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Original poster

How accurate is midwife feeling for breech baby - worried 😟

30 replies

fashu · 21/12/2023 13:18

Hi!
(Referring to baby as they as I don't know the gender and saying they makes it feel like twins! Definitely only one 😅)
I'm currently 34 weeks with my 3rd baby. Midwife has said past few appointments baby feels breech.
She explained my options is baby doesn't turn by themselves by my next appointment in 2 weeks and I'm feeling very nervous to say the least! I'm petrified of having a c-section and I understand how hard the recovery is!

Both my DS were facing down pretty early and always engaged early.
I had a kidney infection, suspected stones at about 24 weeks and when they scanned my kidneys, they said let's just look at baby too for fun and they said they are head down and very engaged, which I was surprised about for only being 24 weeks!

I'm not very good with being able to figure out where the kicks are! It just feels like they are moving all around everywhere, but I have terrible front pelvic pain.

How accurate is hand feeling for babies position? Is it possible they are just deeply engaged so it feels like they are breech?

I know I have time, but I don't particularly want an ECV either!

Thank you for reading

OP posts:
tulipsunday · 21/12/2023 13:20

I was in your exact position last month and baby had turned by 36 weeks. I am not sure the midwife feeling is 100% accurate as she said she wasn't sure herself at my 34 wk appointment.

Check out the spinning babies website. Did some forward leaning inversions and side lying releases and spent some time on all 4s. Not sure if did the trick or if he would have turned anyway but worth a try.

MintJulia · 21/12/2023 13:47

My community MW said ds was breech and I'd need a section. Nope- wrong on both counts.

34 weeks is pretty early to reach any conclusion. Ds was still turning somersaults at that point.

Whataretheodds · 21/12/2023 13:50

I'm also apparently breech at 34w according to midwife. She said I was breech last time and sent me for growth scan a few days later which confirmed breech.

Previous time she thought I was breech but I had a scan that afternoon and I was cephalic (head-down).

Spinning babies website was also recommended to me.

Theduchy · 21/12/2023 13:52

A very good friend was told by 3 midwives baby was definitely breach
Went for scan (immediately after exam in which midwife 3 agreed breach) and baby is head down! Born naturally head down a couple of weeks later. I think they're generally pretty good but can be wrong!

Challengemonica · 21/12/2023 14:34

No-one can know for sure without a scan. I've had midwives and consultants get it wrong. Was all prepped for a c-section before anyone realised baby had done a last minute turn the right way round. On another occasion I was pretty much cleared for a home birth when consultant did a scan purely as reassurance only to find baby was breech with cord over cervix 🫣

Sprogonthetyne · 21/12/2023 14:45

I was offered a scan on the morning of the section to check baby hadn't done a last minute flip. I didn't bother as there was clearly still a head just under my rib, but the option was there if there had been any uncertainty.

allfurcoatnoknickers · 21/12/2023 14:48

My first was breech. I could tell for sure because I could feel his head between my ribs! I was consultant led, so they send me for extra scans though, just to be sure. They even scanned me as I was waiting to go in for my ELCS, just to be absolutely sure. Scan is the only way you can tell 100%.

I point blank refused an ECV because I thought it sounded like something out of a horror film.

CupidStunt24 · 21/12/2023 14:54

My second was breach right up until the day before my 36 week scan. Spent a lot of time hanging upside down like a fruitbat but didn't seem to be shifting, then I was awake in the night feeling really really uncomfortable, my bump felt odd and I just couldn't get comfortable, it felt like I had a a really heavy weight sat right on me. Managed to get back to sleep and the next day the movements were a bit different and was sure it was more "feety" up around my ribs, had my scan that evening and he had turned. I was terrified of a c-section and really thought that's where I was heading, I stopped believing that there "was still time" as I didn't think they'd every move round, but he did!

HeartandSeoul · 21/12/2023 14:55

I was told by my community midwife that my first born was breech, so headed to our local main hospital the following day, only to be told the baby was head down.

CupidStunt24 · 21/12/2023 14:55

Breech*

Jellycats4life · 21/12/2023 14:59

I'm petrified of having a c-section and I understand how hard the recovery is!

That’s just what the anti-Caesarean brigade tell people.

Trust me, there’s nothing to be petrified about. An elective section, if you need one, is such a chilled and positive experience. And the recovery - for me at least - wasn’t bad at all.

I would choose a section over ECV every time due to the risks of ECVs.

Thesearmsofmine · 21/12/2023 15:10

I had an undiagnosed breech baby, nobody knew not the community midwife or any of the medical staff I saw while labouring in hospital for over 24 hours, then a different consultant came in and knew right away just from looking. So I think doing it by feeling is not that accurate, the same as measuring with a tape measure isn’t!
In my second pregnancy my dc kept flipping right until he was born.

Don’t worry about a c section, I’ve had 3.

MabelQ · 21/12/2023 15:31

If it helps, I’m a day shy of 34 weeks with our 3rd and an ultrasound identified baby as being breech yesterday. Nobody has expressed concern yet to me; they simply scheduled another scan for a month out, and I’m supposed to see my OB/GYN in a week and a half or so for a routine checkup.

All that to say… if I’m carrying an absolutely huge baby and nobody is making alternative suggestions at 34wks, I’d imagine you also still have time and baby could certainly turn - even if your midwife is right on the breech position! We KNOW beyond any doubt that our baby was breech as of yesterday and were simply told to to carry on; the earliest my doctor is supposed to see me right now isn’t for another week and a half.

FlyingHighFlyingLow · 21/12/2023 15:35

Mine was head down on every scan. At 40 weeks midwife said felt breach. Emergency presentation scan at triage showed still head down. Baby ended up over 90th centile length, think they got confused about what was what as so packed in there.

JC89 · 21/12/2023 15:40

It's been wrong for me the other way around!
DC1 felt breech and was breech.
DC2 - three midwives on 3 occasions thought they were head down - I had a scan for reduced movements at 37 weeks and found DC2 was actually also breech! Which was scary as I had been planning to try for a VBAC...

wannabe123 · 21/12/2023 15:42

My first was breech and was confirmed by growth scans. Midwife once said he'd flipped (in fairly certain he never did) and another midwife asked to feel because "it's rare they get to feel breech babies."

Rock3pillo · 21/12/2023 15:42

I'm 6 weeks post c-section with a breech baby. My community midwife never picked up on it and said she was head down the day before we found out she was breech at a 34 week placenta scan. I had a few other complications that meant the likelihood of her turning was low and they would not attempt to turn her. I had a planned section at 37 weeks and honestly, the recovery was absolutely fine. Yes you're sore for a few days but I was pretty much back to normal by the two week mark. I know everybody is different but please do not be scared the whole experience was really positive and relaxed

henrysugar12 · 21/12/2023 16:07

My dd was breech and never turned. However, midwife insisted that she had turned and I hadn't noticed! She was wrong. The consultant said that I was too short and the baby too long and there's no way she would have been able to turn at that point.

FlyingHighFlyingLow · 21/12/2023 16:11

Just to say I ended up with failed forceps delivery followed by category 1 emergency c section. I'm pretty much normal 2 weeks later. I was going out for short walks just fine by day 5. At 1 week I could do most things and walked to midwife appointments with baby in pram, only had paracetamol and ibuprofen as pain killers and stopped taking them after just over a week. It was very manageable for me (though I know every recovery is different).

It's major surgery of course, but you will manage.

Zoraflora · 21/12/2023 16:18

My third baby was breech at around the same stage of pregnancy. I will never forget the moment I was woken from my sleep when he flipped, he literally somersaulted, it felt like there were little arms and legs everywhere.
Very very strange sensation!

DanceToTheMusicInMyHead · 21/12/2023 16:23

My midwife thought baby was head down and "had a very bony bum". That because she was actually breech and it was her skull...

I had a successful ECV at 37 weeks. Not painful, turned at first attempt.

JC89 · 21/12/2023 16:23

While C-section recovery can be hard, it can also be fine! I went home the next day for after both c-sections. After the second one I was out of bed and walking around the ward that night (8ish hours after the operation?) and the recovery has been much easier than late pregnancy (pelvic pain meant going up the stairs was painful in late pregnancy - it was similar the day I came home and then got better.) It sounds like you are prepared for the worst but it might be better than you think!

SisterAgatha · 21/12/2023 16:26

I’d trust a midwife. Pregnant with a 10lb+ baby, I walked in with my enormous bump and she immediately told me he’d be enormous. Had a feel, she said love you’re in for a long ride here. I scoffed; I’d been scanned weekly for the entirety of the pregnancy and not one person had mentioned a large baby.

she was right.

mawbroon · 21/12/2023 16:47

Ds1 was breech. The midwife showed me this trick.

Gently press the top and side of what you think might be the head. Not at the same time - one then the other.. A head will bob. A bum won't.

Worked for me. DS1 tried his damndest to turn but was stuck. Every night, he would make my belly feel like a washing machine and every morning I could feel that his head still bobbing about under my ribs.

Carefree1 · 21/12/2023 22:00

With my DD midwife was confident baby was head down for quite some time. But, she was actually breech.
Although I ended up with an emergency C-section, it was fine as I was booked in for the day after anyway. Recovery was pretty straightforward and home the next day.

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