September 2012 Moms
MichelenDave06
member
Has anyone been "flipped" before
MichelenDave06
member
LO was breech at 20 weeks. I haven't had another u/s to see if he flipped, but I have heard some horror stories of the doctors flipping the baby later on, and how absolutely painful it is. Has anyone had this? I am terrified. I also have an anterior placenta, so not even sure if they would attempt to flip at that point, or just force a C section.
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Re: Has anyone been "flipped" before
Hmm by the title I thought this thread was going in a whole different direction.
Sorry no advice here!
I think there was a girl on third tri who was going for her version soon.
I heard a lot of horror stories, too, and I think this is one case I might opt for a c-section.
Apparently they will bring in like 3 people, grab the baby from outside your belly, and force the baby into position. I have heard that the pain is worse than labor. No thank you!
What are the other options??
I had an anterior placenta and then did a version with DS.
We found out he was breech too late (thanks in part to the position of the placenta), so the version (and everything else we did!) didn't work. It was excruciatingly painful...I threw DH into the wall at one point. It would have been worth it to me if it had worked, though.
I wouldn't worry too much about needing a version at this point, though. For one thing, it is common for babies to still go back and forth a lot at 20 weeks. My doctor said not to start thinking about it (pah...) until 32 weeks. Most babies are head down by 34. There are lots of far less painful things you can do to get the baby to turn if need be (especially if you have time!).
Going to a chiropractor who specializes in the Webster Technique is really beneficial. I'm already going to a chiro for my back and will continue going for Webster til I deliver. It helps with your alignment, which helps babies get into optimal alignment.
Acupuncture can also help with breech babies. With everything I did to try to get my baby to flip (and I did *everything* I could find online or anyone told me to do), acu got him moving more than anything else at least.
You can also do inversions, sit on an exercise ball, rock on your hands and knees (or do cat/cow yoga pose), etc. One woman told me the key is not to sit comfortably ever. I am not that hardcore, but I'm trying to spend more time sitting on an exercise ball than my office chair or couch, trying to remember to sit forward in chairs instead of leaning back...that sort of thing. I'm also doing prenatal yoga, in hopes that will help.
ETA: While it was incredibly painful, for me at least it was still better than my c-section, and I would try again this time if I needed to to avoid a c-section. The pain lasts a little while, as opposed to for weeks.
Also, in my case, it was 2 people trying to turn the baby. One of them was a former football player for Green Bay with hands bigger than my baby, though. Oy.
Have you looked at spinningbabies.com? It has lots of techniques for moving a baby into a better position.
LO was transverse at 20 weeks, and breech at 26. My MW said there's still plenty of time for her to flip. Anecdotally, I've heard plenty of stories about babies flipping at 38+ weeks or during labor.
DD was breech. We attempted the External Version and I have to be honest it HURT! My stomach was bruised for days afterward. My husband called it medieval torture.
My current OB has indicated she usually administers meds to help relax you and then discusses the chances of success based on your torso (previous OB did not administer meds and she only warned me that it would hurt). I have a short torso and my current OB indicated she probably would not have recommended it for me. Having said that, it was unsuccessful for me. We did not know DD was breech until 38 weeks so we scheduled the CS the next week and none of the turning exercises I tried worked.
I will say I have a friend who had the version performed and for her it worked and did not hurt (it was her 4th child- which may be why it did not hurt?).
Good luck!
I had DS flipped my first pregnancy. They gave me an epidural and a shot to relax my uterus. The dr. Put her hands on my bump and turned him in about 5-10 minutes. I didnt bruise, and when the epi wore off I wasnt even that sore. He stayed head down from that point on (this was 35 weeks). My Dr had a very high success rate for this procedure and since I had a lot of fluid i was a good candidate. it was totally worth avoiding a C-section IMO.
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DS #1 was breech from early on and stayed that way. We opted not to do the version (flipping) because of how painful I heard it could be and the fact that they could still turn back around to breech after going through the procedure.
There's some natural things you could try like certain yoga positions.
We ended up just having a c-section.
GL!
Cooper Edward
9.25.12
I have a follow up visit from my hospital stay tomorrow. I am definitely curious what my OB does in these situations.
Ditto to the spinningbabies.com suggestion as well as chiropractor's Webster technique and accupuncture. With DD my doula gave me lots of positions and exercises I could to do encourage optimal fetal positioning.
Like others have said, it's still a little early to be too worried that baby wont flip on their own, but I'd start with the things you can do on your own (ie spinning babies etc.) now to encourage baby while he/she still has plenty of room to maneuver.
A few things to add: even though DS remained breech, I refused to schedule a c-section and waited to go into labor on my own. As pp said, there is always a chance that they'll turn. In my case, once I got to the hospital the first thing they did was an ultrasound to check, but he was still breech (I was pretty positive he was at that point. I think I would have noticed such a huge movement!). I am also a firm believer that whenever there isn't a medical need necessitating a scheduled c-section, it is better for both mom and baby to let your body go into labor naturally. I certainly don't regret that decision at all, and it makes me a slightly better candidate for VBAC because we know that I can go into labor and progress on my own, even if I didn't get to do it much with DS.
Second and subsequent pregnancies are easier to turn than a 1st, because your muscles have already been stretched out.
My plan if DS *did* turn at any point was to run right to the acupuncturist for induction before he had a chance to turn back.
A girl on another board I frequent was breech until 37 weeks. Her midwife gave her some exercises to do to try to get him head down, she did them every day and it worked! She had scheduled an inversion (I think that's the attempt by doctors to flip) and she went for an appt a couple days before and he was in position.
From what I've heard, it's incredibly painful and the success rate is very low. I don't think being breech at 20 weeks is that big a deal though, there's still plenty of time and space for baby to move around.
The success rate of versions depends on a bunch of different factors, but on average it is 65%, which is nothing to scoff at. There are risks, but there are risks associated with a c-section as well.
https://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/pregnancy-newborns/labor-childbirth/breech-babies-what-can-i-do-if-my-baby-is-breech.html
DS was breech and my dr recommended I clean my floors on my hands & knees to see if that would work and it did.