Ecv vs c-section..help!!!

[plannedshock]

I've had a straightforward pregnancy apart from the fact this baby has been breech since the midwife could feel. I'm 36+5. Went to the hospital so they could scan me to confirm, got another scan booked with consultant, long and short of it they have offered me an ecv or elective cs. Really do not know what to do. How bad is ecv and how bad is recovery from elcs? Pls help! Any experience of either would be great!!

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I was given the choice of CS or breech birth with my DS when my waters went at 33 weeks. DS was footling breech and I went for the CS.

Recovery from CS seems to be very variable but I feel pretty good two and a half weeks on and I don't regret my decision. I am not sure I would have gone for ECV anyway if we'd got to that stage, but the success rate is different for different types of breech presentation so you could look into that while thinking about your options?

can't comment on ECV but just recovering from 3rd ELCS.Each time have spent 2-3 nights in hospital.My baby is now 10 days old and I haven't left the house yet.I am taking painkillers regularly but not in any pain, able to load/unload dishwasher, carry washing up & down stairs & cook for family with no problems.Breastfeeding not a problem.Will be driving after 3 weeks.I will have to, so taking it v easy until then.Recovery has been similar for me each time.
I'm a big fan of sections,especially since my last 2 deliveries had unexpected complications(cord round neck & this time PPH) which meant that I was lucky I was already in theatre .Having said that, if you have more than 1 DC you may end up having a section each time and it recovery is harder when you have other DCs to look after unless you have lots of help (this time my DH has taken 2 weeks paternity leave and a week of annual leave directly after that.)
If baby is breech and ECV doesn't work or you don't want to try it,a section will have some positives for you despite the recovery.

I had a vaginal delivery with DC1. I had failure to progress, back to back epidural and ventouse. My hips have never been quite right since.
'twas pretty horrific.

DC2 was footling breech. I researched ECV, refused it and took elective.
Don't regret a bit and wish my 1st birth could have been so good.

Look into the risks of ECV before deciding, there was a poster on here a while back whose baby died after an ECV.

I live overseas and they don't offer them here because of the risks. I would rather have a healthy baby and some extra recovery time.

Also double check where your placenta is as this can affect the risk of an ECV. Mine is anterior and so the risk of something going wrong is higher.

I think baby has swung around now (she's been breech the last 2 weeks or so but I'm only 33 weeks) but I was considering both options when I thought she might not move and decided I'd probably opt for a c-section given my circumstances.

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I had an ECV with DS2 because he was transverse oblique lie, and unstable. Plus I had polyhydramnios so he had plenty of space to swim around in.

BUT (and this is the only reason I agreed to the ECV) I had the ECV the same morning I delivered - it was part of my induction. Started with a cervical ripening, then they turned him (ouch!), then they tried to break my waters. Couldn't do it first time so they put me on the syntocin drip to bring on contractions, to get more pressure on the membranes and force him to stay connected with the cervix - in the meantime he was held in place with rolled towels strapped to my belly. The ARM worked the second time and DS2 was born vaginally a few hours later.

I wouldn't have risked an ECV ahead of time (and since DS2 had his own swimming pool inside it wouldn't have worked anyway as he'd have probably just gone head up again as soon as he could). I also read the story of Angel on here, and know a lady in RL who lost her baby through early ECV - the risk of placental abruption is another factor I wasn't prepared to accept; but if it had happened during my ECV, I would have been whisked straight to theatre for a CS anyway.

IF he had been true breech, my obstetrician would have let me go for a breech delivery, since he was experienced in doing those - but he wasn't.
A friend of mine has a footling breech pg at the moment and her obstetrician has never even been trained to do breech vaginal deliveries, so she's having a CS.

So - I would say if your choice so far is ECV ~2w ahead of EDD, or CS, take the CS. Far better to have a longer recovery time and a healthy baby than risk problems with the ECV.
OR, ask for induction with ECV as part of it, so if anything goes wrong, you're already in the right place for it to be dealt with immediately.

Interesting replies thank you! (Love this site!) it's interesting to know you can physically do things, I wasn't sure about the ecv and the only thing putting me off elcs is not being able to do much after but it's small price to pay to have a healthy baby,I had it in my head 6wks but 3eks doesn't seem too bad!!