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Cephalic

Pregnancy & Parenting CentimeterCephalopelvic Disproportion

Cephalic presentation
The baby is in a head down position, the most usual position to be born.
Cephalopelvic disproportion ...

 


External Cephalic Version (ECV)
If your baby is still in a breech position by week 37 of your pregnancy, your doctor or midwife may try to turn it to the vertex (head-down) position using external cephalic version (ECV).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate oral nifedipine versus subcutaneous terbutaline tocolysis for external cephalic version (ECV). DESIGN: A double-blind randomised trial. SETTING: A university hospital in Malaysia.

Cephalic presentation: When the baby's head faces down toward the mother's cervix as labor nears. This is the typical presentation for a full-term baby.

The Cephalic or Vertex Presentation - In the vertical position, with the head inclined and installed in the basin with legs folded in the high part of the uterus.

External cephalic version
Turning the baby so that the head is pointed down toward the pelvic inlet. In most pregnancies, babies orient themselves with the head down toward the pelvis in preparation for labor and delivery by about the 34th week .

External Cephalic Version - A procedure, performed by a doctor, for turning a fetus that is lying in a breech or transverse position so that its head will enter the birth canal first.

External Cephalic Version (ECV)
External cephalic version is a procedure for turning the fetus from a breech to a cephalic (head-first) presentation by manipulation through the mother's abdomen.

External cephalic version for breech presentation
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Oblique and transverse lie ...

External cephalic version (or version) is done in a medical setting with constant fetal heart rate monitoring. You will have an ultrasound before and after the version attempt.

External Cephalic Version
It is possible to manoeuvre the baby from breech to a head-first position. This is done after 37 weeks and the success rate is around 50%, though some doctors are successful as often as 70% of the time.

Occiput or Cephalic Posterior
Sometimes the baby is presenting head down as it should be, but it is facing the mother's abdomen. This increases the chance of painful "back labor" and prolonged delivery.
Frank Breech ...

ECV / External Cephalic Version: A method of attempting to turn a breech baby while still in the womb.

METHODS: Labor was induced in 666 pregnant women with a live fetus in the cephalic position, who had no medical complications and no history of uterine surgery.

The most common delivery position is the Cephalic or Vertex Presentation, where the baby is lying vertically with his end engaged in the basin and legs and rump at the top end of the uterus. This position usually ends up in a normal vaginal delivery.

All had singleton, term pregnancies (37-42 weeks) with fetuses in cephalic presentation and electronic fetal heart tracings not displaying variable or late decelerations. The fetal heart rate baseline was between 120 and 160 beats/min.

This, the amniotic fold, first makes its appearance at the cephalic extremity, and subsequently at the caudal end and sides of the embryo, and gradually rising more and more, its different parts meet and fuse over the dorsal aspect of the embryo, ...

External cephalic version for a breech fetus.
Obstetric procedures such as amniocentesis, fetal blood sampling, or chorionic villus sampling (CVS).

Babies generally settle into the head down, or cephalic, position around this time. In about three per cent of term pregnancies the baby remains breech, meaning that their buttocks or the feet are leading, and would be delivered first.

External Version
A woman shares her story of an external cephalic version (ECV) to turn her breech baby, enabling her to have a vaginal birth.
Epidural Birth Stories
These are birth stories that feature the use of epidural anesthesia.

Hofmeyr GJ, Kulier R (2000). Cephalic version by postural management for breech presentation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (3). Oxford: Update Software.

Coco AS, et al. External cephalic version. American Family Physician. Vol. 58/No. 3, September 1, 1998.

This is called External Cephalic Version (ECV) and is simply the act of putting gentle pressure on the baby to get it to turn to the head down position. This should always be done by an experienced professional.

Those who are viewed as the "standard" primips (white, cephalic presentation, first baby, fit and healthy) had much lower caesarean rates, but there remained variation between units (seven percent to 12 percent).

But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

- If a baby has successfully turned from a breech to cephalic position (especially after 36 weeks). It is better not to disturb the baby that is settled in the narrowing of the pelvis.

See also: Pregnancy, Delivery, Presentation, Vagina, Cesarean