Anybody had an ECV?

[dejags]

I am scheduled for an ECV in three weeks time at 37 weeks.

Have you had one, did it work?

I had one 5 weeks ago and it didn't work. It was very very painful.

that's exactly what I didn't want to hear. Have you already had the CS or are you booked for one?

.

Hello my lovely, baby still breech then. Mine too, i will be offered an ECV but it is pointless as this LO does go head down but only for a few hours and always goes feet in pelvis again. Im not going to bother doing it, too much discomfort for me and i have seen them done before.

They can work really well though, it depends how much you want to avoid a section. Not that you even need a section just cos the LO is breech. Have you spoken to the lovely Marslady, found on the multiples thread D'YA EVER.....

there were some positive stories about this recently on another thread

a lot has to do with the skill of the person doing it too, the success varies from place to place

LG&T- yo hoo ! x

Hi there!
I had one at 42 weeks, it didn't work but then there was no room left for DD to move anyway so I wasn't really expecting it to!
Wasn't that painful, no worse than an internal exam. I think it depends on who does it.
I know of 2 people who had it at 37, both worked, but one of them flipped back again the next day.

Good luck!

Hi LG&T,

I have Marsy's email address but havent emailed her because they won't even consider a vaginal breech birth in South Africa.

So it's off for a CS I go (unless I decide to go ahead with the ECV and it works).

My OB says he has about a 50% success rate and stops at the first sign of maternal discomfort. He says that a good ECV shouldn't hurt that much and severe discomfort is just a sign that it's not working.

He's really keen, I am not that keen

Sorry dejags

I had my baby 4 weeks ago and had the CS.

We had the option of just booking a CS and not trying the ECV but I thought it was worth a try, and despite how much it hurt I would make the same decision again. We had a senior consultant do it and she said there's about a 50% chance of it working.

After I had the baby I had 2 or 3 people at the hospital ask why I didn't have the baby vaginally. I hadn't been given the option, but that might have been my advanced age (I'm 43).

Oh of course i forgot you are in South Africa. I would go for it, it is worth a try and if it does turn the LO then you can at least go for a vaginal birth without feeling like you have been rail roaded in to your birth decision. You may forever think 'what if'.

Had ECV at 39 weeks, it did work and the consultant doing it was very experienced (has since retired). It was however extremely painful and I ended up with an emergency section for a different problem anyhow. From my own personal experience I would never do it again!

Oh, and before all the midwives etc jump on me about how it "shouldn't hurt if it's done properly" I am only stating my personal experience which is that it did!

I'd prefer to have an elective CS if I am honest. I can't stand the umming and ahhing.

The only thing is the doctor will only do it at 39 weeks (and he is calculating this from my LMP, not my scan date).

So in actual fact I end up with the CS 1 day before scan due date. As my others both came 10 days early (with a great gush of waters) I am scared that I'll end up with an emergency CS.

I just feel as if everything is too bloody complicated at the moment

Poor you Dejags, what a numpty consultant not going by your scan date! I thought they always used that now as it is so much more accurate than an LMP. Good lord if they went by my LMP my due date would be about 2 weeks away not 5! I have a long cycle.

Can you ask for a different doctor? Is it standard practise to use the LMP and not the scan date over there?

I can see why you are worrying about it all, i guess you will have to stay near the hospital for the next coulple of weeks and hope this one stays put till your numpty doctor's section date.

Lots of love to you xxxxx

I have already changed OB's twice. This guy is UK trained (most recently at the PRU/Kings/St Thomas').

He says that at Kings the rule is, is that if the difference in dates is less than one week they go by the LMP - which is true to what happened with me with DS1 (born at the PRU).

Ho hum. Still undecided on the ECV.

afternoon/evening crew.

anybody else experience a successful ECV?

Dejags -- yes I have, and yes it did. I've posted about it before, quite extensively, haven't got time now to repeat, but you should find it if you search.

there are a couple of recent threads on this topic in the childbirth forum, worth a read.

Dejags, acc to my midwife, the bit about whether scan dates are more than/less than one week apart from LMP has changed ?recently. It's still printed in the nhs yellow maternity notes (v2.1 from 1999?) like you describe but I was just told that new versions hadn't been produced yet (!) and date by scan was considered most accurate.