My daughter was in breech position until we had successful version done also. At about the same point in gestation. She was born about a week and a half after we turned her.
They will check (routine for all babies, not just breech or previous breech) for hip "clicks" before you leave the hospital. They doctor just lifts their legs up and listens pretty much. If they suspect (or hear a clicking) any hip issue, they will refer you to a pediatric orthapeodist. Our daughter did have a slight click. We took her to the pediatric ortho. and they did a set of x-rays and showed us how her hip(s) had not fully formed the sockets, hence the click as the movement let the bone slip out of the socket. Babies grow SO fast that it was easily remedies (at least in our daughter's case). Hers wasn't very bad to start with (And don't worry- not all breech babies even have it), but they fitted her with a foam brace thing that splayed her legs out like a frog. We just put it on her right over the diaper. The worst part of it (other than it made fitting her into her car seat a little challenging) was that it made her difficult to cuddle, as her legs couldn't tuck up under her like they do as newborns. They were splayed outward. So swaddling didn't work.
She was supposed to wear it pretty much 24 hrs a day. We went back every few weeks to measure results. Within a month, (and we got VERY lax about it after she developed a bad diaper rash -- she was a summer baby in the deep south with this foam thing on top of her diaper!) and only put it on her for a few hours a day, so within a month to 6 weeks, the xrays could not differentiate her hips from a "normal" set of hips. The reality is that she may have finished "deepening" the sockets on her own without the help of the foam brace, but as a precaution, we used it anyway for a bit.
She is perfectly fine now (9 yrs old). They recommended she be brought in yearly for xrays until she was 12 or 13 years old. Which just seemed to us like an insurance/lawsuit preventative measure for the hospital.... so we haven't. Besides... I really don't like the idea of exposing her (especially her reproductive organs!) to xrays every year like that...
Our doctor at the time (since retired - not the orthopoedist, but regular family physician) happened to have also been a breech baby herself and had a "click" at birth, back in the day before they used the foam brace... She walked with a very slight, barely noticeable 'hitch' in her step, as if she had a small pebble in one shoe or something. But she said she had led a completely normal life without any restrictions in anything she wanted to do.
If the baby does have a click and you opt not to use the brace or it isn't discovered at birth, then they have other tools they can use to help the condition resolve. But they are more unweildy and take longer as the older the baby, the more their growth rate slows.
At the time, I was very upset (although not hysterical or anything like that) by the lack of control over how I held my baby, etc. Not being able to swaddle her, or snuggle her like I wanted. But I hardly even remember it now. And since my daughter runs and jumps and plays like every other kid with no issues whatsoever, i'm glad we took care of it right away.
Feel free to send a personal mssg if you would like more info.
Honestly, you probably have nothing to worry about. If your baby goes to term, or longer, you will probably have even less to worry about. That is the reason there are sometimes hip issues with breech carried babies to begin with... the head down position with the legs like they should be presses the ball of the leg bone into the hip socket and helps/causes it to round out as it grows.. holding the ball in the socket. With breech... that doesn't happen as well. So, the longer your baby stays head down.. the more opportunity the ball/socket have to form properly in the womb, without having to have medical interventions as an aid.
Please don't stress over this. If it should occur, it is NOT the end of the world, or really all THAT big of a deal if properly treated.
Celebrate your successful external version and look forward to your delivery and meeting your bundle of joy!
