Dr planning C section - how do I 'encourage' a vaginal birth?

[mrsbray]

Hello,
I will be having my first baby in about 3 weks, and my Dr is a very cautious medical man - over here in Luxembourg they do not allow home births, birthing pools are a suspicious new flakey invention and the birth is seen as not quite an illness, but certainly something to be monitored, to ensure the baby is totally safe. So, my baby is going to be pretty big, 4kg, and has cord wrapped twice round his neck. He is also back to back, which would make a vaginal delivery harder. My Dr has been stressing the high likelihood of me needing a section (which I appreciate as then I am mentally prepared) but I would also like to know if I can do anything myself to try to re-position the baby? I do the pereneal massage (God how more boring an exercise can you get?), and have a birth ball to sit on. I stopped drinking the raspberry leaf tea as a mag said you shouldnt if there is a chance of an elective C section..
Anything else? I am not one of those women who get very upset and see sections as a 'failure' of some sort and a non-painkiller vaginal birth as the only way to go, but I just want to avoid the long recovery period..? If the babies health is in any danger I will of course have a section. Tips on encouraging the repositioning of the baby would be very welcome!

Have no tips myself but Mawbroon on the October ante-natal thread has tried loads of things. Including doing strange things in her greenhouse. If you have a wee look at that thread it may give you some ideas

Good luck

Spending a lot of time leaning forwards so your bump forms a "hammock" for the baby is the basic idea for something called Optimal Foetal Positioning.

FWIW, I delivered DS1 vaginally at over 4kg and back to back. He ended up as a ventouse and I sustained a 3rd degree tear. Everything healed perfectly though. You have to weigh everything up I guess! How much of a risk is the cord-round-the-neck scenario?

optimal foetal positioning link (Jean Sutton)

Hiya When I was pg with ds last year I was told he was lying across ways so neither head up nor down! The midwife told me I could try moving him by massaging my belly and encouraging him to move around more but he also had the cord around his neck and I was very very concious and paranoid that forcing him to move might make it worse (that was my fear though, not something I was told) It's also quite difficult to manouvre them around that late in pg as they are packed in quite well!! I had a caesarean with him anyway and it was actually a really lovely experience!