Successful ECV anyone???
in Baby
Hi ladies
My bump is breech at the moment and at 36+6 there is little hope of him/her turning by itself. I've got an appointment with the consultant this afternoon to discuss my options and I'm sure an ECV will be offered. As far as I can tell the success rate for this is very low and I'd love to hear from anyone who had a successful ECV. The last thing I wanted was a c-section but my sister had an ECV with her first and said it was awful (and it didn't work) so I'm just trying to figure out whether it's worth putting bump and myself through that or just settling for the c-section I dreaded.
Many thanks
Serena xxxx
My bump is breech at the moment and at 36+6 there is little hope of him/her turning by itself. I've got an appointment with the consultant this afternoon to discuss my options and I'm sure an ECV will be offered. As far as I can tell the success rate for this is very low and I'd love to hear from anyone who had a successful ECV. The last thing I wanted was a c-section but my sister had an ECV with her first and said it was awful (and it didn't work) so I'm just trying to figure out whether it's worth putting bump and myself through that or just settling for the c-section I dreaded.
Many thanks
Serena xxxx
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Replies
My friend has a successful ECV but she did say she'd never go thru it again, the pain was unbearable. sorry!
its hard to plan for anything, I planned for a home birth but ended up having emerg c sec after 18hours in a labour, so be prepared for any eventuality as I hadn't and i struggled to get my head around a c-sec
good luck xxx
i'm a midwife, and although i have never had a breech baby, i've seen a number of ECV's on the Day Unit where i work.
i couldnt give you percentages on how many are successful, as we seem to go ages without success, then loads with!
as to painful - if it is painful, you need to tell them to stop! if uncomfortable, just see how you feel with that. they should monitor your baby before & after the attempt to make sure eveything is ok for you.
i would say give it a try - if it doesnt work, you havent really lost anything in trying - you'd still have a breech baby, and be strongly advised to have a C/S!
if it does work, then you get the chance for a vaginal delivery!
good luck with whatever you decide, anyway!! - and let us know what happened!!
xxxxxx
I would recommend you give it a try, but good luck with whatever you decide.
So I think I'll have to give it a go. Like you say ollier2001 I've nothing to lose really.
Keep everything crossed for me that it's a success!!
Serena xxxx
Thanks everyone.
Serena xxxx
i'm really glad it worked for you!! hope all goes according to plan with your vaginal delivery!!
love nicki
xxxxxx
Nat X x 39 wks + 6 days
I had an ECV and at 37 weeks and I would like to say that they monator the baby's movement and heartbeat for about 30 min before they start and after the ECV. The specialist only took 46 sec to turn my baby and it was not painful or uncomfortable. I understand that I was one of the lucky ones but all I can say is that it really is worth a try as it should not be painful or stressful for the baby and they will stop if you are in pain or the baby is distressed in any way.
Hi everyone,
I'm 36+6weeks and had an ECV this morning - this is my 3rd pregnancy and my second birth was an undetected breech (still managed a normal delivery) so I was being carefully monitored this time around!
I was really apprehensive going into it, but step by step here's what happened:
- I arrived, got settled into a room on the delivery suite and had my temp checked, blood pressure checked, and hooked up to take a trace of the baby's heart rate.
- About 40 mins in, the consultant came and explained the procedure to me, and did a scan of the baby to double check positioning, plus how much fluid there was and where the cord/placenta were. The baby was bottom down with her feet tucked under buddha style.
- The consultant then tried to turn the baby - this basically involved him trying to cup the baby's bottom up and out of my pelvis, and guiding the head around. It felt like exactly what it was - a grown man putting most of his weight against my belly!! Uncomfortable, but not painful - and the lovely midwife mouthed to me to keep breathing which really helped.
- That didn't work unfortunately, so he recommended I have the muscle relaxant injection and that we try again once it had taken effect. This made me feel a tiny bit jittery, but just as though I'd had one too many cups of coffee, nothing too dramatic.
- About 20 minutes later, the consultant came back and said the muscle relaxant had made a big difference to how much he could mobilise the baby. He tried to turn her into a forward roll twice but she kept slipping back - and then he tried turning her backwards and he must have got her about a 3rd of the way around and she just suddenly flipped the rest of the way herself! Again, the consultant was putting a lot of his weight into my belly, but I knew what to expect this time around and kept breathing, and while it wasn't comfortable, it wasn't painful either.
- They had another scan to confirm that she was now head down, then hooked me up to take another trace of the foetal heartbeat - she was very wriggly (probably annoyed at having been moved!) and the trace kept cutting out, which probably meant we were hooked up a bit longer than we probably could have been, but the trace was fairly much the same as the one taken before so they were happy for us to go home about 40 minutes later.
I feel a bit tender around the belly this evening, but otherwise completely fine - and now just hoping that bump stays where she's supposed to be and doesn't turn back - but overall I've had a completely positive experience and would recommend that it's worth a try!!
Good luck to anyone considering it.
The problems with ECV are not always straight after the procedure. I've read reports of a lot of mum who had ECV and went on to have very difficult births, stillborns or babies that died days after being born. The reason seems to be risk of cord entanglement, one lady said her baby turned successfully during the ECV, but was born with the cord wrapped three times around its body and neck and it was cutting his oxygen supply and he couldn't breath on his own for a while. Another one said the ECV cause a minor placenta abruption which was not detected during the ultrasound and meant that the baby couldn't breath at all on its own after birth and died a few days afterwards. I don't think the statistics include information about vb deliveries after ECV, they only cover problems that came up straight after the procedure. Something to thing about...
This is a sore subject for me! Was booked in for ecv today desperate to turn my baby to get the natural birth I wanted. Signed paperwork got my meds to take beforehand then they rescan me and drop the bombshell that she's footling breech so they can't turn her due to risk of cord prolapse if her waters burst whilst turning her. I would really have liked to give it a go though but gota have a c section now x
Hey ladies
Saw this thread and joined just to reply really as I went through the EVC just yesterday.I can see some of these replies are old so I thought I'd provide a newer reply for anyone searching the web like I did when considering having the ECV done.
First things first , I found out at 36 weeks that my baby was breech (footling breech, meaning I could not even try for a breech vaginal birth if I wanted one) I saw my midwife one week later and explained what the scan revealed and she checked the position of my baby and said she thought that he was now head down but she referred me to have a presentation scan to double check and good thing she did as he was not head down but had both feet in the left side of my pelvis and head under my ribs!!
I then went to speak to a consultant that Monday and we decided seen as he is not in a favourable position even for a vaginal breech birth we should try the ECV to try and avoid the C-section. When the consultant explained the ECV he said and I quote...'' we gently try and coax the baby round but we do not force them round, and the procedure shouldn't cause you much pain but may be uncomfortable '' so I thought what the hell lets do it. He also said explained that the risk is low for complications but I should bring my partner with me in case I need an emergency c section as the baby's heart rate will drop a little during the procedure and if it doesn't come back up that's when they will perform an emergency c-section! My babies heart rate did not drop at all during or after the procedure and seemed to stay very steady and it is monitored closely throughout
By the time I was booked in for the procedure I was 37 weeks + 6 days which apparently is a bit late to have it done it is preferably done between 36 and 37 weeks as the longer you leave it the least likely it is to work because the bigger your baby is getting and the less room they have to move.
It was ECV day I went in at 1.45 and waited a while in a delivery room which was a bit daunting itself. Then I was asked questions about allergies etc . The consultant ended up being the same one I saw on the Monday who decided with me it was the best thing to do. Which was nice. Anyway they linked my baby up to a heart rate band thing to monitor his normal heart rate for 20 minutes and during this time they took my blood pressure , listened to my pulse and took my temperature and I provided a urine sample. After 20 mins they injected me in my arm with a drug that is also used to treat asthma, I felt a little drowsy for a minute and then my heart raced a little. Face felt a little lazy ! But heart racing stopped and overall felt ok just a little weird ( I could fully tell I had been given something) anyway 14 minutes later the consultant came back and said we were ready to start and asked me to lie on a pillow and slightly lean towards the left. I was offered gas and air but I said I didn't want any and id see how I'd go, the midwife present did keep suggesting I should have it to hand and thank god I did. The second he started pushing on my belly.... I swore loudly and began the gas and air , tbh it was much more painful than I ever expected and much more rough than I thought. My partner looked a bit concerned as he knows generally I'm quite tough and deal with pain ok hence the '' oh I don't need gas and air'' let me tell you something take the gas and air and start it before they start as it hurts like hell , it brought tears to my eyes,they did ask on a few occasions if I wanted to stop but I said no cos I wanted to know that I had tryed my best to allow my son to be born naturally!! Tbh it didn't feel as if they were pushing that hard so I wasn't concerned for my baby so thought man up woman you have to go through childbirth yet!! Well it turns out I won't be as it didnt work an
So not all of this posted but hope it helps to be mums decide what to do next I don't really know how I feel about the whole procedure but probably would have felt better if it had worked if I'd been through the pain and got a result but as it didn't happen I don't think I'll be trying again this is my first pregnancy and I feel the experience has made me feel pretty crappy.
Hi Lou1990, thanks so much for sharing your experience - but how did things turn out - have you had your baby now or are you still due?