Breech Baby and IUGR

By Carolyn Gardner

My first pregnancy seemed to be progressing well until 28 weeks when the baby turned breech and resolutely refused to turn. At 30 weeks while attending an antenatal clinic appointment my midwife noted that my bump had hardly grown since my last appointment. I was immediately sent for a doppler scan and a growth scan. The growth scan seemed to show that the baby was very small. This was the beginning of eight weeks of twice weekly hospital visits for growth scans and biophysical profiles.

Once I reached 38 weeks it was decided that I should have an elective Cesarean due to the fact my baby was breech and the IUGR. I duly arrived at the hospital in the morning, sat around for a couple of hours and then my extremely squeamish partner decided he couldn't accompany me into the theatre. I was very frightened and shook for about 20 minutes until the spinal took effect.

At exactly midday my gorgeous 5-pound 12-ounce baby girl was born. I went from being terrified to absolutely euphoric!

The experience certainly didn't put me off more children as I have since had a little boy with a natural birth and no pain relief. He also had IUGR and this time it was an induction at 38 weeks. He weighed in at 6 pounds. Both are now healthy, active little horrors!