Not turning breech baby b/c it will turn in labor?

[HRJ]

I have a friend that is pregnant.  She had an ultrasound today (my mom said 'sophisticated' - I assume this means 3D).  The baby is large and breech.  They are not suggesting any therapies for turning him.  As long as her water doesn't break, they'll try to turn it during labor.  Mother thinks that the bigger he gets, the less likely to turn.  I don't know how many weeks she is exactly (but i could find this out).  Apparently the issue is excess amniotic fluid.  Baby is between rank breech and transverse.  They don't want to try to push him head down b/c he's likely to flip back up b/c he has the extra fluid/room to move.  Any words of advice other than pelvic tilts and rocking?  What about sitting on a birth ball? 

[Lula's Mom]

Try this website: http://spinningbabies.com/baby-positions/breech-or-bottoms-up/305-body-work-for-breech

[Jaimee]

  And moxibustion.

[clutterbug]

I didn't think they tried to turn babies during labour anymore - I thought they tried at like 37/38/39 weeks and if baby doesn't turn, that's it.  When my mom had my brother (31 years ago), they induced her with pit and then turned him during labour.  She still shudders when talking about it...it was extremely painful. :(

My babe was breech at 35 weeks...we did moxibustion, hands and knees/knee/chest (see that spinning babies website the PP linked to), chiropractic (the Webster technique), time spent in the swimming pool, and moxibustion.  She turned within a week or so of the breech diagnosis, thank goodness.

[motherhendoula]

I have a cousin who is about 30 yrs old and they waited for her to turn while my Aunt was in labor.  They made her walk up and down the hospital halls for nearly three days, the baby finally turned and was born vaginally.   Where is she delivering?  Im surprised they havent  just scheduled the Section already - between being big AND breech. 

Seeing a chiro  - who has experience with the Webster technique - and all other suggestions will help!

[HRJ]

Do you have any knowledge about whether the baby will flip back b/c of the excess fluid?

[msmiranda]

I've done some research on this recently, and it sounds reasonable to me that if he is moving between transverse and breech, he is considered to have an unstable lie, and ECV is indeed less likely to be effective because he still has room to turn back.  So she would be taking all of the risks of ECV for a very uncertain benefit.  Attempting to turn a baby with an unstable lie during early labor is a reasonable course of action.  If they can manage to turn him vertex, they can then break her water and guide his head into the pelvis so that he cannot turn back and she can have a vaginal delivery.  Otherwise if he stays transverse or breech she will probably have a c-section.  Waiting until labor begins on its own is reasonable because most babies (80%) will turn head down prior to or during early labor.  She will just have to be sure to head right to the hospital when she goes into labor so that if the baby is in a bad position there is time to take action (version and/or c-section) before labor progresses too far.  If he was persistent breech, it would be a different story, but because he is still moving the course of action that has been suggested to her is in line with what I have been reading and what my OB has said to me.

[SynEpona]

In my experience, my son was was transverse right up to the morning of the scheduled C-section at 38w5d ... scheduled ONLY b/c he was transverse.

While waiting for my doc, he started to turn, so she sent me home, and said we'd check when I came in during labour, if he had reverted to transverse, she'd do the c-sec right away to prevent me spending a long labour that might then result in a c-sec anyway. (She was a doc, a nice one, but definitely a doctor ... this round we have mid-wifery care). Baby basically was at a 45 deg. angle when I got to the hospital, and continued to turn right up to the pushing stage, when he was born head first.

Knowing that, I'm less concerned about the fact that this (my 2nd) baby is transverse much of the time ... she likes to do mega somersaults, check out every angle she can, and then go back to being transverse for a while. My current midwives are not worried yet, and have said that with my history of a late flipping baby, they won't start to be concerned about a transverse position until the very end.

[sarahtar]

ECV has enough risks that if the doctor doesn't think the baby will stay head-down, it's just not worth it. As I recall, though it's been almost 3 years since I had to read up on this, most OBs won't do a version on a baby who hasn't yet started to settle into the pelvis, since if they're still up high, they still have plenty of room/time to move into the correct position on their own.

In addition to all the above suggestions, acupuncture, as often as she can go, is a good idea - with an acupuncturist who knows how to help a breech.

We also spent a lot of time with me lying flat on an ironing board propped up against the bed, head-down. Frozen peas on my upper belly, warm washcloth on my lower belly, and either nice music or DH talking pretty much aimed at my crotch.