Question about breach babies

katchowski

Hello Everyone! Just to introduce myself, my name is Kat and I had my son via an emergency c-sec in South Korea last year. I have not posted for over year, but I always valued the advice and info I have gotten from the people on these boards.

Now onto my question, last week my SIL had her first child. Last week her doctors assured her that there were no issues, baby was a good weight, he had dropped and that she was ready to go. So imagine our surprise at finding out that she had an emergency c-sec because the baby was breach (a foreseeable issue).  I know that doctors in the US tend to give less ultrasounds than they do in Korea, but we just found out that she only received her last ultrasound in July and at that time the baby was breach. My SIL is very upset, not because she had to have a c-sec, but because the doctors told her that the baby was not breach and had dropped. 

My question is in the case of a breach baby, is it normal procedure in the US to not check via ultrasound the position of the baby even when their is a possible risk that the child is the wrong position?

Sorry that was a little long. 

 

 

JSabs09

Hi!  I had a breech baby last month - we knew in August that she was not head down just by the doctor feeling my stomach (they suspected it anyways).  The doctor continued to monitor this and I never felt any crazy flip or turn by my DD to think she went head down - so in September they confirmed she was breech at about 36 weeks with an ultrasound and scheduled my c section for my due date at 40 weeks.  Every weekly appointment after the doctor continue to check with feeling my stomach and internals as well - so we suspected, yes, still breech position.  Come my scheduled date the first thing they did at the hospital was confirm again via ultrasound that DD was still breech and then went ahead with the c section.  It all seemed very straight forward and somewhat easy to tell/confirm for the doctors so I would also be surprised that, given my experience, that your SIL was not told this was still a possibility.  If they suspected she had a breech position in the summer - I don't see why they wouldn't monitor it and confirm via ultrasound closer to her due date...

Potatertot

After the growth scan at 20 weeks, I had another ultrasound at 36 weeks to determine for sure which position baby was in. To everyone's surprise she was breech. We scheduled the c-section for 39 weeks, and I got two more ultrasounds, one at week 38 I believe, and on the morning of the c-section.

I find it very odd that her docs did not do an ultrasound towards the end to determine the position of the baby. 

nc@hotmail.com

Both my babies were breech. My doctor could tell by both feeling my belly and from the location of the heartbeat in my belly. With my first we did an ultrasound to confirm breech presentation at 37 weeks before scheduling an ECV at 38 weeks. Another ultrasound was done immediately prior to the ECV at 38 weeks too. With my 2nd pregnancy I knew he was breech from the way he felt inside of me and again my doctor could tell from feeling my belly. We did not opt for any additional ultrasounds because I knew I was doing a cesarean again anyway.

holly321

My DD was breech, we discovered this the day I was being induced.  But she had been heads down the week before, so maybe the baby flipped? 

Vegasbb

My baby was breech. I could tell he was breech and insisted on an u/s. My doctor did a vaginal exam and told me I was wrong and she could feel his head. She finally caved and did an u/s after I begged her and sure enough - he was breech! So honestly I think if I couldn't tell he was breech, my doctor wouldn't have known and I would have ended up like your SIL. 

I don't think it's all that uncommon to not know. My cousin was in labor for 10 hours with her 3rd baby before finally they figured out baby was breech. She was pretty pissed that during 5 vaginal checks no one could figure that out. I guess heads and butts feel pretty similar?  

katchowski

Thank you guys so much for the feedback. it is good to know that sometimes doctors miss it if they do not do the u/s. From what my SIL has told us, the doctor only felt her belly, to check the position.

This is all actually foreign for me. Here in Korea, I got a short u/s with every check-up. It is the norm here to check the babies weight and development via u/s, so my husband and I were shocked that the doctor did not know the child was breach.

imimahoney

I only had belly exams after my 20 week exam. The dr. felt the babies position just from the outside, never using an u/s. My c-section ended up because my son was transverse. Babies can flip and move within a second.