Help! Breech baby

[CalE]

I'm 32 weeks with second child. Saw midwife today and was told baby is breech. Does anyone know how likely it is to turn the right way round? I'm not relishing the prospect of a C section as will need to be mobile for my toddler! I'm aware there are a couple of exercises which can be done, but do they actually work?

Our dd2 was presenting breech at 34 weeks and turned naturally of her own accord, so don't lose hope! I think that there is still time.
Not heard of specific exercises, but I'd try anything if I were you, provided you are comfortable doing them.

My dd was breech, tried all the exercises but they didn't work.

I went for the ECV which was really, really painful and had no effect whatsoever.

I ended up having a planned C section at 39 weeks, I was dreading it as i've never had surgery before or stayed overnight in hospital. I was also worried about the recovery but my personal experience was very positive, so much so that now i'm 32 weeks along and have the choice between a natural delivery or another planned C section i'm going to opt for the planned C section. Don't worry about your mobility afterwards, I was very mobile within 24 hours (although lifting was out) but felt absolutely fine. The hospital I went to managed my pain really well and the only pain I ever really felt was laughing or coughing.

Hope that this has made you feel a bit better, at least with a planned C section you can pre-arrange child care for your toddler so no emergency rushing around!

DD1 presented breech from 28 weeks. She never turned of her own accord and we declined an ECV. She was a vaginal breech birth.

It wasn't a decision we took lightly and key to it was having MWs confident and competent in breech birth - for us that meant using IMs, but there are still breech skills in some PCT's (talk to your Supervisor of MWs to find out). We found "Breech Birth" by Benna Waites and "Breech Birth: What are my options" by Jane Evans were both very informative and gave a different perspective to that we got from the consultant's team (the former also has a chapter on complementary techniques that have been used to encourage turning). Googling Mary Cronk is also very enlightening!

Your DC is more than likely to turn by themselves so try not to stress too much at this point - but it would be worth using the time to put yourself in a position of being able to make an informed choice about what the best solution for you is if they do refuse to turn.

Thanks everyone! Fell much more reassured now, will just have to keep fingers crossed and take it as it comes.

I would like to second everything tangle said. Are you me, tangle?

Also, try the spinning babies website for turning techniques. I tried them all! I was quite impressed with moxibustion - DD definitely wriggled like crazy during it, but never actually turned. At about 38+6 I gave up, and accepted that she was coming breech and went into labout at 39+1. It's all in the head....

Also, if you do go down a vaginal breech route, be prepared for a reasonably fast labour. A very experienced independent midwife told me breech babies often come fast, and my (first) labour was under 5 hours before pushing, of contractions 2 mins apart from the very beginning. Like tangle I didn't enter into it lightly - read all you can and make sure you're being offered a breech birth, not a breech extraction, which can be dangerous.