Before posting my account of my external version, I thought I’d post a helpful article I found recently that demonstrates the safety and effectiveness in external versions in many breech cases.
I wrote this after I had an External Version to flip O, who had been breech for a while, despite me trying every trick in the book to turn him.
We went in at 37w5d for the external cephalic version to flip our breech baby. They did an amnio first to check for lung maturity because they planned on inducing me after the version. (My PUPPS rash is pretty unbearable, which was the reason for the induction.)
The amnio pretty much sucked. You can kind of feel it the whole time. Glad I didn’t look at the needle, which is evidently long but thin.
After the amnio, they had an OB, my midwife, a nurse and a med student (he was just observing) there for the version. The OR was prepped and ready in case of problems and supposedly it would have taken 4-6 minutes to get the baby out at any sign of distress. This rarely happens and is mostly a CYA precaution.
They said my placenta was in a good place and that I had plenty of fluid and no apparent cord problems so everything was good to go. All indications said I was a perfect candidate, and I think the screening is important to avoid problems.
They gave me some terbutaline to relax my uterus. It makes your heart race like crazy and does NOT relax your other muscles. My DH and I did some relaxation exercises in the room with the lights dim while waiting for it to kick in.
The version itself didn’t feel great, but it certainly wasn’t super painful. Just a lot of pushing. The OB kind of pushed the baby’s butt out of my pelvis. The midwife held it in place while the OB pushed the head around. It does take your breath away, but not bad. They keep an US on the baby about every 30 seconds to check for progress and distress.
The ultrasound gel is kind of a lubricant. I think it wouldn’t have hurt as much if it had been for my PUPPS rash, which makes my skin super sensitive. Unfortunately, she needed some traction so couldn’t use a ton of gel. I felt the baby’s butt kind of turn. They basically got it to transverse and then the baby turned the rest of the way on its own. They were all pretty shocked at how easy it was. Took maybe 3 minutes? (Hard to tell when your heart’s racing.) They watched on the U/S and then kept me on the monitor for about an hour. Then they checked the head again and let me get in the bath for my itching 🙂 After that, we got dressed and walked around to secure that head in there while waiting for the amnio.
It was such a relief to have the baby turn so I can stop worrying about a c-section, which has been a distinct possibility for most of my pregnancy. The version was definitely worth it for me. Much less painful than a c-section and fairly safe in my case. I really didn’t think it was that bad.
The induction was the sucky part. When the lungs came back mature, we decided to start an induction to put me out of my rash misery. They wanted to use cytotec, which I refused (very unsafe and untested from what I’ve read). The OB was giving me a hard time about it, claiming she didn’t think they had cervadil, etc. but not really looking. I was ready to refuse the induction. Fortunately, my midwife smoothed things over and found the cervadil. My cervix was high, long and closed, but soft. (Not surprising given there hadn’t been any head pressure.) They inserted the cervadil around 1pm and I started getting VERY crampy and feeling a lot of pelvic pressure. I was sure I was stretching the heck out of my cervix and dialating like a champ. HA! 12 hours of cramping and some pretty good contractions (not regular, just strong) later there was no change. I barely slept despite ambien and they inserted another one. That REALLY got me cramping. I was getting really exhausted because the cramps were severe and constant PLUS there were contractions coming about every 5 minutes. 12 hours later, I had dialted a fingertip! AHHHH!!! They let me choose whether to keep going or go home and deal with the rash for as long as possible and maybe try again. I was still having painful contractions, but they weren’t doing anything.
I decided I really needed a break because of exhaustion. If I wanted to do this med free, I needed some rest and couldn’t face pictocin after 24 hours of labor and no progress. I contracted on and off all night, but it slowed down about 5 hours after they took the cervadil out.
So, that was LONG, but we’re home now, I’ve gotten some sleep, contractions have really slowed, and I feel like I can face this when the time comes. In the hospital I was ready for an epidural right THEN! I’ll see how the rash is before deciding about induction. Maybe I’ll feel better and end up with my water birth? REALLY glad the baby turned.
ps- My water broke 7 days after the induction and after 22 hrs of pictocin induced labor due to contractions not getting going and 2.5 hrs of pushing, I had Owen via vaginal delivery. He never tried to turn back. The midwife thinks the chiropractic care (Webster technique) did a lot to make my pelvis a “friendly place.” I’m glad I had the chance to go every day leading up to the version for a good week.
I definitely think that Webster helped me too – like you, it didn’t cause baby to flip on his/her own, but it made my pelvis a friendly place and she never tried to turn back. I had it a total of three times before my version, approximately three days apart each time.
Also when you get some free time (ha!) you should tell us about the 7 days between induction that didn’t work and water breaking – not just mental (which I imagine was HARD) but also physical, with the PUPPS.
What are the chances of PUPPS recurring this time? Is it more or less likely with multiples?
Hmmmm, I don’t remember those 7 days very well. I think I blocked them out.
PUPPS isn’t supposed to happen with second pregnancies, but I know several women who got it again anyway. It’s also supposed to go away with delivery, which didn’t happen with me (well, it took 4 months and a whole lot of prednisone) It’s also more likely with multiples (probably because the skin stretches more.) So I’m hoping for the best but as I seem to get all the weird medical stuff, trying to prepare myself mentally in case it comes back.
[…] see me coming and think, “ugh! MORE questions?!?!” For instance, the OB who did the external version when I was pregnant with O and I got into a bit of an argument when she wanted to induce me with cytotec. I refused because of […]
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