FAO sonographer- can you tell if a cord is short?

[flissity]

I’m 35 weeks and doing all I can to turn the baby from breech to Cephalic. I just have a gut feeling I’ll have to decide whether or not to have an ECV in the next 10 days.

Does a particularly short umbilical cord show up on a scan? I have a worry about this and forcing the baby to turn when it can’t. Weighing up elective CS or a vaginal breech birth if it doesn’t turn.
This is my 3rd and had 2 VB’s. Our hospital is supportive of breech vaginal births so this is an option to me.

Thanks .

I’m not a sonographer but was told they can tell if umbilical cord is short but it’s not something they usually look at. My dd was breech due to short umbilical cord, I tried all spinning baby tricks but she never moved and I couldn’t have ecv because of previous section.

Thank you ~ did you have another CS for the birth of the breech?

Hi - not easy to look at the length of the cord with scans, also doesn’t really tell you whether ECV will or won’t work. There’s still a good chance baby will turn as well! If baby stays breech then an ECV is usually a good idea - especially with 2 previous normal deliveries. If required, the doctor/midwife should talk through all the ins and outs with you. There is a limit to how long they will try for with ECV, and you can ask them to stop at any time, baby is monitored throughout and also afterwards. I would also point out that an ECV attempt is safer than a breech vaginal delivery, and I know of several places where if you are going to plan a breech VB you must have an attempt at ECV first.

@TenThousandSpoons0 all really useful thanks! I know I’m thinking one step ahead, which is not always useful!! 🤞🏼 He/she will turn