Is baby really breech?

[limette]

So up until yesterday (36 weeks) the baby has been head down. When I went to my midwife appointment yesterday she heard the heartbeat up around my belly button and thinks the baby is in a v position. Head under ribs on right and feet under ribs on left, bum down. I get an ultrasound until Monday to confirm.

Obviously I'm totally stressing about this as I'm trying for an hbac and if the baby is breech and doesn't turn I'm looking at either an unattended breech or a another c-section, neither of which I want.

I'm trying to figure out the babies positioning and I just can't see it as being breech. First off, the baby moves a lot and the movements are felt exactly the way they did in my first pregnancy (head down). Hiccups are down low to the right, feet are usually to the left under ribs. Occasionally I feel something round push up under my right ribs but it is always in unison with pushing out with feet on the left. Down low, I guess near cervix I occasionally feel wiggly movements but they are light. I can't tell where the back is and am inclined to think it's more likely that the baby is posterior. Last night a big round part pushed right up in the upper middle so hard I thought it was coming out and then I felt a pop and it moved away.

There is still a lot of room in there to move as the bum/head switched sides and back again after the midwife appointment.

My doula says there is no way that I'd not notice the baby flipping breech and that she doesn't believe it would happen this late in the game.

I know I will find out for sure on Monday, but it's obviously going to be on my mind all weekend. The midwife that thinks the baby is breech has been a source of stress throughout this pregnancy, of my three midwives she is the least supportive of hbac and I honestly wasn't surprised that it was her to think breech.

Any thoughts or tips?

[kltroy]

You'd probably notice something different this late in the game... but to help, let me give you my experience. My son was breech from 30-39 weeks and born via c-section

His big hard (very hard) head was right under my ribs. It was very round and hard. His back was along my right side and his feet were up by his nose on my left side. Most of my kicks and punches were up high. I also frequently felt elbows and hands (couldn't figure this out until after he was born and I saw what he was doing) right along and in front of his head.

The thing that was very distinctive is that his head is very hard - harder than a butt. Just because your kicks are high doesn't mean your baby is not breech.

There was one day (after a visit to my chiro, who did Webster for me) where he flipped from breech-facing-left to facing-right, and then he flipped back again. I most definitely noticed when he flipped sides - it felt weird.

So.... don't freak out. It may be nothing. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish butts from heads (my mom, a CNM, actually thought my son was head-down at 32 weeks because she thought his head was his butt). A very quick shot with the ultrasound will tell you for sure what you're looking at. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[moodymaximus]

did she listen in other places as well?

just before 36 weeks i found the hb (fetoscope) right at the belly button and got worried.

i feel the lo's position is similar to how the pp described it, only 'm not sure whether he is head down or up. could be either, i guess.

i went for an US ast 36 weeks, to make sure. they did a nst first, and the hb was lower right "quadrant." the doc palpated and said she was certain the baby was head down. i still have tiny doubts. because i'm still not sure whether the hard thing is the butt or the head. it doesn't feel very round, but it is pretty hard, but i don't have anything to compare it with.

the doc said that the belly button hb was the placenta. it was the baby's rate, though. i haven't researched weather the placenta is my heart rate or the baby's. someone here said it is mine, but the dr said it was the baby's. (anyone knows?)

i wish we insisted on the US, but at that point we felt very reassured and she was discouraging us from having one done.

[jenangelcat]

nevermind

[hapersmion]

Don't panic! She could easily be wrong, and even if the baby was breech, s/he obviously still has room to turn. I had a midwife tell me at 36 weeks or so that the baby had switched to vertex, but he hadn't. It was impossible to miss his giant hard head right under my ribs, or would have been if I didn't WANT to believe he had turned.

[queenjulie]

FWIW, my midwife doesn't even bother to think about what position the baby is in until at least 36 weeks, because they are still moving around so much at that point--according to her, there's no reason to worry that the baby won't turn around again in the next week, if he or she is actually breech (and if the midwife who told you that sucks, which it sounds like, I would definitely see another one, or ask for an ultrasound to confirm so you can schedule an external version if you want to).