 50/50 chance of working

Totally dont do it. I stopped mine halfway through as I was crying in pain. There is also a chance your baby will turn right back again.

I wish I had never tried.

Thank you everyone for commenting. I've decided against an ECV. I will be trying to turn the baby naturally with exercises in the meantime but if he refuses to co-operate, I'll be opting for a c-section.

I had a really positive experience. Muscle relaxant, scan to check position of baby and cord, slathered in olive oil and baby turned on first try after only a few seconds of uncomfortable pressure. Monitored for an hour afterwards. Baby then stayed head down (ecv at 37 weeks) and I went on to have a lovely water birth on my due date. I was told it was a 50/50 success rate, and it was unsuccessful for the woman just before me, so my very small sample confirms that stat!

I found out baby was breech at 36 weeks, did exercises etc, had ecv at 37 weeks. She turned and stayed turned.

Had muscle relaxant and gas and air during. They say it's uncomfortable not painful. I thought it was a bit painful, but not unbearable. It was more scary as it's such a weird feeling. You can ask them to stop at any time. They scan throughout to see what's going on.

Really helped to have DH there

I learned to ask lots of questions and specifically ask how they will have to turn the baby. Mine was round like the face of a clock so quite easy. If they have to turn 3d like a forward roll out can be harder and less successful.

Good luck

I should add, I was glad I went for it. Did not regret it.

It’s rare but there can be risks involved for the baby if an ECV is performed, as it can put a lot of stress on them. Always make sure you read up on the risks of any medical procedure and are fully informed before you say yes or no. Medical professionals will sometimes allow their own opinions or experiences to colour their advice, eg some Midwives are very focused on no medical intervention, some Doctors can sometimes be very quick to suggest a medical procedure that might not be 100% necessary.

My baby was breech until 30-something weeks and I rejected the idea of an ECV after reading up on it, which was my right as a patient and mother-to-be.

Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy x