Hi ladies,

I orginally posted this in Gestational Complications but I haven't had any replies.. so I thought I'd try my luck in here..

My tiny one has been breech since 28 weeks and has yet to move, I'm now coming up to 32 weeks. Of course there's plently of time for her to shift but my midwife told me to start thinking through the options incase it comes to it. Has any one had an experience of ECV to move the baby into the correct position ? or a c section ? myself and partner are finidng it hard to decide. We're hoping for a homebirth so to have any chance of still having one we'd need to atleast try for the ECV. But I'm interested in your experiences, thank you so much

id not plan a c-section if your wanting a homebirth hun , instead spend your time on your hands and knees , theres a website i cant remember the link to but im sure you will find it called Babyspinning which gives you lots of help in getting baby turned around the right way for a sucessful birth, then theres reflexology which i dont have experience of but is supposed to help as is acupunture and then theres always the ECV if none of that works

Hey sweets thanks for the reply, I'll look into the "Babyspinning" really great x

Hi hun, still plenty of time for LO to move - id give the ECV a go..if no success then at least you can say you tried, and you dont want to look back and think 'ahhh we wished we had given it a go' xxx

I'm in the same position (except my LO is transverse).. I would go for the ECV.. No point putting yourself through major surgery without trying all other available options first!!

I've heard some really horrible stories about ECV. I haven't given it much thought or research but if I had to make a decision right now I think I'd go for c-section.

I've also heard some dodgy things about the manual turning of baby, and I'm in the same boat as you at the moment. 33 weeks along now and baby has been moving between oblique transverse and breech position. I've heard they start assessing the position more seriously around 35-37 weeks, and even then, up until labor starts, baby can turn.

I've heard ECV is effective about 50% of the time but have also heard of increased fetal distress and whatnot from it, which is what turns me off from it. All that pain and potential distress to baby (and me) just for a 50/50 result....I'm not totally convinced yet. But the major operation that is C-section leaves me feeling pretty unthrilled too, so I'm not sure yet.

I've heard if it's an emergency section, husband can't come in with me, but if it's a planned section, he can....further occluding the matter.

So I wish I could offer some advice, but all I can offer is sympathy as I'm in the same boat, LOL! Since you're trying for a home birth, though, you might be more persuaded to try the ECV thing.

As mentioned before, there's other methods to help baby turn too....spending time on all fours, which I personally can't do for more than a few minutes as it becomes exceedingly uncomfortable. Instead you could sit backwards on a chair and lean forward to rest your upper body on the chair back, and this can allow your belly to hang forward to give baby room to turn.

Also heard of shining a light down at your pelvis and/or playing music down there so that baby's attracted to move down. Also heard of going to the pool and doing loads of headstands in the water, lol...

Hoping your baby and mine turns!

Personally - I would do everything in my power to get baby to turn before I would elect a c-section. I don't know anything about ECV - but I would try that, acupuncture, etc.... FIRST!

My little boy was breech and we opted for an ECV as i really wanted to have him naturally like my daughter. I personally wouldn't have one again as i was left for so long before it was done and i had gestational diabetes and they kept umming and arring about letting me eat and i ended up feeling really ill. It really hurt me but they said i had a difficult abdomen so dont know if that made any difference?!
Also the ECV was unsuccessful to so i ended up having a c section anyways... which was no where near as bad as i had expected it to be. They told me i would be in hospital for 5 days as i had diabetes and the c section but i actually got home the day and hour Sid turned 2 days old

If you have any q's feel free to ask

I just met with a friend today who had a breech baby and tried ECV at 37 weeks. She said it was really not very nice and it didn't work. But it did end up in her waters breaking a day later, and having to have section anyway. She said the ECV was really uncomfortable, worse than the section...

Having said that if it was me I would definitely still give it a go to try for a vaginal birth, at least if it leads to seciton anyway you can say you've tried everything. Just do as much as you can in the meantime (all the stuff the girls above suggest) which might get the baby to turn iteslf. And if you go for ECV just be prepared for things to happen quickly after that.