Breech baby 32 weeks

[LouJ85]

Anyone else had a breech baby at 32 weeks who successfully turned without intervention?

You’ve got loadsa time for it to turn yet hun, try not to worry about it x

Don’t worry but act! At 32 weeks you still have a good chance to turn the baby, so take it seriously and try ( if you want to deliver vaginally).

For my first baby I was told ( at 32 weeks) oh don’t worry plenty of time for baby to turn, and I believed the midwife. Turns out no - I shouldn’t have. I tried ecv and it was the single most painful, horrible and depressing experience. 2 adult women pushing on my baby bump with zero sedatives or pain support. And baby still didn’t turn. I ended up needing a c-section, which brought its own health complications.

The closer you get the harder it becomes, so keep encouraging baby to face down now while it still has the space.

My first was breech at 36+ weeks. I wasn't told to, but decided to clean the kitchen floor on my hands and knees which made her turn. I remember the discomfort at the time and thinking I'd done too much cleaning. I actually gave birth to her the next day.

@Izzymay

Thank you for sharing your experience - the procedure you had to try and turn baby sounds awful
I do want to avoid c section if I can so I'm hoping baby turns. What other methods could I try to get baby to turn?

@Catlady21

Oh wow! So even at 36 weeks all is not lost. I'm told baby is relatively on the small side growth wise and that I have slightly lower levels of fluid ... could these be factors in her not being able to turn I wonder?

Spinning babies website.. has lots of exercises to encourage turning.
Hopefully if your baby is on the smaller side there’ll be more room to turn. I think the bigger they get the harder it is.

I had an ECV at 37w and It was uncomfortable but bearable. I think everyone's experience is different. I was given a muscle relaxant and gas and air. I tried it because that was better than the option of a c-section for me. The 5 minutes of discomfort was far better than the 10 days of quite bad pain from my c-section recovery too. Sadly it didn't work and I had an ELCD at 39w but I'm really glad I tried.

try the spinning babies website. Lots of tricks to try on there.

@LouJ85 mine was breech from very early on and I was monitored for low fluid from about 30 weeks. He never turned and was delivered at 35 weeks via emergency c section due to lack of amniotic fluid. I tried all the exercises to turn him to no avail. I wish you luck with yours though!

You could also try moxibustion, give it a google.
Regarding ECV, I had it, it was a little uncomfortable but baby did not budge. There are plenty of scare stories online. Research and make up your own mind. I was also offered a consultant led vaginal breech birth - firm no from me.
I had an ELCS in the end which was fine but I felt quite detached from the maternity hospital experience.
Do what is best for you both.

Mine turned around this time. She chose Xmas day to freak me out - I never felt her move through the pregnancy as she was squished against a huge fibroid but then suddenly started pushing her way round. I had an examination a few days later and they were surprised she'd possibly turned. A scan a week later confirmed it.

I was advised at antenatal classes by a midwife to refuse to have the baby turned as it's incredibly painful and not that successful.

Thanks all. Lots to think about.
I'll try some of the recommendations as I don't really fancy the EVC procedure.

Actually ecv is quite successful, around 50% are turned. It was never painful to me, just felt a lot of pressure. Gas and air is there if you need it, I never did. I ended up with an emergency c section after being induced anyway. If baby is breech this time, I'll definitely take ecv over c section. I think a lot of women downplay the recovery side of it. 32 weeks is actually quite early to worry 30% of babies are still breech at this point, only 3% are by 37 weeks. I would try the spinning baby technique, but I really wouldn't worry much.

*evc sorry not sure why I got that wrong twice!

I was breech at 34 weeks. Had a scan at 36 weeks and she was head down. I didn’t do anything to try and make it happen.

@MooreLew

Oh is it as high as 30% at this point? I read that only 7% are breech at 32 weeks? I think there's a lot of variation depending on what you read on the Internet, which doesn't help. I need to stop googling

@LouJ85 yes, I read that between 30-32 weeks 30% are still breech. I was also told by my midwife last time that up to 36 weeks there is still room for baby to move head down on it's own, that's why often presentation scans are after 36 weeks and ECV is done after this point. I really wouldn't worry much, I'm 29 weeks nearly and baby is still breech. Baby is also measuring small and I was told this can lead to baby moving head down later on as there is still lots of room.

Yep my baby turned from breech around this time to head down . She then, however turned transverse after 38 weeks!

I am genuinely and honestly confused as to how some women do not find ECV excruciating. Perhaps the Drs who did it on me were doing it wrong ( it was an exceptionally bad hospital). I was not offered gas or air ( I hope you don’t need ECV but if you do worth checking that they offer that). They did not use any lubrications because they said they needed a firm grip. And then 2 of them rolled up their sleeves to proceeded to push against my belly with their full body weight. As in they stood in a pose as if they’re pushing a heavy object ( both arms, body, and one leg leaning forward, one leg back to provide more push). Maybe I have a low pain thread hold but this is essentially what it entailed and I found it very painful.

IMO best you avoid that altogether. As others have said the spinning babies website is a very good place to start. I’ve also heard crawling ( hence the cleaning floors on hands and knees) posture really helps.

You have time, so please do not worry, that won’t help anyone. But be informed as I see you are already doing and start encouraging baby to turn. My original post was just to say, don’t be like me when I had my first baby and blindly trust everything the midwife says. 30% baby’s turning and only 3% breeches sound fair odds but there is literally no way of knowing you will be among the group whose baby turns on its own. So why leave it up to chance if there are already things you can do to encourage those odds to your favour.

Good luck!

@izzymay that does sound painful. They covered me liberally in the ultrasound gel to reduce friction but I can imagine if you didn't have that it would have felt very painful indeed - like a giant chinese burn?

I'm currently pregnant with #2 and really hope this one won't end up breech as well. I'm not sure you can have an ECV after a previous c-section but I can't seem to find a definitive answer about that

You still have plenty of time for baby to turn but spinning babies website has some good suggestions. If you want to read up on ECV and C sections the Royal college of Obs&gynae (Rcog) have a paper on it which is an interesting read.

I’m currently 37w with DC3 who is breech. Never had a problem with my first 2, but I’ve opted for a section and not for ECV if he doesn’t turn. He’s been breech since 30 weeks so I personally just think if he could/wanted to move he’d have done it. He’s not a big baby but I’m quite small and OH is v tall.

I know a few people who’ve had the ECV and it’s not worked. What’s personally put me off is that usually works around 50% of the time, but around 8% of those that are initially successful turn back. Also with a successful ECV you are more likely to require an assisted vaginal delivery than if baby had naturally turned into the right position.

I’ve had one assisted delivery and one very relaxing waterbirth and personally the recovery from a c section sounds preferable to the recovery I had from the assisted birth which was incredibly unpleasant and took months.

So this is part of the reason I’ve opted for the section.

My baby turned herself at 35 weeks in the middle of the night - it was the single weirdest sensation I've ever experienced. I'd spent lots of time on my hands and knees scrubbing floors and skirting boards, which seemed to do the trick. Although, she's a stubborn little madam so maybe she was just taking her own sweet time!

@Izzymay tbh your experience sounds awful. I can't understand why you weren't offered gas and air and like pp I was covered in gel. I would definitely say your experience is not the norm. I felt pressure but no pain. My sister also had an ecv with her eldest and had no issues. I would've made a complaint if I had your experience. It's all a very personal topic but I'd 100% take an ecv over c section. My recovery from c-section was awful tbh.

Thanks ladies - lots of mixed experiences.

@Izzymay your experience made me physically wince. That just sounds awful. But like you say might have been the hospital itself or an isolated bad experience.

I honestly don't fancy the ecv procedure at all because it feels a little like forcing baby somewhere she doesn't necessarily want to go, if that makes sense? It doesn't feel like a natural thing to do, but I have no experience of it so that could all be in my head.

I'm also really scared of having a c section though, so I want to do what I can to get her turned around of her own accord.

My (8 week old) baby was breech at 32 weeks then head down at 36 week scan. Then at 39 week induction was transverse and I had to have ECV in theatre with spinal block. Then after many hours of labouring and 2 hours of pushing they realised he was still in the wrong position and I went back to theatre for forceps delivery. Absolute shit show and very traumatic. I requested C section instead of ECV and was denied.

@passthemustard

That sounds awful, sorry you had that experience. Why did they refuse you having a c section, just out of interest?