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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Breech, back to back, hard to find heartbeat, 33 weeks...

7 replies

LittleMissSnowShine · 05/07/2010 13:19

Saw MW this morning and it ended up being pretty stressful

She took AGES to find heartbeat, which has never happened before, and she kept moving the doppler around and looking at her watch and I was completely panicking since, because everything has been so straightforward so far, I was there on my own! Eventually she found it and said the heart rate was fine but she seemed to be able to hear it in two different places!! So between that and the strange, contorted shape the baby seems to be in, MW started to become convinced it must be TWINS in there!!

I asked (nervously!) would they not have picked that up at my scan and she just asked when my last scan was . She read through 20 week report and agreed they probably should have noticed if it was twins but she wasn't at all convinced.

She then told me baby was breech (which I was already pretty convinced of anyway) and it was back to back. I'm nearly 33 weeks now and she has told me to see the GP in two week's time and if he agrees with her and the baby has shown no sign of budging then it's off to the hospital for a scan and prob to plan an elective c-section because she thinks because of awkward positioning, difficulty of finding heartbeat and my general body shape that it's pretty unlikely to turn of its own accord. gulp.

Sorry for mammoth post but the whole thing really freaked me out from beginning to end and it's thrown me for six a bit since I was so used to breezily getting the all clear every time I've had a check up that I just assumed this morning would be the same!! She basically ordered me to stop work immediately and told me if I have any contractions that feel stronger than Braxton Hicks or my waters break to phone hospital straight away because I'll need an emergency c-section. And my MW, although she can be a bit brusque, is very experienced and seems very professional and very competent so I feel like I need to listen to what she said.

Anyone out there had similar experiences? Any advice?? Thanks!! So worried...

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catbus · 05/07/2010 13:26

Gawd; no similar experience but surely the MW would be able to manually feel if it were twins? My MW always has a good grapple to establish the position..

My last pg was breech at 35 weeks; they don't panic until later than that; delivered DS in a back to back labour and whilst uncomfortable not anything major.

Baby has plenty of time to shift.

pebblejones · 05/07/2010 13:31

I had a similar experience, but my midwife didn't suspect twins, she told me that the Doppler was extremely sensitive and that she could hear the heartbeat all over the place; she then got out an ear trumpet type thing and was fiddling for ages until she more accurately located where the heartbeat was exactly and from that deduced my baby was breech and back to back. IMO they would have picked up twins on the 20week scan they're very thorough at the 20week scan, I can't imagine they'd miss twins.
It was very scary when she couldn't find the heartbeat, I've been there, hope you're okay now.
Keep us posted, oh yeah and baby turned at 37weeks.

Shamechanger · 05/07/2010 13:33

Are you feeling the baby move okay? If you are worried, and I would be after all that, go down to your hospital's day assessment unit. Not sure why a baby being breech at 33 wks would mean giving up work tbh. You need a second opinion!

pebblejones · 05/07/2010 13:33

Oh yeah and catbus has an excellent point, shed surely be able to Laplace twins at 33 weeks!

pebblejones · 05/07/2010 13:50

Laplace? Stupid phone, I meant palpate!

Hattieboomboom · 05/07/2010 15:06

I'm in exactly the same situation. Breech and back to back, 33 weeks. But I've been given much more optimistic advice - that it will still probably move into the right position, that I should trust the baby to know what's its doing! Which I'm trying to do, but am still spending lots of time on all fours, with bum in air...reckon you should do the same. Don't lose hope! x

LittleMissSnowShine · 05/07/2010 15:23

Thanks everyone!! Managed to meet up with a friend this afternoon who is (handily!) a trainee obstetrician and she made me feel a lot better about the whole thing too. I think I was just so used to being told everything was fine that I didn't for one second think there'd be any kind of problem today but when they couldn't find the heartbeat it felt like it went on forever

So it looks like I have a two week window to get on all fours and bounce on a gym ball and hope baby decides to turn, then, if that doesn't work, I'll get a scan (which will hopefully confirm for definite there's only one baby in there!!!), they will offer me the chance to have the baby manually turned by a doctor and if that doesn't work it'll be a c-section at 38 weeks, apparently. But none of those scenarios are nearly as scary as not being able to find the baby's heartbeat.

Feeling some kicks and movement again now so feel a lot calmer. Thanks again for all your advice and hope things go well for you too Hattie

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