C section because baby is breech

[ParsleyCake]

My baby is probably breech - having it confirmed by scan tomorrow. If so, it will be a c section within the week. Initially I was not worried, but my mum is very against this idea and has freaked me out a little. She says I will always regret it and never recover properly. I think that's a load of rubbish. She also says that if I just refuse the c section and wait until baby is ready to be born naturally (ie no induction as she is against that too) the baby will turn itself. This happened with all her preganacies, she says.

With this in mind, do you think I should refuse c section and induction? Or is it safer to go with the c section?

Ignore your mum - what do YOU want?

There's certainly no guarantee that the baby will turn, especially if there's something keeping them breech, like being tangled in the cord.

I had an ELCS two weeks ago, and it was overwhelmingly positive. I didn't need anything stronger than paracetamol and ibuprofen, and stopped those by day six. Nothing to regret there!

She's talking nonsense! It's potentially dangerous. I had c sections with both my breech babies and feel in no way I've missed out. This has made me mad!

I had an ELCS for breech presentation with dc1 almost 14 years ago. I then had 3 VBACs.

With each subsequent DC, I would have been happy to have an ELCS as I personally found it a very positive experience and healed well. I was walking into town within a couple of weeks of birth. In fact I went to a wedding (service only) after 2 days and left dc1 in hospital with the grandparents - not that I would recommend that

The section scar 'twinged' for about 12mths. Certainly it wasn't an issue when I fell pg with dc2 (21mtgs between 1&2). That said, I tore with all 3 VBACs and the scar from the first niggled for over a year so swings and roundabouts really.

It is unlikely that a baby will turn by themselves late on in pregnancy. However you should be offered an ECV where they try to manually turn the baby.

You ask what is safer, how much talking with your MW and/or consultant have you done about your options? Deciding between a section or a vaginal breech birth should be done with all the information. The Hannah Trial, otherwise known as the Term Breech Trial was a big study done that appeared to show that vaginal breech birth was more dangerous than sections for babies and following the publication of the study women were strongly encouraged to have sections and vaginal breech births decreased. However, the study has been widely disputed and other studies such as the Premoda study showed that vaginal breech birth was safe. In order to make your mind up you need to have a look at the information yourself. Try looking at Cochrane reviews, they are freely available online and give plain language summaries. For your body a vaginal birth is going to be much better in terms of recovery and possible impact on future pregnancies and there are also things to think about with regards to cesarean section and the baby. However you need to make the best decision for you based on your choices, facilities available, the skill of the midwives and Drs in your trust (how many breech births do they get? How skilled are they at doing them?) and your family.

My baby is breech and I'm having a c section on Tuesday. I had an attempted ECV but it failed. I didn't hesitate on deciding to have a section. My great grandmother nearly died and was unable to have more children after a natural breech birth in the 30s. I was breech and my mum had me by caesarean in the 80s. She hasn't regretted it. Why would she?? Yes recovery is a little quicker with natural birth but only if it goes smoothly. A breech natural birth is also more likely to end with an emergency section and I'd far rather have a planned one. It is your decision ultimately, and if you want to try and go natural then do, but because you want to. Not your mum.

I'm in the same predicament as you, I am 38 weeks tomorrow and my midwife only picked up our daughter was breech a few weeks ago, also confirmed by a scan. If she doesn't turn by Wednesday next week, the doctor will try an ECV, where they try to turn the baby externally, if this doesn't work, my only two options are a c-section or a breech birth. I don't want a c-section mainly because I don't have enough support around me during recovery (family wise), my husband is self-employed and we can't afford for him to be out of work for more than a week. I have been doing exercises everyday aimed at breech babies and I'm holding onto the hope she will turn before I go into labour. I hope things work out for you!

Please ignore your mum!!

I had a breech - all the way from 16 weeks to the end. He never turned, despite Pilates & moxibustion.

I had an ELCS and knew the date of delivery about 10 days beforehand. It was a fantastic experience, which I'd be happy to repeat and I bonded with my son immediately. Recovery was also quick and I was never in pain. Certainly not something I regretted, quite the opposite!