My amazing gynae

36 weeks, 6 days.

As mentioned in my earlier post, my new baby's been in breech position for many weeks now. We were getting worried cos only 1-3% of babies are in breech at such a late stage and the longer she stays in that position, the harder it'll be for her to turn as she grows.

I've been sleeping at an incline (i.e. head lower than legs) for 9 days before visiting the gynae again yesterday. All that torture (feel like puking in middle of night thanks to food going bk up the oesophagus; waking up with slight headache) was for naught cos i still felt her stubborn little head pressing against my ribcage yesterday morning.

Went to my gynae's clinic with slight trepidation yesterday, no thanks in part to the youtube videos and comments i watched+read on "external cephalic version" which is just a fancy name for a gynae manually coaxing the baby to turn downwards, by pushing one's belly.

Some have described it as an experience they'll never want to go through again, which wasn't very reassuring.. the video I watched had a serene-looking mum-to-be, but was ~4 mins long, and I think she received an injection to relax the uterine muscles first too.. Also read about the very slight probability that baby might be agitated during/after the procedure and that it might trigger labour. Anyway, I was just not looking forward to it and prayed that everything would go smoothly.

What happened was miraculously quick, and much less painful than I'd imagined. My good doc did an ultrasound scan to confirm her position (V-shaped, in extended breech), checked that the umbilical cord was not around her neck, then proceeded to gently depress parts of my belly, as if feeling for her position as he normally does. He pressed my belly maybe thrice and I looked away, bracing myself. Just when i felt a little discomfort of bone against bone (but nothing more than what i feel when she head-butts my belly), he went to wash his hands and said "Ok, let's have a look."

I raised my eyebrows thinking "Look at what? Aren't you going to continue?" but before I could say anything he showed me her position "There, head down, legs up, with baby none the worse for it."

I think my jaws dropped at that moment. He took all of 30 secs! I blinked in amazement and I think he was secretly pleased with himself too (tho he's much too classy to boast about his skills.) I asked him if he does this very often and he just smiled quietly saying "Not very often...". Thanked him and staggered out still in shock, totally forgetting the birth plan i'd brought along for his perusal.

Haha. I'm so glad I don't have to sleep at an incline anymore! I'm also so happy that he's spared me a C-sec.. thank goodness I found him! (Don't think many docs in Singapore are very experienced in ECV, nor would they suggest it..^_^)