So glad I found this discussion - only too late to change anything for myself. But I am glad the information in there to consider - I wish it was there when I was doing my research back in 2009...
So goes another sad story. Not as sad as from himynameisfred (i cant stop crying after reading it). But my child was damaged for life.
I was pregnant with my first child in winter 2008/2009, with a due date of May 5. Everything was going perfect. I was 25, very healthy, no medications or drug use ever, taking vitamins and eating mostly organic food. Needless to say I was convinced that the best way is a natural delivery, so my birth plan was to not use any pain medications or any medications whatsoever. In the end of the day, my grandmother had 7 children and my mother had me with no medications. My plan was compromised at~35 weeks when the midwife discovered at the routine check up that the baby was breached. Ultrasound confirmed. The clinic I went to was traditional/alternative medicine mix and they always advocate natural ways to heal whenever possible. So the midwife had me do some special excercise and moxibustion stick at my toes for a couple weeks, as well as drinking more water to increase the amniotic fluid levels. No results - baby stayed breached. She then informed me about ECV option, saying that it is overall a pretty safe procedure, with sucess rate 50-60% and minimal complications. I have done the research online and found nothing to the contrary. So I met with the doctor to discuss the procedure. Again, the only risks that were brought out were placenta abruption or going in premature delivery, but they convinced that I and the baby will be closely monitored and in the event of anything goes wrong, baby will be delivered within minutes (procedure is done in the hospital by an obstetrician). The risk seemed mitigated and I decided to go ahead. At 38 weeks the EVC was performed. It appeared that all the checks were done prior. Unltrasound estimated baby at 5.5lbs, amniotic fluid levels good. I was given the muscle relaxant and doctor started pushing. It was terribly painful. I don't recall how long it lasted until baby's heart rate started dropping. It went down from 170 to 90 per minute. The procedure was stopped as at this point it was not considered safe to continue. I stayed in the room, closely monitored. The heart rate went back to normal within 10-15 minutes. They sent me home half and hour later and scheduled C section in 12 days (just prior to my due date to make sure I won't go into labor). THIS is what I should have done in the first place!
The section was a success. My daughter Elizabeth was born on on April 29, 2009. She was 9 lbs 1 oz, so it is agross miscalculation that she could have been 5-6 lbs 10 days prior to that! I they realized it was a large baby, she should have thought and inform me that the success of the EVC was much lower in the first place. But I am still not up to the main point, sorry for a lenthly post... We started realizing towards the end of her first year that something is not right with Elizabeth. She did not start to crawl till 11 month and walk till 16 month. He speech was behind. We started doing some test and evaluations. I spare of all the details of what evaluation and therapies we did in last 5 years... The only medical diagnosis to date is central (stems from the brain) benign (no going to worsen) congenital (something she was born with) hypotonia (low muscle tone). Ths results in a lot of challenges with coordination, motor planning and execution, unintelligble speech. We have to do a lot of tharapies (occupational, physical, speech)just to help her function close to a level of a normal child. This will never go away though, and it is likely that my child will not be an independent adult. The life is hell and there is no light in the end of the tunnel. Considering all the health factors, the most likely reason for this neurological deficiency was somehting that happenned during EVC. The heart rate drop. This means that my child was about to die during that procedure. That also means there was, for some time, a lack of oxigen to her brain... I do not think something like that can go without consequences....I have heard at least 2 times that kids after attempted EVC had neurological problems. Why is this not studied and not disclosed to people who are offered EVC??? If i was told that there is even a REMOTE chance that my child won't be normal because off that I would say HECK NO to EVC.