ECV or ELCS

[Stellarbella]

Hoping to draw on the collective wisdom of mumsnet to make this decision!

I'm nearly 36 weeks with my first baby who has been persistently breech throughout. A presentation scan today confirmed this, and so the consultant has taken me through the various options which are basically ECV or ELCS. There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of vaginal breech birth experience at my hospital and I'm not massively keen on that as an idea for a first birth anyway.

I've said that I don't want the ECV due to the low success rates and the discomfort of the procedure and potential to distress the baby, and I've therefore been booked in for an ELCS in a few weeks. However, the doctor said I could change my mind this week and have the ECV if I want to.

I've all of a sudden started to doubt my decision, and have got the terrors at the prospect of major abdo surgery involved in an ELCS.

Does anyone have any advice? Or good / bad experiences of either.

hallamoo of the cohort who went for ECV, for about half the ECV failed and for the half whose baby was successful turned, a portion of those ended up with emergency CS for other reasons.

I’ll try to Google it, it was at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.

If 40% of all births are CS anyway, then that's what I'd expect.

It doesn't mean that if you have a successful ECV that you're at a higher risk of intervention.

Found it

obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2007.01271.x

805 ECVs which led to 255 normal deliveries, about 300 if you include forceps/ventouse.

hallamoo correct so I determined ECV to be pointless. Why bother? Baby may turn naturally otherwise you get ELCS which I thought was pretty low stress.

eanne - we'll have to agree to disagree.

I’m not making an argument. I’m laying out why I chose not to do ECV. Other women may make other choices.

Yeah like a pp says everyone has to weigh up risks and benefits in their own way. Personally I don't see ELCS as 'low stress', it's major surgery carrying significant risks that I would avoid where at all possible. Aside from the risks to my health also I am particularly concerned about the possible impact with separation from baby, breastfeeding and attachment etc. As far as I can tell from the stats I have read is that the risk of negative outcomes for baby from ECV are very low, i.e. less than 1%, whereas even an only 1 in 3 chance for me of it leading to baby turning successfully is odds worth trying. Thankfully we all can make our own choices and have forums like this to debate and help us weigh up our decisions.

Merename - you've articulated my feelings on the subject perfectly.