possible transverse baby (34w), hoping for homebirth...

[littlefrog]

I'm feeling really stressed and upset by what is/isn't going on with this baby (no. 2). I've thought for a while that the baby might be breech, and finally saw the mw on Friday (first time for 5 weeks). She at first agreed with me that it was breech, then said transverse, then said no, maybe ROA. Said she'd refer me for a scan if necessary after my next appointment (which will be 36+ by hosp dates, 37 by mine).
I thought I was ok with that, but coupled with a few other things, I've been getting more and more stressed and worried over the weekend. Went to the GP today to see what they said and burst into tears all over them. GP said it did feel transverse (probably), but wasn't completely confident in her own judgement. She says she'll ring me later today having talked to a obstetrician, and anyway I have to go back tomorrow to have bp checked (was v high this morning, not surprising given the state I was in...)
I've been googling (dangerous...) and my worry is that it sounds as if the longer the baby is transverse, the more likely it is it'll stay like that (kind of shapes uterus to itself). I don't know what to push for with the drs, or what to do myself - does acupuncture work for transverse lie? What else might be helpful? This isn't a very wriggly baby, and my previous one never moved much at all either, so I don't hold out much hope of gigantic contortions unless encouraged...
Please do advise, I've been getting into such a state about all this...

Both accupunture and Moxabustion will work with a transverse lie however they can also send cephalic babies into a breech position so I wouldn't try anything untill you have the position confirmed. Can you contact your midwife and ask her to bring forward the date of the scan as you want to try to rotate this baby if it isn't cephalic and the best time to do this is at 34 weeks due to the liqour volume compared to the babies size.

Mt DD was transverse and the Consultant managed to turn her. She's 41/2 now, so my memory is not clear, but it was certainly fairly late on, about 37/38 weeks I think. They did say that she may turn back again before I went into labour, but I didn't have her until 41+5, and she was still correctly posioned. Try not to panic, it really doesn't help with anything. Try and think about it calmly, and if necessary write down questions/concerns that you can discuss with your GP tomorrow. At 34 weeks, I would have thought you still have planty of time for the baby to correctly postion itself. Good luck.

Oh I know that getting stressed won't help, but I don't seem to be able to not worry! It's the uncertainty of it that is really getting me down. And the fact that I don't really trust the mw's judgement - she told me my blood glucose level was high but OK when the pathology report says it's over the limit; she has written down that she's measured my bump every appointment when she's never done so (only just noticed this). Basically seems to take the attitude - went ok for you last time, you know what you're doing, just get on with it. Which is fine when you're feeling fine, but rubbish when you're feeling rubbish!

Agree with curleywurly, try moxibustion once you have had the position confirmed. It can be really successful for any malpositioning of the baby.

See if you can get an earlier scan - my MW wasn't sure which way DD was lying, and the GP had already had a feel and called her in for a second opinion! Can you see another MW? I still think at 34 weeks, the baby can still move of its' own accord quite easily, and that is probably why they have suggested a scan next time, if they are still not sure how it is lying. I seem to remember at the time a friend suggesting a long list of exercises/positions for sitting etc, which maximise the possibility of hte baby moving. Too long ago for me to remember the details tho - anyone else out there?

Well, the GP has just rung and said arrange a scan for after 36 weeks (this is where the week's difference between 'my' dates and theirs starts to matter - I reckon I'm 5 days further on than they do) as before then the baby isn't settled and may just wriggle away from whatever position it seems to be in then.

I feel in some despair about this, because it seems like a catch 22 situation - they say on the one hand wait till 36 weeks because it can move before, and on the other hand that it's much harder to make it move afterwards...

any advice?

Hi Littlefrog - hope you're feeling a bit better this morning. I think all you can do is hang on for the scan. There seems litle point in trying to get the baby to move now, if it likely to move again on it's own. However, teh reverse of that is true - the baby is likely to still be moving around on it's own at the moment, and therefore it is still highly possible that it will have moved itself by teh time of the scan. Remember, it is possible to move babies after 36 weeks in any case.

thank you v much for checking back, seeline. Having spent half the night awake and a lot of that in tears, I reckon that at the least I need a list of things to do that aren?t going to make things worse, and might make me feel better.

So here?s my plan. I?m assuming that the baby is transverse (appears to be very high up just now) and needs to be persuaded round ? but NOT into a breech position!

• wearing tight cycling shorts to squish in my sides and persuade the baby into an up and down position
• DH talking to the baby from ?the bottom? and telling it to turn
• lying on the floor on my back with my bottom propped up on lots of cushions (supported crab), with a hot pack near at the bottom of my bump, cold peas at the top
• spending some time in the bath lying on my front
• Pulsatilla 200c
• swimming

I?m going to investigate:

• acupuncture/moxibustion (seems like it?s only advised if you?re sure the baby is breech, and nobody will tell me anything for definite?)
• chiropractor

Anything else anyone has tried that has worked?

I think I?m probably over-reacting to the situation, given that I?ve still got 4+ weeks left to go, but I?m finding the whole not knowing thing SO difficult to deal with? hormones everywhere?

I also know that neither this nor my last were at all 'wriggly' babies - no big somersaults, just kicks, and this one isn't even kicking very strongly, so I am really very frustrated by the whole 'no point knowing now, as it could perfectly well move' argument...

Well, I've got a scan booked for tomorrow now, which is a big relief (strange to hear myself saying that, I HATE scans!). Strange too how very hard I had to argue for it - in early pg post-miscarriage they were v happy to give 'reassurance' scans, I don't understand why it was so hard to get something similar at this stage...

Not sure how much truth there is in this but when i went on a hypnosis for childbirth course they said that hypnosis has been successful in turning babies.

I'm in pretty much the same position as you littlefrog. Am now 35 weeks and the baby was found to be breech last week. Had a reflexology session yesterday to try and turn the little so and so - apparently if it is going to work it will be in the next couple of days. If nothing else it was relaxing! Otherwise it will an attempt at ECV at 37 weeks. I assume you will be offered the same thing. No one has mentioned another scan. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it - I was also hoping for a homebirth having already had one with my dd. Good luck!