Thursday, February 01, 2007

Oh Bother ....

Hot off the press .... Just got back from the doctor and things are relatively tickety boo - thank gosh!! The nurses and my doctors did a little dance when they saw me to celebrate that I was still pregnant and we had a few good laughs about it. I am lucky as this group of women who have cared for me for the past eight months are truly a good bunch of ladies. I can ask any silly question and never feel stupid for asking it and they are all so willing to share their experiences and opinions when asked.

Mommy and baby are both doing really well, despite the little stinker still being in a Frank Breech position. In fact, she has dropped further into my pelvis so we know that things are getting ready for the big moment. The ball however has been tossed back into my court and I have a few decisions to make by next Thursday; do I go for a ECV next week or just plan for a cesarean?

Natural vaginal birth has always been a real biggie for me. Something that I have always felt strongly about for me personally. When pregnant with Kaelen, my plan was to do as much as possible without assistance and my hubby knew that I wanted to avoid an epidural, absolutely NO episiotomoy and do my best to avoid a cesarean. Ironically, we never really had the time to deal with our birth plan as Kaelen had his own plans (like all babies do). Instead, he didn't give me the choice, but made my choice for me by just coming period. He was a true gentleman really because I avoided labour, I had no contractions and really only had to push like 3 times to birth him. With this pregnancy however, the odds of my delivery the way I would like seem to be getting smaller and smaller.

So, I pose a question to all of you mothers out there: Have any of you had an ECV done before? If so, what was your experience like? What was the result? If you haven't had to do an ECV, would you at least try it? The odds given to me of a success rate is 30% and there is a risk of bleeding to me as well as preterm labour. If I choose not to do the ECV, then it is almost a guaranteed scheduled cesarean as I am unwilling to take the chance on a breech birth. I have come too far for this baby to play the odds of risks even if it is in my favour of 5% or less.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a question, you said you had a c-section, but you had to push 3 times? I've never had a c-section, I didn't know there was pushing involved. Clue me in here please...
I've never had the other thing either, nor an epidural. I say go with your heart, whatever you think you should do along with your Dr.'s advise. Honestly, 30% success rate sounds not so great, but you know your body and if having a v-bac is that important to you (I can see why it would be) than maybe you should try it. Um I realize that I did not help you at all here. Sorry.

Allie said...

Sheryl - I have never had a c-section. With the birth of my son, my water broke, I dialated 10 cms in less than 2 minutes and my son popped out within 20 minutes. I didn't have contractions to help push him out so I had to figure out that all on my own. So ... the birth of my son was literally 100% natural too. :)

beth said...

I could talk about medical interventions and c-sections all night. I don't know what all is involved in a EVC though. I assume it is the procedure where they try and go in and turn the baby?

I feel like it might be best to email about this. I had a Cesaerean with Sam after trying for an all natural birth. If you have any questions at all I would be happy to answer them if you want to email me. My inclination, although again I don't know much about the risks of an EVC, is that if you have the opportunity to try and turn the baby and try for the birth you want then you should do it. You may also want to enlist the help of a doula who would be able to teach you different excercises, positions and techniques to turn the baby non-invasively...although the baby may be too big for that at this point. Might be worth a conversation with someone though.

Jenn said...

Sorry but what is an EVC?

I also wanted to tell you Lucas was a huge baby ( pounds 2 ounces) I did have an episitomy, but after pushing for 2.5 hours I wanted him out. The episotomy wasn't that bad.

Jenn