3rd Trimester
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Has anyone had an external cephalic Version?
I am totally freaked about how much it sounds like its going to hurt, I have mine scheduled for october 7th because LO will be 37.3 weeks or so, our OB likes to wait until they are full term because she said you can go into labor very soon after having it done. I guess she has a very high success rate with them, but I am still nervous! It sounds so painful, and might not even work!
Has anyone had this done? and did it work? did it send you into labor?
EDIT: External Cephalic Version
EDIT 2.0: I don't mean an internal. I am talking about where they flip your breech baby from breech to head down.
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Re: Has anyone had an external cephalic Version?
Me: 37
DH: 36
Married: 08-25-07
DS: 11-20-09
Name change alert: Formerly Lisswastaken
By the way you are right on the name! just figured I would add that!
I had one last week and it didn't work
It was painful but not as bad as I thought. They tried three times to lift her feet out of my pelvis and that was the worst pain. She did not like it and her heartbeat dropped on the third try so they stopped immediately and monitored me for 3 long hours.
It's supposed to work best at 37 weeks. We couldn't get in to see someone then but she had plenty of fluid so they were optimistic. We've also tried pelvic tilts, moxibustion, and the Webster technique. She's pretty happy where she is so my dreams of a natural water birth are out the window and I have to have a c-section Wednesday.
Everyone told me she'd flip by now and I'm disappointed the techniques we tried didn't work but I'd do them all again, even the version.
Oh and the drug they give you to prevent your uterus from contracting during the version is like caffeine x 10000. The side effect is your heartbeat skyrocketing. It was weird but faded fast. Good luck! I hope it works for you! And I know it sounds impossible but try to relax your stomach muscles and breathe slowly when they do it. The midwife helping during the version was great at reminding me.
I had one last week when I was 37 wk 2 days. I had a hard time deciding whether to do it or not, but my doctor convinced me to go for it as my only real option to avoid a c-section, she gave me about a 70% chance of it working because I have a lot of fluid, baby was in a good spot, etc. Usually they say it's 50/50 whether it works or not. Unfortunately it did not work and I have a c-section scheduled for next week.
My experience:
Got to hospital, they hooked me up to a monitor for about 1/2 hour to get LO's heartbeat, etc (basically a non-stress test), I did not get any drugs because I was not contracting, if you are contracting you will get drugs to relax the muscles. They did an ultrasound to check baby's position and position of the placenta, then the Dr. and midwife did the version, pressing very hard on my belly in a massaging sort of way. It was pretty uncomfortable. They only did this for about 5 minutes, realized it wasn't going to happen and stopped. I was then hooked back to the monitors for 30-45 minutes to check LO again and all was perfectly normal. Other than being really sore (feeling bruised, but no bruising) everything was fine.
I felt really guilty that night for doing it, afraid I had hurt the baby, but overall I don't regret doing it.
Hope this helps!