Choosing Between a C-section and External Cephalic Version

My first pregnancy was relatively uneventful. I suffered from the usual morning sickness throughout the first trimester and sailed through the second and third trimesters. It was not until my first vaginal exam during my 37^th week that the doctor suspected there might be a problem. My daughter was very high up in my uterus. Not only was her head not yet engaged in my pelvis, which was not in itself a problem, but the doctor was concerned that he could not feel a nose on what should have been her face.

I was immediately sent into the next room for an ultrasound. The good news was that the baby was happy, healthy, and had a full head of hair. The bad news was that her head was wedged under my ribs. She was breech.

The doctor gave me two options. He could either attempt an external cephalic version (ECV) at the hospital in two days, or he could schedule me for a c-section in a week. According to my doctor, not all mothers are good candidates for ECV. For example, mothers whose babies are expected to be very large or who have insufficient fluid surrounding the baby are not generally recommended the procedure. However, the doctor felt that the procedure could safely be performed on me.

Nevertheless, the risks of the ECV concerned me. The doctor explained that the ECV could put the baby in distress, resulting in an emergency c-section. He also said that the procedure would likely be very painful for me and only had about a 50 percent success rate. Even if the procedure worked, there was no guarantee that the baby would not revert to a breech presentation. When I left the doctor's office that day, I still had not made up my mind.

I was wary of attempting the ECV, and later conversations with a friend of mine confirmed my worry. She had attempted an ECV in her pregnancy because her baby was also breech. She went into labor the next day and had an emergency c-section when her baby went into distress. She also confirmed what the doctor had told me. The ECV had been very painful for her and had not been successful. Given my friend's experience, and after talking to my husband, we decided to schedule the c-section rather than attempting the ECV.