"Birth of my grand-daughter - Midwife advice please."

My grand-daughter was due on June 11th, but in the end was born by caesarean section yesterday (June 25).

I am concerned about the period leading up to her birth and would appreciate an explanation about certain aspects of my daughter's antenatal care.

My daughter has had an uncomplicated first pregnancy. Since April her midwife had noted the position of the baby as head down. The due date came and went. At the 39 week check the head was still not engaged. A stand in midwife checked my daughter at 40 weeks and said the head was 3/5. At 41 weeks Tue 19 June, the regular midwife said that the head was not 3/5 and was still not engaged. She suggested doing a cervical sweep the next day and this was done, but with no effect. The regular midwife said that she would be back on Friday 22 June to do the sweep again. On the Friday the midwife decided that my daughter needed to have a scan to checked why the baby's head was still not engaged.

My daughter was in the antenatal section of the QEQM, Margate from 11:30hrs to 17:30hrs. She had a scan and it was discovered that the baby was breech. She was told that the baby would need to be turned, but that ti would take two people. She should get to the hospital at 8am on Monday 25 June expecting to have a caesarean, During the weekend she could decided whether to have the baby turned or not bother.

My daughter dually got to the hospital at the given time to be told that she was not booked in for a caesarean. When she explained why she was there, she was then told that baby's are never turned after 38 weeks.

My daughter is a very calm, levelheaded, capable young woman. She did not dwell on what was happening to her nor become anxious during last weekend. However, she is lucky to have such a calm nature.

The care that my daughter had up to the end of her pregnancy and after the birth has been wonderful. But I have now had doubts about relying on a midwife to be sure whether a baby is the right way round. Expectant mums rely heavily on the midwives and hospitals giving them the right information.

I am sending this story as I would dearly love to know why things got so complicated when I would have hoped that a breech baby would have been discovered sooner by the people who are trained to know.

Is it sometimes very difficult to tell? My daughter did not have much water around the baby.