Breech baby - 34 weeks

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I need to shift this baby round in the next two weeks so I can avoid a c section! I will be having ECV prior to that... but still. I really want to avoid a section!

I have a couple of questions...

• do the exercises on the spinning baby website actually work?
• why do some women refuse ECV?
• is there anything else I can do?! Apparently bouncing on a ball doesn't help... who knew! 🤪

Any tips welcomed...

I did the spinning baby exercises and my baby did flip back to head down at 36 weeks (he'd been head down until 32 weeks!) - I don't know if it was actually that but something made him turn around! Good luck op!

I refused ECV

The FEMALE consultant said I couldn’t have any pain relief because most women tolerate it. She also said it’s 50% success rate, and could bring on early labour.

ECV IS a painful procedure and shouldn’t be tolerated.
I didn’t want to go through that pain and it not work.
I didn’t want it to not work and go into labour with a breach baby.
I also wanted a section - I was very glad of a medical reason to have one. - but still considered all options before making this choice?

@Luckystitch great will give them a go then!

@LittleMrsPerfect that's really interesting and stuff to consider, thank you.
My consultant gave me slightly different stats so I now need to read into it all deeper I think!

It is also worth knowing that babies can still move even after a successful ECV

ECVs have a very low success rate. Even when they are initially successful, a fairly high proportion of the babies flip round again. And in my hospital at least, that means that you had to have quite a medicalised birth in the labour ward, not the midwife led unit with the pools. And even those deemed successful have much higher rates of emergency C sections than usual.

I would have loved a perfect water birth, but decided that I’d rather have a planned section, than the pain of an ECV followed by a really medicalised birth, and possibly a much more stressful emergency section.

But also (and I know this is a bit mad), DD was clearly really comfortable breach, and I had a very primal notion that I didn’t want to disturb her!

I refused an ECV because of the same reasons - the 50% success rate, the potential for early labour, the fact the baby can still turn back and my consultant said it could cause distress for the baby. My consultant was very upfront and said that if I did go into early labour or we assumed the baby had turned and then it flipped back, a natural breech birth could be done but the cases they deal with are few and far between and so none of them had the skills that they do in other birth scenarios, which was the ultimate decider for me. Having said that, my consultant wasn’t biased in any way and it was truly my decision not to do it - no pressure either way from her.

The spinning babies exercises didn’t work for me but I admit it was a very halfhearted attempt at best because I was so uncomfortable by then.

Spinning Babies are no guarantee but certainly worth a try. 34 weeks is still relatively early. You’ve got a good chance of this resolving naturally at this stage whatever you do. You could also try acupuncture.

ECV only has around a 50% success rate and then around 50% of babies turn back again afterwards. So overall not great odds but works for some.

I think there's more here that I need to resolve before this all becomes a proper possibility.

I will try the exercises for the next couple of weeks and hope that he turns himself around... and in the meantime will have to do some digging.

I have a 3yo DD that I had by natural birth (sorry, I don't really know how else to say that, no superiority given to that way!) but then sadly just over a year ago I had to TFMR and gave birth to my sleeping boy at 27 weeks gestation.
I don't want that to be my last experience of labour and birth. I need to avoid a section, I need to labour and have this baby naturally so that my memories are happy times.

That's gone deep, sorry, and I know I need to unpick this asap.

But at the same time I need to take that pressure off me as I know it's not good to have these expectations that might not be realised.

So anyway!! BABY NEEDS TO TURN. I am going to do exercises!!

I would refuse ECV because I think for some babys there’s a reason why they’re breach.

As this isn’t your first baby the chances of baby turning round naturally later on in pregnancy are higher as baby has more room!

I would still consider a vaginal birth with a breech baby. I had a home birth and I know that the home birth service where I live regularly does training on how to support women to deliver breech baby’s at home. So I’d probably even still have a home birth!

I imagine some hospital staff also have the training, it probably varies a lot by area. It might be worth a conversation atleast if that’s something you’re interested in

So sorry for your loss. Your feelings make total sense under those circumstances.

Statistically you have a good chance of this baby turning. Some people say hypnotherapy can also work.

I'm sorry for your loss. I had a similar experience - I lost my first pregnancy at 20 weeks and had similar feelings about not wanting that natural birth to be my last, such complicated emotions after the experience of losing a baby. I hope your baby turns -there is still time!

So sorry for your loss. I've seen some incredible breech vaginal deliveries. To many people breech is a variation of normal, it is us as practitioners who have deskilled over time to the point where many people think breech babies are an abnormality that needs correcting.

It's not for everyone, but neither are ecv's and sections.

I tried everything to get my baby to spin but nothing worked, I really wasn't keen on having a ECV I was told it's not always possible and can send me into labour also painful and if she was turned successful she could always turn back around. As much as I didn't want t C-section I had to and thankfully so as her cord was round her neck 3 times! So a ECV wouldn't of ended well. I knew my baby was breech but midwife never listened to me untill 38weeks I had another midwife who noticed instantly and I was rushed into hospital I'm so grateful I had that midwife on that day as it could of all ended completely different. Do your own research and I even watched videos of the prosses online, I keep every crossed for you lovely 🤞

I tried the spinning babies exercises but didn't work for me. He was breech from at least 27 weeks.

They wouldn't do an ecv for me as I had issues with fluid levels. All my reading said it was about 50/50 too, and I wanted to do it but in the end they wouldn't try.

I was offered to try a vaginal breech, as I'd had 4 previous successful & pretty straightforward vaginal births. I decided against it for quite a few reasons, like distance from hospital, previous fast labour, hospital staff inexperienced, my age (nearly 40 & big gap from previous babies), the fluid issue maybe signalling placenta problems & other specific/personal issues - I just wanted him here as safely as possible. Like a previous poster said, I felt like he was breech for a reason.

If I had been determined (and I would have been 10 years ago, I had a posterior homebirth), I would try to find a consultant experienced in vaginal breech births. I'd probably get a massage, look into chiro & acupuncture.
Fwiw, my caesar was okay. Even though it was planned it was still a pretty confronting experience but every birth is it's own story.

Sorry for your loss, and congratulations on your pregnancy.

I didn’t realise that even if ECV works, babies can spin back around.
I agree that there is a reason they are breach.

I tried the exercises none of them worked.

The breech position I was in was too high risk to do the ECV. There is also a high chance of going into early labour with it so I wasn't too keen on it either.

I didn't particularly want a c section either but it was the safest option for both me and my baby, now toddler. He was delivered safely at 37 weeks via planned c section.

I'm sorry to jump onto this post.. I have a Frank breech baby and I'm 37+1 .

I have declined ECV Due to risks and low success rate. I am wondering at what week they will organise a C section? I have a phone call with the consultant on Monday