Has anyone had to have a c section due to baby being breech?

[LizSpain]

Hiya,

I am due in just 4 1/2 weeks, argh! and baby is still breech at the moment. Judging by his movements I don't think he's gonna turn as he's wedged in quite tight.

I live in Spain & they don't allow natural births if the baby is breech here, i've been told that in the UK if they decide to do a c section due to breech postitioning its usually done approx 3 weeks before due date does anyone know anything about this or been in a similar situation?

IIRC in the UK the breech csection is done at 39 weeks if possible.

I had to have a section at 31 weeks because my DD was breech, feet first and coming fast!

In the UK you can request a trial of labour and they're not supposed to turn it down unless there are really extenuating circumstances (see above lol).

If you Google turning breech, there are loads of ways you can turn a breech baby. The one I believe most is getting Daddy to talk to baby from low down on your bump as baby moves towards the sound of his voice. I believe that one because Tink was head down until her dad went away on secondment and I used to put the phone on my bump for her, she turned around so she was near to where I used to put the phone.

Had c-section due to undiagnosed breech and baby in distress. It was fine.

My Mum had 49 hour labour and was unconcious in coma for hours after delivering my brother breech. She lost so much blood and my bro was very slow to start breathing.

When they mentioned c-section to me, in light of my mums story - I jumped at it.

Things different now but not many midwives experienced at breech delivery, unless you have one that is, I wouldn't go for it. Personally.

I was 38 weeks with my breech section.

Am up v. early to go to a breech section with a client!

Have they offered you an ECV (external cephalic version) to turn the baby?

BTW in the UK sections are usually done at 38-39 weeks as the earlier they are done the more likely the baby is to have breathing problems. The one I'm going to is 40 weeks because she wanted to make sure the baby was really ready and definitely not going to move!

Hi Liz
I am 34+2 and DC3 is transverse/breech. I turned her quite easily using acupuncture treatment last week, but she spun back to her preferred position about a day later.

I want to talk to my OB about whether it is better to have a planned Caesar or an emergency Caesar as I have this impression that it is better to go into spontaneous labour rather than be induced.

I am going to keep up the acupuncture and hopefully next time they turn her she will 'stick'.

I wouldn't persevere with a breech delivery - too much risk to the health of the baby (and the mother) as much as it would be very inconvenient for me to have a Caesar - 6 weeks without driving and trying to look after a 5yo, 3yo and a newborn - hmmmmmm, mum staying with me for weeks on end - not too attractive a thought.

I will be very interested as to how others respond on this thread.

i was 39 weeks and had a c for breech baby-was fine and thank god i did-he was 10lbs!!!ouch!

Whereabouts are you in Spain? I had my first daughter in BCN and the care varies dramatically depending on where you are. The maternity hospital f/in BCN for example will let you have have a vaginal breech birth and their care is a lot less interventionist than in other hospitals in Spain.

You could also have a private consultation - I had my children in the state system but whenever I was concerned about some aspect of the Spanish care I used to go private with Dr. Ombargi at Teknon, she's one of the best in the world and would give you an opinion on what your options are. I had a great experience with teh Spanish health system but they are a lot more medicalised than here and you have to fight your corner a bit more. There is also an association of independent midwives over there, plus La Leche is big there and they migth also be able to help.

Would also recommend all that Janet Balakas, Optimal Foetal Positioning stuff as well. My second baby was breech til 35 weeks and then turned herself and I had a VB.

hi

I had two VBs with my girls, but had an elcs with ds as he was breech.

There were loads of options for me re: turning him, but MIL had had lots of turns when pg with dp and he just kept turning back again, so we decided to go straight for the cs.

They did it at 38 weeks, but the week before I went in, they jigged my dates a bit and they decided that he was actually 37+6 and they really didn't want to do it as he wasn't quite 38 weeks.

They did though, and he is fine (and gorgeous of course)

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I had an emergency c section as ds was undiagnosed breech at 40 weeks (born on the dot!)and I had a high blood pressure during labour.
Only thing I can say is, at least you know your baby is breech - they can keep an eye on you and baby. You will be fine.

I had DD at home as a breech baby. We used IMs, which allowed us to "book" experience in breech birth - without this we would have had a CS. My understanding is that, as long as some conditions are met, a vaginal breech birth is not substantially more risky for baby or mother than a CS.

Its worth reading up on vaginal breech birth (the Mary Cronk, hands-off version - NOT the stirrups and forceps one!) and asking some leading questions. There will always be undiagnosed breech babies so presumably they must deliver some - the question is how many, what method and how much confidence. I would also imagine they can't FORCE you to have a CS - they may recommend one and it may be their protocol, but ultimately (unless human rights are different in Spain) it's your body, your baby and your choice.

I had an elective 2 days before my due date. I thought they were cutting it a bit fine, but in fact had no signs of an impending arrival (including noticeable Braxton-Hicks - no idea what they feel like!)

I had a cs at 39+1 for ds who was a breech. They tried ecv but to no avail, he'd been head up for three months (I could always feel his head, right under my ribs) no spinning or turning for him, he just loved being upright.

I was slightly put off trying for vb by the midwife in my antenatal class as she said it was quite risky to have a breech delivery for your first baby as the cervix wouldn't dilate fully to allow the bottom out so that when it came to deliver the head there was often a wait for the cervix to dilate further to allow the head out, which in turn could lead to the baby being in distress. I don't know if that's true or not but it was enough to put me off attempting a vb, esp as I didn't feel terribly confident about giving birth anyway.

My cs was absolutely fine, almost no pain, I was walking less than 12 hours later (albeit a bit stiffly) and I recovered really well. I do feel sometimes cs are given a terribly bad press, mine was absolutely fine, and as it turns out essential in the end as ds stuck a foot down and was a footling breech in the end (rightly or wrongly, the midwife said they strongly urged people with footling breech to have a cs as the risk of cord prolapse was very high)

i had a section at 39weeks as dd1 was breech- they also tried to turn her manually which didn't work and was much worse than the section itself!! having given birth naturally with dd2 i'd say the section was much nicer!!!

One of the conditions I was given was that the baby should be normally developed and full term. In a normal, term baby the bum and head are usually of similar diameter, so if the bum gets through the head will almost certainly follow suit. The whole "head stuck" thing tends to derive from premature babies, where the head IS significantly bigger than the bum - and because they're early a larger proportion of babies are still breech

DD turned out to be a footling breech, even though she'd been scanned about 12 hours previous as a full breech, but at least we knew the cord was free floating and her bum was very well ensconced in my pelvis. Position of the baby will change the risks, but I think there's a point where you need to move from raw statistics and look at individual cases. Given the size and position of DD, I think she was a "low risk" footling breech as far as cord prolapse is concerned - a small baby with lots of fluid that isn't well engaged before labour would be a much riskier proposition, and that's the kind of distinction I would have expected my midwives to make.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter whether your baby is born vaginaly or by CS as long as you are happy with the decision and/or understand the chain of events that occurred. It sounds like everyone that has had a CS is happy with that, which is great

interesting tangle... ds was normal weight (7lb7) so shouldn't have had the issues you mentioned about the head as with preterm, however, he did have a really big head, he was measuring over the 99th centile when we had a scan at 37 weeks to confirm the breech presentation. I wonder if that's why they were encouraging me to have the cs, as they thought there was a risk of his head getting stuck. He's still got a massive head, but it's lovely and round

littlemonstersmum, my ecv was horrid too, I had a terrible chest infection and I was in agony, I begged them to stop.

I had a c-section at 38+ weeks with a breech baby. My hospital said they dont like to do sections before 38 weeks. I chose a section because a) I was a breech delivery and my mum said it was horrible, I was her second baby and even that had not prepared her b) I was being diagnosed with pre-eclampsia as well and couldn't be doing with additional stress.

Though with 4 1/2 weeks to go, they could still turn. My friend had her baby on Fri, up until Mon, the baby had been breech and she'd been booking in for a section - final scan before the booking of the section (obv excluding the one you have just before the actual op) showed the baby had turned. My friend was really excited.

DS was footling breech, and 'of unstable lie' (ie he was moving up and down and roundabout til the last minute) and I had a section at 38 weeks. As dd the year before had been an emergency section, I deffo preferred the calm csection

HeadFairy - it may well have been.

Sorry your mum had such a bad experience, EOTTS. Thankfully mine was very different - I didn't even use gas and air, even though DD was my first and weighed in at 9lb 12. I think there is a huge difference between a midwife assisted, vaginal breech birth (mother an all fours, hands off unless absolutely necessary) and a Dr led vaginal breech delivery (on your back, in stirrups, probably in theatre and with an episiotomy, with a large supporting cast and forceps). The latter was all the registrar would (grudgingly) offer other than a CS, and I wasn't going there thankyou very much - one of the reasons we decided on a home birth.

My mum had actually been booked in for a section on the 6th, as the 5th was her birthday. She went into labour with me very fast on the 5th and I was well on my way by the time she got to the hospital. Shes 5ft and was about 8stone before pg, I was 10lbs 12

My hospital said "you can have a breech birth... but we would recommend against it..."

Thanks everyone for your comments I love the way theres always so many responses on mumsnet its really reassuring.

The spanish healthcare system is very clinical & they don't allow many things including partners to be present during a c section so its nice to get info from others who've had breech caesareans too

ARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

Oooooohhhh..........caaaaaaaaaaalmmmmmm!!!

Look up the PREMODA study. It has 4 times the statistical power of the poxy Term Breech Trial!!!! It categorically states that VAGINAL BREECH BIRTH CAN BE SAFE!!! I've just completed my dissertation on breech and there is LOADS of evidence to support vaginal breech birth. The Term Breech Trial is responsible for most of the caesarean section scars around the world, for midwives and doctors losing their skills and for thousands of women being coerced into surgery through fear. The Term Breech Trial has now largely been discredited yet a large majority of hospitals STILL quote it in their guidelines. You have every right to DEMAND a vaginal breech birth!

Yeesss...but having given birth in Spain myself, it's very different to here, just not as patient-centered and so much more medicalised. They had barely heard of home births in BCN, never mind in the more rural areas. Spain has one of the highest rates of c-sections in the world. When I had DC2 in the UK, I couldn't beleive it was just me, DH and MW in a little room, in Spain with DC1 it was 5-6 people in high-tec operating theatre, all in full scrubs etc - and I had, by their standards, a relatively natural birth.

Saying that, there are some individual hospitals, particularly the maternity ones, that are more broad-minded (I found one), plus IMs & doulas do exist if you want some extra support for a VB.