Transverse Update

Thank you everyone for your words of support.

I know you will understand that DH and I will have to make the decision that is best for us and Lilah.

I've gotten over the surprise that Lilah is in the transverse lie position at over 38 weeks. and am focusing now on encouraging her to turn and remaining as relaxed as I can so that she can turn if she is ready and willing.

Transverse lie is NOT breech. It carries a whole different set of risks if I labor too long or my water breaks while she is in this position.

I am still hopeful that she will turn one way or another (on her own or with help) and I will be able have the natural birth experience for which I have been preparing.

Part of the difficulty is that there are basically two camps and they each think the other is completely wrong.

One camp argues that current External Cephalic Version (ECV) is a very safe procedure that turns some babies that would not have done so on their own. The success rate is by no means outstanding, but it is well-documented in actual clinical trials.

ECV is no longer the rough procedure performed under general anesthetic that it once was. A doctor procedes very carefully, monitering the baby the entire time. The risks are essentially the very thing the procedure is designed to avoid--that either fetal distress or membrane rupture or commencement of labor will require an emergency c-section. Proponents of ECV scoff at the various alternative methods.


The other, "alternative medicine" camp argues that External Cephalic Version (ECV) not very successful and represents a drastic intervention that could create the need for a c-section, anyway.

This camp supports use of a variety of treatments that run from the "why the heck not?" category (exercises designed to turn breech babies, hypnotherapy, hot and cold therapy, sound and light therapy, diving in a pool, Moxabustion/Acupuncture, etc.) to the "isn't this awfully close to medical intervention in a non-medical environment category?" (Webster technique, Cranial Sacral Massage, use of Pulsatilla).

Of these, I am open to pretty much all of them with the possible exception of the Webster technique--it seems as if this could launch someone who is close to the due date into labor. If the baby hasn't turned, we are basically back to the risks of an ECV except I would be in a chiropracter's office instead of a hospital. I might feel differently about this if I was not so far along at this point or if I had ever seen a chiropracter before...but given that I am and I haven't, that is just how I feel.

I do wish I had more time to explore these issues and that I had someone living at the house with me already. My mother arrives on Tuesday, so I will breathe a big sigh of relief at that time--hopefully sighing Lilah all the way down into a head down position.