@kazza123 This is such a great reply. You birthed your baby! My mum had three c sections, she birthed three babies. All three of us love our mum. She's the best mum we could have ever asked for. I'm currently 41 weeks and had an unsuccessful sweep with my midwife yesterday due to cervix being too high (I'm in the UK so I know things work a lot differently here). If I end up birthing my baby via cection, that's okay. I hope OP finds peace with her decision and I'm sorry you've been made to feel small. Due to culture I haven't been asked too much about my birth plan but I have had a few 'are you going natural?' questions. Maybe I'm super British but I just find it a bit rude ha & tend to just ingore the question!
@cathyhlikesflowers I watched one for school and you have to have an epidural and they have an OR prepped for an emergency c-section. They told me the procedure is hardly ever successful. This one was, but the baby didn’t tolerate it and the mom was rushed to an emergency c-section. I’d rather schedule one then have an emergency one after seeing an emergency c-section.
@cathyhlikesflowers I had an ECV with my second at around 38 weeks; it took like five minutes and didn’t hurt at all. I’d read a bunch of horror stories on Reddit about ECVs being quite painful, but it was really nothing for me. My OB literally just found his head and pushed it down to where it was supposed to be and then he stayed there, thank goodness. I wasn’t offered any medications or anything. I have read a lot of others’ experiences saying they needed an epidural or something, so I have no idea why it was so different for me. But, I would push for the ECV if I were you. C-sections are way more risky and have longer recovery, as I’m sure you already know.
@ration Yes, everyone is different, and everyone has different pain tolerances, but since he’s transverse, he’s half way there, so I’m confused why they don’t want to give it a try. I’m glad your baby was able to turn for you!
@cathyhlikesflowers Can I just say that I am almost crying reading all those great replies? People in this sub are amazing, caring, thinking about how OP feels, also sharing experience but never neglecting science and evidence-based facts... This is truly my place. I love you all folks!
@cathyhlikesflowers My evc failed at 38 weeks so I had a planned csection at 39 weeks. And another planned csection with my second because the first one was so great lol. I did mourn my birth plan with my first but pleasantly surprised how good the recovery was
@cathyhlikesflowers I had a super easy ECV at 36/37 weeks. It was successful and she stayed head down until I went into spontaneous labor at 39 weeks. Not super painful, my biggest complaint is that I had to fast and I was super hungry, and it was delayed because of some emergencies in the hospital so the OBs took a while to get to me.
I ended up with a c section anyway (10+ lb baby stuck at 0 position for hours and hours while I was 9 cm dilated) but the ECV itself was fine.
Just trying to give another perspective here, since everyone is talking about awful and unsuccessful ECVs.
@cathyhlikesflowers I would insist on trying the ECV. I had a successful one and really, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had in my head. Everyone is different, of course, but it was 4 hours, all but about 2 minutes was monitoring.
@3angels Yeah, I feel like there is a lot of scaremongering about how painful an ECV is. Maybe I was just lucky but I read so many horror stories and I was so scared, but mine was maybe 3 minutes of serious discomfort during the procedure itself. The worst part was having to lie down and be monitored for so long.
@cathyhlikesflowers I think it comes down to what’s more important- your birth plan or minimizing risk to the baby. The choice is obvious to me, though it certainly sucks to not get what you were hoping for.
@cathyhlikesflowers I highly suggest trying to meet with a midwife and get her opinion. I know it seems last minute, but you shouldn't be pressured by your OB. There is great potential for your baby to get into position, especially since you'll be doing spinning babies, chiro, etc. It's messed up that your doc doesn't want to give baby a chance. You still have some time. By the way, I had high amniotic fluid levels for all three of my natural pregnancies/births. In a big-city birthing center, they made a big deal of it. In another, more midwife-friendly state, my midwives were fine with it. Midwives in general are a lot more comfortable with the natural variations in different women's pregnancies. I hope you get a chance to at least speak with one. Good luck!
Edit: apparently the downvoters don’t think pregnant moms deserve second opinions?
@cathyhlikesflowers I just had this exact situation, baby flipped to transverse at 38+5. Was told they would try an inversion if I wanted to but I opted no considering how far along I was and if it didn’t work I’d basically have ti immediately go back to the hospital for a c-section.
Wasn’t how I’d hoped to have our boy (first was successful vaginal delivery after induction at 41 weeks) but I’m so glad we did because they discovered his cord was completely wrapped around him and it most likely would have been a very difficult and traumatic birth ending in a possible emergency c-section if I’d gone into labor.
Baby warm born last Friday 5/27 at 39 weeks. It was about 5 days post c-section that I was starting to feel better and move around a little easier. Good luck!
@adriana144 Congrats! So glad everything went well. That’s my biggest fear with c-section-the recovery time, but it’s comforting to hear so many positive stories.
@cathyhlikesflowers My baby was discovered to be full breech at 37 weeks (was probably that way for a while). I had a successful ECV the next day. I had an epidural, which my doula and I strongly believe helped with the success.
@cathyhlikesflowers Personally I'd go for the c section but I had great experiences with both of my planned c sections and am eternally grateful that I was able to birth that way (due to preexisting risk factors) considering how many people I know who requested a scheduled c section due to complications they were experiencing, were denied it, and then had a emergency c section after hours/days of unsuccessful labor so I am admitted very very biased.
