talk to me about your scheduled C-section and/or ECV

[Anonymous]

I was very active and in fairly decent shape before the pregnancy, so I wonder if my body will just be irreversibly damaged after a C? Is that a crazy thought?

Not a crazy thought, but I seriously wouldn't worry about it if you end up having the C-section. Sounds like you're a fit person, so if you had pretty decent abs before, you likely will again. I've had 3 CS and my body was only "ruined" after the 3rd. First recovery was super easy, 2nd was more difficult, 3rd wasn't bad. But with first two I was right back into my pre-pregnancy exercise routine at the 6 week mark, for various reasons that simply didn't happen with #3. I had no noticeable shelf with 1 or 2, but with #3, well, let's just say if I had the money i'd seriously be thinking about a mommy makeover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in the same situation. Baby would not budge, and I was set on natural delivery. We tried the ecv, I tried some spinning babies moves, but nothing worked. By the way, the ecv is painful and very uncomfortable!

During my scheduled C-section, they saw that the cord was wrapped around his neck four times. That's why he wouldn't move.

I had an ECV scheduled for yesterday (the 29th). Walked in with an idea of what it entailed (partly thanks to some posts here) but after talking with the OBs and nurses, I decided against the procedure and will have a C-section on the 7th. Not ideal, but looking at the lists of things that make the procedure more likely to work (baby size, amniotic fluid) and less likely to work (FTM, room to move) and seeing that a gentle nudge on my belly from the OB with the ultrasound on the baby caused her to brace herself against the uterus, I decided that I had too much on the negative side and not enough on the positive side. Mine would have been done under spinal anesthesia, which reduced the risk of crash/intubated C-section in the case of fetal distress, so if you're considering it, ask about that or an epidural. Also, if you're at 37 weeks, I've been told that past 36 weeks is another check in the block for "probably won't work."

I decided the stress to baby and me on top of the risk was more than the potential reward.

[Anonymous]

My first was breech, tried spinning babies techniques, then went for the ECV. No luck with that either, so ended up with a c-section 10 days later.

It's not the end of the world, OP, but go with your gut.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks everyone, this is so helpful, truly. We are warming up to the possibility of ECV - just sent a bunch of questions off to my Dr. actually. But all of your shared experiences are definitely giving me confidence in going with my gut.

[Anonymous]

No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

[Anonymous]

I did an ECV with my first with GW doctors. 36.5 weeks. It was no big deal -- uncomfortable but not painful. And it was a success. Went into labor naturally at 39 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

I wonder how much of this is new/how you reacted to the anesthesia. They wouldn't let me get out of bed for eight hours and then only with two nurses and DH, plus my legs were still a little numb. But my section was almost six years ago; I would hope there have been some advances in available anesthesia since!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

Where did you have your c section? I had mine in April and I was definitely still numb 2 hrs after. They let me walk 12 hours after and it felt so good to be standing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

I wonder how much of this is new/how you reacted to the anesthesia. They wouldn't let me get out of bed for eight hours and then only with two nurses and DH, plus my legs were still a little numb. But my section was almost six years ago; I would hope there have been some advances in available anesthesia since!

NP here who just came home from the hospital on Saturday. I think it depends on the situation and the person. Three years ago, baby was born at 6am and I was up and walking at 3pm. This time, baby was born at noon and the nurses wouldn't let me get up and walk until the following morning (apparently I wasn't hydrated enough). That said, I totally agree that you should get up and walk as soon as you're able to. The best advice I got was to stand straight, not hunched over, and walk as much as you can as soon as you can. I've had two easy recoveries. I'm a week postpartum and taking only ibuprofen for pain and the pain is only due to a giant bruise on my abdomen not the incision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

Where did you have your c section? I had mine in April and I was definitely still numb 2 hrs after. They let me walk 12 hours after and it felt so good to be standing!

I'm not in the dc area. I asked to walk about two seconds after getting to my room and they pointed out I couldn't feel my legs, lol. Made request one at 11am and they told me they woukd check back after my guests left. By the time people left around 1230 I could feel my legs. I didn't really give them a chance to prep. I could feel then, so they removed the leg compressors and I got up without more comment. The nurse just asked that I not try to walk too far immediately. I got up multiple times the rest of the afternoon and by seven pm I was walking laps around the ward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

Where did you have your c section? I had mine in April and I was definitely still numb 2 hrs after. They let me walk 12 hours after and it felt so good to be standing!

I'm not in the dc area. I asked to walk about two seconds after getting to my room and they pointed out I couldn't feel my legs, lol. Made request one at 11am and they told me they woukd check back after my guests left. By the time people left around 1230 I could feel my legs. I didn't really give them a chance to prep. I could feel then, so they removed the leg compressors and I got up without more comment. The nurse just asked that I not try to walk too far immediately. I got up multiple times the rest of the afternoon and by seven pm I was walking laps around the ward.

20:25 here - my nurses wouldn't take the catheter out until I was producing X amount of urine and that meant I couldn't get out of bed yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in the same situation. Baby would not budge, and I was set on natural delivery. We tried the ecv, I tried some spinning babies moves, but nothing worked. By the way, the ecv is painful and very uncomfortable!

During my scheduled C-section, they saw that the cord was wrapped around his neck four times. That's why he wouldn't move.

I had an ECV scheduled for yesterday (the 29th). Walked in with an idea of what it entailed (partly thanks to some posts here) but after talking with the OBs and nurses, I decided against the procedure and will have a C-section on the 7th. Not ideal, but looking at the lists of things that make the procedure more likely to work (baby size, amniotic fluid) and less likely to work (FTM, room to move) and seeing that a gentle nudge on my belly from the OB with the ultrasound on the baby caused her to brace herself against the uterus, I decided that I had too much on the negative side and not enough on the positive side. Mine would have been done under spinal anesthesia, which reduced the risk of crash/intubated C-section in the case of fetal distress, so if you're considering it, ask about that or an epidural. Also, if you're at 37 weeks, I've been told that past 36 weeks is another check in the block for "probably won't work."

I decided the stress to baby and me on top of the risk was more than the potential reward.

Really? Who did you see? I was told that they should not be done before 36-37 weeks because of the risk of a preemie. I was also told "room to move" isn't a negative unless you have excess fluid - it's actually a positive in helping with the ECV. They can do them with epidural a but fetal distress is actually very rare so it generally isn't necessary.

In any case, I'm glad you chose what works for you, but it doesn't sound like you saw someone very skilled in ECVs.

[Anonymous]

OP, not sure who you are seeing but I saw Tchabo. He said the following lended to a higher probability of success:

- posterior placenta (can't do it with an anterior)
- full term or near it but not too close to due date (ideally around 37 weeks)
- baby not engaged
- room to move (but not excessive fluid)
- normal fluid amounts
- previous successful vaginal births (not required, but helps)
- no cord wrapped up per ultrasound (mine was in a way that my baby could only be turned one way as the other would likely have wrapped him up)
- smaller baby
- favorable breech position (footling is harder to move and they won't attempt with stargazer)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No evc, but had a section in May. Had the surgery on a Fruday morning, was walking two hours after being back in my room and felt pretty much fine by Tuesday (went out visiting people, traveled a bit, shopped and had lunch) while taking meds as prescribed. Took meds for one week and then didn't need any pain relief. Two weeks after section I hosted company for three days in a row, attended threr big events including throwing a large party of my own. My section never even crosses my mind this many weeks later.

Alk my friends' experiences really vary. If you do have a section get up and walk! I walked laps multiple times a day in the hospital and I know it helped.

Where did you have your c section? I had mine in April and I was definitely still numb 2 hrs after. They let me walk 12 hours after and it felt so good to be standing!

I'm not in the dc area. I asked to walk about two seconds after getting to my room and they pointed out I couldn't feel my legs, lol. Made request one at 11am and they told me they woukd check back after my guests left. By the time people left around 1230 I could feel my legs. I didn't really give them a chance to prep. I could feel then, so they removed the leg compressors and I got up without more comment. The nurse just asked that I not try to walk too far immediately. I got up multiple times the rest of the afternoon and by seven pm I was walking laps around the ward.

20:25 here - my nurses wouldn't take the catheter out until I was producing X amount of urine and that meant I couldn't get out of bed yet.

Oh yeah, forgot the catheter. My output must have been fine because they removed it at the same time as the compressors, or they just didn't care. I had also heard that some hospitals won't discharge without a BM and that many places restrict food for a certain timeframe. I was never asked about my bathroom situation and was surprised when they showed up at noon asking what I wanted for lunch. Pizza, salad, milk and cake for the win! They bring "birthday" cake to the mom on the first day in my hospital. Which was a cute follow up to the OR, where as the whole staff sang happy birthday to my son, as he took his first breath. Super cute.