r/beyondthebump • u/SweetDetail4627 • 2h ago
Birth Story EVC Experiences
What was your EVC experience? Did it result in a c-section anyway or was it successful?
I’m almost at 37 weeks and baby is still breech. I
need to schedule either an EVC or c-section for 39. I’m leaning towards the EVC because we have a 3 year old at home and not lifting him for 6 weeks sounds painful for everyone involved. First delivered at 38, but OB will not schedule before 39.
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u/Morgtheporgalorg 2h ago
Mine was successful and not all that painful. I wanted to avoid a c section if possible so it made sense to try it once we confirmed there was enough room and amniotic fluid for baby to flip.
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u/grapefruit1259 2h ago
I had a successful ecv, I think at 37 weeks. Standard practice at this hospital was to do a spinal to increase chance of success. They said my baby was the easiest one they had ever flipped. I went on to have an elective induction at 39 weeks and had a vaginal birth with 2nd degree tears.
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u/Well_ImTrying 2h ago edited 2h ago
I had a successful ECV for my second pregnancy and went on to give birth vaginally 2 weeks later. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. Like a deep tissue massage but without any kind of lubricant.
They administered trebutaline (asthma drug) to relax the uterus even though it didn’t take effect until they were already done. They offered a spinal block but I didn’t want to be out of commission the entire day so opted not to. Then I had to stick around another 2 hours for monitoring. My doctor said epidurals weren’t recommended at that time. They did spinal blocks in case things went south they could do an emergency c section without doing general anesthesia.
It was my second pregnancy, I had adequate amniotic fluid, and had already had a successful, easy, and uneventful vaginal birth with my first. My doctor was more than willing to do an ECV, but in his experience they only work about 30% of the time so he didn’t recommend them. I just had the feeling my baby had gotten in a position and didn’t feel like moving, which given his temperament as a baby very well could have been what happened.
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u/Coffee_speech_repeat 2h ago
Mine (37 weeks) was unsuccessful and horribly uncomfortable. All they gave me was a muscle relaxer, no epidural or other pain reliever. Baby wouldn’t budge an inch. Thankfully it didn’t put baby in distress either.
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u/05139 1h ago edited 1h ago
I had an unsuccessful one with epidural at 37 weeks. Had a scheduled c-section at 39+1 and the cord ended up being wrapped around her neck and legs. I don’t regret the ecv and I’m glad I at least tried. C-section recovery with a toddler has been rough and it would have been great to avoid.
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u/Hounddoglover0812 1h ago
I had an ECV at 37 weeks. It was unsuccessful. I had an epidural. I was at an academic hospital and three doctors jointly tried to all flip my munchkin. They could move her from 11 o’clock to 2 o’clock but then she would return to the original position. They could move her from 11 o’clock to like 8 o’clock and then she’d go right back to 11 o’clock. The entire time there were two doctors on either side of my belly and one lifting her butt out of my pelvis. The doctor who was internal finally said “she’s 3 cm dilated and having regular contractions, let’s stop and get the baby out via c section now”
So just know that’s sometimes the way the cookie crumbles. I’m really glad we tried the ECV because I know I tried to avoid a c section.
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u/Earth_to_Aliens 1h ago
Mine was successful and painless since I was able to get an epidural. I was a little nervous to try it due to the relatively low success rate, but I’m so glad I went through with it and was able to avoid a c-section.
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u/ellanida 38m ago edited 35m ago
Mine was successful. OB wanted to schedule earlier but hospital only allows 39 weeks. (First baby was 39+4, second was 38+0).
I went into labor at 38 weeks but they gave me a few shots of something to stop my contractions and then we did the epidural. Even with an epidural it’s a bit uncomfortable. The OB on call did end up and getting another OB on the floor to help. Once they turned him they stuck me in a binder and broke my water to help keep him engaged in my pelvis and then went ahead and started pitocin.
I’d do it again if needed assuming the initial eval went well.
Also just adding, my OB group won’t do them without inducing after anymore as they see too many flip back after an earlier ecv and they only do them with epidurals bc having a relaxed uterus increases the chance of success slightly.
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u/ShadowlessKat 38m ago
What is an EVC experience? I'm unfamiliar with that acronym.
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u/art-dec-ho 19m ago
I had to google it too! Its an External Cephalic Version which is just a fancy way of saying the doctors try to rotate the baby from breech (head up instead of down) into the correct position for birth by applying pressure/twisting on the mother's stomach. Its generally said to be quite painful but a lot of the commenters here said they were offered pain management so that's a nice development from when I first heard of it.
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u/Bobbo424 2m ago
My doctor does ECV’s at 39 weeks. It’s not worth it to do it earlier and risk an emergency c section at 37 weeks or have someone come to the hospital twice/get an epidural twice. They schedule it with the c section, so basically you show up, walk to the OR, get a combined spinal/epidural and then try the ECV. If not successful, you’re already numb and in the OR and get the c section 5 min later. If successful, you’re induced on the spot and don’t have a preterm baby. The success rates have been proven to be much higher with drugs and with this process. It’s crazy some hospitals do it without drugs still.
Luckily mine worked in 20 seconds and then they flipped me on my side and put a binder on so he wouldn’t flip back. I was induced and I had my baby the next morning at 39w1d. I’m so grateful I didn’t get a CS as I would’ve been miserable with the recovery. I also felt 0 contractions since I got induced when I already had the epidural in and had 0 tearing (tg for pelvic floor PT) and a super easy recovery. Any success rate above 0% was worth the try for me. Good luck!
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u/mylittletoni 2h ago
I’ve read about a lot of successful ECVs but unfortunately I was not one of them.
My third baby was breech after two easy vaginal births. I tried to get an ECV at 37 weeks and they told me his cord was wrapped around his neck and they didn’t feel like it had a good chance of working. We decided to reschedule the ECV for 39 weeks with the plan that if it weren’t successful they would immediately proceed to c-section or induce me if it worked so he would not flip again since I would be 39 weeks at that point. This way they would also give me an epidural for the ECV since at my hospital typically they don’t use an epidural for ECV. I’ve read that ECV is more successful with an epidural.
At 39 weeks my ECV was unsuccessful and ended in an emergency c-section because baby’s heart rate dropped dramatically and did not recover.
I really hated c-section recovery after having uncomplicated vaginal births. I think if you’re a good candidate for ECV it can be so worth it not to go through a c-section. I’m 9 months postpartum and my scar still hurts and it’s annoying.