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Natural Birth
Breech :(
So we found out Friday our baby is breech. I'm 37w 4d today.
We are going ahead with an ECV this Wed., Nov. 10th, which based on the research I have read, has a 67% success rate with a risk of 1-2% of something bad happening.
We are also using prayer, pelvic tilting and visualization and pelvic rocking to attempt to get the baby to turn.
Any opinions on this?
I see that there are 6 others who have breech babies as well, but I have only been able to find 2 of your due dates, so I'm not sure how far along the other 4 are, and I can't seem to find a birth story from the other 4, so I assume they are still pregnant.
Any help would be appreciated!
Hope all of you are well - I don't post on here much, but I generally read through most things daily.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Breech :(
Hello-
First off, remember the power of positive thinking! AND babies can turn up until the last minute!!
Have you looked at www.spinningbabies.com? There are a bunch of excercises on there dedicated to encouraging babies to turn.
There is a chiropractic technique that is meant to help turn breech babies. It's called the Webster Method. You will find a decent amount about it if you google it. Here is one website I found (scroll down the page a little) https://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/chiropracticcare.html. You may want to search for a chiropractor who is certified in this method.
If you are using a Doula, you may want to ask her for additional suggestions.
Is your OB/MW comfortable delivering a breech babiy There are still practioners out there who will! Will you be able to labor at all naturally to see if the baby turns on it's ow? You may want to advocate for that- even if the baby doesn't turn, laboring naturally can have other additional benefits for you and the baby.
I also encourage you to find joy and happiness in every aspect of your delivery, no matter how it turns out. GL!
Good luck - I hope you can get that LO turned!
Thanks for your reply!
I am trying very hard to be positive!
I have looked at spinning babies, and we are doing many of those techniques.
I also looked at the Webster technique. My DH is not really on board with it. I guess if I showed him some more information? I was actually looking at it off of American Pregnancy, and since it mentioned that it was usually tried in the 8th month, I wasn't sure of it's success in someone as far along as I am, but I probably need to do more research.
My OB office will not deliver a breech baby. In fact, only 2 of the 4 OBs will even do the version. I have discussed the laboring, etc. Here's the plan for that: no matter what the outcome of the version is (turn or no turn), I will go home. If I do not go into labor or the baby does not turn by December 2 (41 weeks), I will have a c-section at 8 am. (If the baby turns Wed., then I will be allowed to go to Dec. 9th as originally planned [42 weeks]). If I go into labor between Wed. and Dec. 2nd with a breech baby and one of the 2 OBs are the on-call OB, then they will let me labor naturally until the absolute last minute and would be willing to try a 2nd attempt version, depending on the circumstances. But, they will not deliver a breech baby. And yes, we have discussed that regardless of the turning or not, we would still like to labor b/c of the benefits even if a c-section is necessary.
If Wednesday doesn't work, we are considering looking at getting to a practice that will. We are near the metro Atlanta area, so hopefully we would be able to since it is a large area. A lot of that will depend on what kind of breech we are looking at after Wednesday's attempt to turn the baby.
Again, I really appreciate the help. We are really, really praying and hoping for the baby turning on its on within the next 36 hours so that we can avoid the version altogether!
I just was going to share my ECV story b/c I found so few when I was looking before I had it done. Let me know if you have questions! I also second the Webster technique, moxibustion, and spinningbabies.com techniques:
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So we went in at 37w5d for the external version to flip our breech baby. They did an amnio first to check for lung maturity because they planned on inducing me after the version. (My PUPPS rash is pretty unbearable, which was the reason for the induction.)
The amnio pretty much sucked. You can kind of feel it the whole time. Glad I didn't look at the needle, which is evidently long but thin.
After the amnio, they had an OB, my midwife, a nurse and a med student (he was just observing) there for the version. The OR was prepped and ready in case of problems and supposedly it would have taken 4-6 minutes to get the baby out at any sign of distress. They said my placenta was in a good place and that I had plenty of fluid and no apparent cord problems so everything was good to go. They gave me some terbutaline to relax my uterus. It makes your heart race like crazy and does NOT relax your other muscles. My DH and I did some relaxation exercises in the room with the lights dim while waiting for it to kick in. All indications said I was a perfect candidate, and I think the screening is important to avoid problems.
The version itself didn't feel great, but it certainly wasn't super painful. Just a lot of pushing. The OB kind of pushed the baby's butt out of my pelvis. The midwife held it in place while the OB pushed the head around. It does take your breath away, but not bad. They keep an US on the baby about every 30 seconds to check for progress and distress. The gel is kind of a lubricant. I think it wouldn't have hurt as much if it had been for my PUPPS, which makes my skin super sensitive. Unfortunately, she needed some traction so couldn't use a ton of gel. I felt the baby's butt kind of turn. They basically got it to transverse and then the baby turned the rest of the way on its own. They were all pretty shocked at how easy it was. Took maybe 3 minutes? (Hard to tell when your heart's racing.) They watched on the US and then kept me on the monitor for about an hour. Then they checked the head again and let me get in the bath for my itching
After
that, we got dressed and walked around to secure that head in there while
waiting for the amnio.
It was such a relief to have the baby turn so I can stop worrying about a c-section. The version was definitely worth it for me. Much less painful than a c-section and fairly safe in my case. I really didn't think it was that bad.
Thank you for sharing! This is just what I needed to hear!
So did you end up having a vaginal, intervention and med-free birth with the induction?
I have asked about induction after the procedure and have been told I will not have it unless I am extremely dialated or something, but then I don't have a severe case of PUPPS like you did. I do have it in a mild form, which is kind of interesting that you did too, but I guess there's no correlation.
What position was your baby in? Ours is Frank breech.
He was frank as well. They only induced because of the PUPPS. I wouldn't have agreed to it afterwards otherwise. As soon as they were done monitoring him after the ECV, we walked a ton to try to get his head engaged. Then after the induction failed, I did pelvic tilts like crazy to try to get his head in the right position and keep it nice and engaged.
I had a vaginal, but not med-free birth. I believe it was a week after the ECV and failed induction. There were other complications during the delivery that had nothing to do with him being breech.
Sorry about your PUPPS.
ETA: I've read more about ECVs since then, and it sounds like it's really important to keep your stomach muscles relaxed. I remember doing some loose lip/loose jaw breathing to try to keep relaxed, and I think it helped. The more you tense, the harder they have to push against you, if that makes sense.
I'd also get as much chiropractic done between now and then as you can as the midwife thought that helped my pelvis a nice room place to be.
I'm a lurker and don't post much. I'm exactly one week behind you, and we just found out today that our little guy is frank breech. I'm pretty upset about the prospect of having a section (upset is probably an understatement). Nobody in our area delivers breech babies vaginally. We are waiting to see when we can schedule an ECV (we have to travel over an hour to see someone who will do it). Hopefull it will work. I am trying techniques from spinningbabies.com until then, but my OB didn't seem optimistic that our guy will turn on his own, because his bum is pretty far down in my pelvis.
I hope everything goes well for you! Are you going to try chiropractic?
I really appreciate all the responses!
We are looking forward to tomorrow, and praying for success.
We are not currently looking at the chiro. My DH has some concerns about some of the things we've read, but we are considering acupuncture and have looked at several places we will call if tomorrow doesn't work.
Thanks again!