external cephalic version

TheTamedShrew

Who has had experience with this? I found out today that baby girl is still breech at 36w1d. I have tried spinning babies, but not diligently enough. Will be doing more of them every night until my ultrasound next week, but doc has offered to try a version next Friday if she has not turned. Just wondering if anyone on this board has done this. How was your experience and was it successful?

Flowr4246

I was scheduled for a version with DS when he flipped to breech at 36w.  I wound up being able to cancel it because spinning babies worked and he flipped back (the DAY before the procedure!).  This baby has been in odd positions the whole time (mostly transverse), so I may need to cross the version bridge again.  So I'm not much help, but for what it's worth I totally believe it's worth the discomfort of trying to be able to avoid a c-section if that concerns you more.

abberson

I wrote about this somewhere before, but I had an ECV at 37 weeks and change with my first pregnancy. It wasn't successful, but we found out later that's because she was firmly stuck under my ribs (during CS had to cut my uterus vertically in addition to horizontally to get her out). The ECV wasn't something I'd do for fun, but I'd describe it as uncomfortable rather than painful. It was also kind of fascinating, the doctor pushes so far into your uterus on either side of the baby, it was interesting seeing exactly where she was in there. When I got there, they double checked several things (position, cord placement, placenta placement) on ultrasound. I had an IV placed and some meds that I think were to relax my uterus. Then the doc tried maybe 4 times, successfully getting baby's bum out of my pelvis but her head (which was stuck) wouldn't rotate. My MW later recommended a CS because "if baby won't rotate during an ECV, there's usually a reason." I have no regrets about trying it and feeling like I did everything I could to avoid a CS. Afterwords I was a little sore -- but pretty minor, like when your abs hurt from laughing hard for too long, and that didn't last long.  

ansley0319

Not my personal experience but my sister had a version of this about 5 years ago with her second son and I was there with her. They did not administer any medicine and it was unsuccessful. Her baby later turned on his own and she was able to have him vaginally (which was awesome - I was able to be there and not be horrified out of having children at 17..) BUT

this procedure ended up breaking one of her ribs. I suppose you can blame it on the doctor or the nurses or his position at that time and I don't mean to scare anyone but I recall being horrified and wondering if she was okay because she was screaming during the procedure and was bruised -then about a week later found out the rib was broken..

Hopefully if you decide to do it they will administer it better and maybe give you some medicine to relax/for pain.

TheTamedShrew

Did either of you have an anterior placenta?

TheTamedShrew

@ansley0319 WTF?? Did they give her anything in the IV to relax her uterus?

ansley0319

@TheTamedShrew  It has been almost 5 years ago, but to my knowledge, no. I don't recall them giving her ANY medicine. I could certainly be wrong about that part but I vividly remember the broken rib.

abberson

TheTamedShrew said:

Did either of you have an anterior placenta?

Yes, I did. They checked its placement and it wasn't an issue to try the ECV.

edited because its vs it's...

abberson

This is a little long, but here's another friend's experience from earlier in 2013 just to add to the btdt ecv database (copy and pasted from her email with names removed). From that same email, I had notes from my doc that at 37.5 weeks baby had a 5% chance of rotating on her own. And a 5% chance of rotating back breech after the ECV had it been successful.

"I had to get there early so they could start at IV as a precaution and take some blood.  They confirmed the baby was still breech on ultrasound.  Dr. was concerned our baby liked being in this one position so much that she may not turn.  Also first time mom's have lower success rates because their stomachs have not been stretched before by another baby.  Dr. put the ultrasound gel everywhere on my stomach so i wouldn't get too much "rug burn effects" and her hands would slide easily.  She put one hand next to the baby's butt and the other next to her head and slowly but very firmly rotated her counter clockwise. It was painful like strong pushing and shoving but not sharp pains.  I could feel the baby become transverse(horizontal) and start to rub against my hip bones.  It was hard to stay still and not tense my abdomen because it was so much pushing and so weird feeling but not sharp pains or anything.  That first attempt didn't work and so she tried rotating clockwise.  That was the longer distance to move the baby, over 180 degrees, and that didn't work.  So she tried a third time counter clockwise and it worked.  I would totally do it again if I needed to.  My stomach felt a little bruised the next day. 

they say they offer epidurals for the procedure for some people but I think that is overkill for the small amount of discomfort it caused.

 

Only the doctor was putting her hands on me.  I just closed my eyes and clasped my hands together.  Didn't really feel like holding [H's] hand because i had to concentrate so hard on relaxing my stomach muscles. They check the cervix exam after they rotate the baby to confirm head down and by ultrasound and try to really shove the baby lower in the abdomen so the head is firmly against the cervix so it can't move back. However there is always a chance the baby could flip back. They had me never get into downward dog position or lift my hips in the air anymore (which i had previously been doing to try to dislodge the butt from my pelvis and give her room to flip). They monitor the baby's heart rate right after each flip attempt and after the procedure for an hour or so to make sure the baby isn't too stressed (low heart rate) from the stress of flipping. [DS's] heart rate always stayed good. That's the risk though is if the baby gets too upset they could have to do a c-section but that's why they wait until term pregnancy so the baby is ok to survive if they need to be delivered right then."

abberson

Also @ansley0319 Yikes! What a scary experience! I don't think that was even one of the risks I read about at the time, the risk seemed primarily the potential for immediate delivery. Glad she was ok and baby rotated on his own.

seifchri

This doesn't directly respend to your question but I thought I'd share what I wish I knew with my first pregnancy. DS was stubbornly breech from 30 weeks on. Similar to you I tried spinning babies, Webster technique chiropractic treatment, moxibustion, Popsicles in the bathtub, attempted telecommunication with the baby...everything  I declined the version since my OB at the time wasn't a huge fan and didn't have a high success rate. I had a scheduled cesarean for breech and didn't think I had another choice. Since then, I've found and OB in the area who delivers breech babies vaginally. I did my research and I think it's worth the risk so I switched for this pregnancy so I'd have the option to VBAC. All that to say, I really recommend doing your research now and seeing if you'd be comfortable with vaginal breech birth. If you are, consider doing a consult with a OB in your area who supports vaginal breech so you know all of your options just in case. Even if you don't end up needing to switch providers, I wish I would have known that a cesarean isn't necessarily needed just for breech presentation. 

mommytimesfour

I just wanted to share that I found out two weeks ago my baby was breech and today I found out she flipped! For the last week I've been trying some of the spinning babies techniques (not religiously) and I also put a bag of frozen veggies on the top of my belly about 3 days ago. During the time that the veggies were on my belly I felt some crazy movement. I have no idea when she flipped or if anything I did helped, but it's worth a shot! Good luck with your version of that's the route you go.

Kerrib1986

With DD, she was still breech at 36 weeks so I went to the chiropractor and had them perform the Webster technique which is very gentle and feels the same as a normal chiropractor appt. She flipped within 12hrs (I could feel it happen) and stayed head down for the duration of my pregnancy. 
Where I live they don't do external versions anymore because the success rate is so low and the procedure can be very uncomfortable.

glitzandglam

I had the ECV and it was painful.  Very hard to relax and breathe through it when your baby is being pushed into a position they are fighting against.  Immediately my son moved right back into his previous position, which shocked the doctor. So he did it again. Grr. Waiting an hour to ensure he stayed. As soon as we got into the car I felt him move right back to breech. So it was unsuccessful for me.  

schuberta

I read that sometimes they give you a medication to relax the uterus or prevent contractions or something? Different accounts seem to say that the medication makes your heart race. I have really bad anxiety with anything heart-related, so I am wondering if anyone on here had a similar experience with their version? Or if anyone had a version with no medication? I'll be asking my OB about it on Wednesday, but thought I'd ask here first.