Breech baby

[Bettieboogie]

Would love some experiances and opinions.

My first delivery was natural.
My second was an emergency c section and very traumatic.
Im not 35wks with no 3 with a long gap. I wanted a vbac. I've now been booked in for a scan tomorrow because they think baby is small.
At my private 4d scan at 31 weeks baby was footling breech. At 33 wks at the midwife she had turned and was head down. At a consultants appointment 2 days ago when they said they thought baby was small and referred for a scan baby was breech again.
They booked me another consultants appointment at 36wks. They mentioned an ECV spoke through it very quickly. After coming home and looking into it I'm very unsure I even want to have an ecv. I had alot of bleeding, emergency c section and blood transfusion with no:2. I dont want to risk going down that route again. I have another midwife appointment next week and the consultants appointment early the week after. Can I refuse the ecv? I feel I would feel alot calmer and alot happier just booking the elective and knowing what's coming rather than gambling. I also dont want to put baby under stress with an ecv when its only 50% successful on average and even then there is a chance baby could turn back again. After all they've already done this once.
Any experiances please do share. I really want to weigh up the pros and cons.

No experience with a breech baby but just wanted to say of course you can refuse the ECV, and in your situation an elective section absolutely sounds like the best option for you at this point, if that’s what you want.

You had a tough time last time and it sounds like you’ve had a serious and sensible think about your options. Your hospital team should be supportive of your choice and if they aren’t, speak up. Your birth, your body, your baby.

yes you can refuse the ECV and they will likely just book you in for a section. I had the ECV which didn't work so was booked in for an elective. They scanned me 10 mins before heading to theatre and said if she had turned they would send me home. Whether they would have followed through on that I don't know.

I had my baby recently, declined the ECV and opted for the csection. I don’t know if you have had a look at the RCOG website on the page about breech baby at the end of pregnancy but there was some interesting info on there about the ECV which helped me make my decision.

I don't know about birth options, however I was booked for an ECV yet my DD turned herself at 37 weeks. She was also measuring a bit small. I had been very unsure about the ECV but had made the appointment anyway so I could keep my options open. I woke up the morning of the day before the ECV and just knew she had turned, all the discomfort from her tap dancing on my cervix had gone! I still went to the appointment and the consultant confirmed it. I did the exercises and lying upside down from the spinning babies website, I'll never know if it was just coincidence or she'd have done it anyways but it's worth a try. She is still very slight aged 7 so it turns out the small measurements were just the way she's built 🙂

You have every right to request an elective cesarean. The success rate of turning a breech are not great and it's a very uncomfortable procedure. After the trauma of your last I think it'll be a lot less stressful for you to go down that route anyway.

I had an elective cesarean with my last. Twins were breech and transverse, they will not try to turn twins. My midwife told me at booking that I will be offered an elective this time simply because of having one last time.

Oh and our twins weren't small 8lb 5oz & 8lb 11oz born at 38wk. Twin 1 turned breech between 32 & 36 weeks, they were amazed that she managed it with such limited space. So not just a small baby thing.

Ds1 was breech and I had an ECV. It was not a good experience and did not work. Talking to others who had an ECV one person said it was great - baby turned and stay turned but the other had had similar experience to me.

If I was in the same position again I would definitely not have an ECV. I ended up having planned c-sections with all 3 DS and all 3 were positive and calm experiences. Whilst a small part of me wishes I had experienced labour I was incredibly lucky to have such good births.

I had a breech baby, and agreed to the ECV on the condition I had a c section booked for the next day if it didn’t work - we were already at 40 weeks here and I didn’t want to risk anything. If I have the same experience again I wouldn’t bother with the ECV - it was a long and uncomfortable procedure and the success rate is low anyway. At least with the elective c section everything is calm and you know what to expect.

Thank you so much everyone for your replies. You've all made me more sure I'm making the right choice. It's not what I originally wanted but babies don't play ball and it's better to have some dissapointment and a calm delivery than try for something that's just not a guarantee. The way I'm looking at it now is that baby is comfy where they are and I don't feel the need to put them under any stress when I can have a calm elective c section instead. I wasn't awake for my last so it will still be a new experience for me and I'm still nervous but I'm sure it's the best choice for us both. Thank you for sharing your experiences with me and thank you for the reading material @chillychills I will give it a read later on.