External Cephalic Version

bacorrea · February 2017

Ok I know it is WAY early to be talking about this, but has anybody had a version done? DS is breech and basically has been the whole time. I know that it's too early to be concerned and that babies turn all the time, I still have been researching versions though. I'm 27 weeks this week and my doctor said that if he is still breech at 36 weeks they will do a version at 37 weeks, that only gives me 10 weeks to decide! Y'all our babies are going to be here before we know it! There isn't a whole lot of research out there on versions, it only has a 58% success rate and even though the risk seem to be low, they are concerning. I was just wondering if anyone had any first hand experience, in case DS decides not to turn!
Thanks!

mamatowildones · February 2017

DS was breech at 36 and they wanted to do it. I decided not to. But I did do some exercises regularly to desperately flip him. At 38 weeks he flipped. I'll tell you it did not feel good. But I swear by the exercises I did. Doc was shocked that he went head down that late. Try looking up the different things you can do. Can't hurt!!

bacorrea · February 2017

@mamatowildones that's great he flipped so late! Why did you decide not to do it?

thistlenweeds · February 2017

mamatowildones said:

DS was breech at 36 and they wanted to do it. I decided not to. But I did do some exercises regularly to desperately flip him. At 38 weeks he flipped. I'll tell you it did not feel good. But I swear by the exercises I did. Doc was shocked that he went head down that late. Try looking up the different things you can do. Can't hurt!!

well what'd do you do? Tell us, tell us! I've no experience with this since FTM but my baby was breech at the anatomy scan and judging by where i feel the kicks he's sideways at most now.

mamatowildones · February 2017

@bacorrea I remember reading about possible fetal distress and I just figured if he was meant to flip, it would happen naturally. if not, then a c section was just what I was meant to have. That was my thinking at the time.

mamatowildones · February 2017

I remember posting about it back in 2012 on here and someone told me about the website https://spinningbabies.com/

That's all I did! It must've been what worked. I still remember doing the exercises for the 2nd week or so and sitting on the couch and feeling him flip. It was incredibly uncomfortable but pretty awesome!

MrsFreeman2010 · February 2017

I don't have personal experience with them but lots of professional experience. I second spinning babies. I've heard and seen really good things. As for me I decided that if my little one was ever breech I would not do a version. I think sometimes there are reasons babies out themselves in certain positions, many times reasons we, as medical professionals, can't see. Sometime once we do the c-section we can see there was a cord in an exceptionally bad spot, in a knot, etc. Babies are pretty smart in the womb and I trust them to be where they are supposed to be. But like the stats say 58% of the time its successful and there is no problems! It's totally a decision for you and your family.

KMD1106 · February 2017

We had the option and decided against it too. I tried spinning babies stuff and decided if she was meant to flip, she would. The pain for me, risk to her, and relatively low success rate wasn't worth it to me. She didn't end up flipping and I had an uneventful csection.

mrsrep123 · February 2017

Whoa... another thing I keep forgetting to think about. FX for you @bacorrea

CherylE418 · February 2017

Noob question alert: what's a version?

WombThereItIs · February 2017

@CherylE418 they try to turn the baby from breech to head down by pushing and maneuvering the outside of your belly.

This kid is breech as of the anatomy scan and I shrugged it off because so was my first and he was head down eventually. I was told if she stays breech that it's cesarean time so I guess ECV isn't even an option for me? Maybe because I had a prior cesarean? No clue.

If it were an an option I would go for it though. I am very gung ho at avoiding another c section because I think recovery will be hard with a toddler and a newborn (plus a PCS). Also I know they do close monitoring and can have that kid out really quickly if it does because problematic (rare) so that made me comfortable with the idea when it was on the table last time.

I do hear it sucks and kind of hurts hurts but I really doubt it hurts more than surgery recovery so thatbgradeoff seemed worthwhile.

bacorrea · February 2017

@CherylE418 so if your baby is breech the doctor can perform a version to attempt to turn the baby in order to make then be head down. It's normally performed around 37 weeks. It has to be done at the hospital because if anything were to go wrong, they would perform an emergency csection right away. From what I've read/seen the doctors have you lay down in on the bed and they prop your legs with a pillow. They monitor the baby and give you anti contraction meds and then they push on your stomach and attempt to turn the baby. Some babies turn really easy and it's no big deal. Others are difficult and it can be painful for the mother. The success rate it only 58%. There are a ton of risk though. Also some people have had it done and the baby tuned back to breech before delivery.

bacorrea · February 2017

@WombThereItIs I read that it's possible that a version could open up a cscetion wound/scar so they generally don't attempt if you've had a prior cscection. However there isn't a whole lot of research out there, even my OB said there isn't a ton of research. That's not a big selling point to me. I know the risk are low, but they aren't astronomically low compared to the numbers. I read from evidence based birth (I'm not sure how factual this website is)

"In 2008, Grootscholten et al. pooled the results of 84 studies that included 12,955 women. The average success rate for turning a baby out of the breech position was 58%. The overall complication rate was 6%, and the rate of serious complications (placenta abruption or stillbirth) was 0.24%. There were 12 stillbirths out of the 12,955 cases, and only 2 of these deaths were related to the version. The other deaths were un-related to the external version or unexplained. The unexplained stillbirths were diagnosed 10 to 31 days after the version. Placenta abruption occurred in 0.18% of women (11 abruptions out of 12,955 versions), and 10 of these abruptions resulted in an emergency C-section"(Grootscholten, Kok et al. 2008).

nda_roxybabe · February 2017

I have a friend who had a version, baby flipped back. She has a 2nd version after that and baby stayed head down. It sounds painful, but I think I'd possibly give it a go, but not until after 36 weeks. Eek, IDK. How about I give you some positive "turn,baby, turn" vibes?

kaley04 · February 2017

I have a friend that had one done at 37 weeks in the hospital. Our OB had a very specific checklist of expectations of your body before he would even attempt. He wouldn't do it on a FTM. She said the procedure was painful. They kept her all day at the hospital to monitor after. She said she would do it again though. It worked well for her.