Breech

[mrsberman]

I know it's early to worry about this, but when we went for our ultrasound today we were told the baby is breech. DH had no clue what that meant so I had to explain. I do realize there is plenty of time for the baby to turn in a better position, but why do they even bother telling someone this? I guess I feel like it was a pointless comment that did nothing but stress me out. Also, does anyone know if this is put in the ultrasound reports that are sent to the OB/MW? TIA

[Aka mommy]

I personally feel they do it to put fear into your heart and cause you to have to trust them. But that's just my own conspiracy theory.

I do believe they put it in the reports as this is a pretty important thing in their books.

Not that it matters but my ds was breech until the night before delivery, flipping back and forth from 30 weeks on. He was even transverse 2 days before delivery. So they can turn and yours has plenty of time. I ended up going into labor 10 days past my edd and my sweet little boy was kind enough to grace us with his presence . . .face first.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

That seems like a super crazy thing to say right now.  I'm not sure how far along you are but you can't be more than a few weeks farther than me and I can feel this baby flipping all around -- could be breech one minute and head down the next.  Unless I don't get how big the baby is at this point I think that tech is a big bummer and maybe not that good at her/his job.  

[justrose13]

our baby is breech and has been for as long as i can figure. baby showed breech at our 20 week u/s (3 weeks ago) and has only kicked low. i'm guessing baby has just been breech for a while now. the report sent to our doc and midwife reported breech but neither HCP seemed the least bit concerned. while i'm not too worried, i know there is a lot of time before its a problem (my midwife said don't be the slightest bit concerned until at least 28-29 weeks), however i've been practicing some postures and techniques suggested by spinningbabies.com and my chiropractor. my chiro doc said that my round ligaments might be too tense and not allowing the babe to move freely enough in the womb... she suggested using the "webster technique", i'm going to google that later... also, she said it was good to so yoga's cat pose to stretch those ligaments and give baby more room to shift about.

don't fixate on the stigma of the word breech... the only reason they tell you is because it's simply the technical way they describe the position of the baby. i found it interesting to know... now i can imagine the baby better and imagine what that bump inside my belly was cause from. down low = baby kicking downward, soft bump up high = baby punching upward. neat!

all in all, don't worry yourself too much... baby could go head down tomorrow and then be breech the very next day. practice good posture and think good thoughts and everything will work itself out.

[StarCat]

it's in the report but no one will really care about it until you are 30+ weeks. Depending on when we get the ultrasound probably everyone of us has a  breech baby at somepoint during the day at 20-ish weeks.  They have plenty of room to move around and they use it.  It's only after they get bigger and may not be able to turn head down as easily that it would be concerning.  But it is a fact for the ultrasound report -intrauterine pregnancy in breech (or cephalic) presentation.  Possibly the tech was stating it as such- just factual info at that time.  If they said it with any concern then I would say the tech is a crackpot.

[mncowmom]

I had my 20 week last thursday.  At the start of the exam she was breech, by the end she had turned.  They've got plenty of time and room right now.  I remember feeling DS turn about 34 weeks my last pregnancy!

[mrsberman]

Originally Posted by wehrli 

our baby is breech and has been for as long as i can figure. baby showed breech at our 20 week u/s (3 weeks ago) and has only kicked low. i'm guessing baby has just been breech for a while now. the report sent to our doc and midwife reported breech but neither HCP seemed the least bit concerned. while i'm not too worried, i know there is a lot of time before its a problem (my midwife said don't be the slightest bit concerned until at least 28-29 weeks), however i've been practicing some postures and techniques suggested by spinningbabies.com and my chiropractor. my chiro doc said that my round ligaments might be too tense and not allowing the babe to move freely enough in the womb... she suggested using the "webster technique", i'm going to google that later... also, she said it was good to so yoga's cat pose to stretch those ligaments and give baby more room to shift about.

don't fixate on the stigma of the word breech... the only reason they tell you is because it's simply the technical way they describe the position of the baby. i found it interesting to know... now i can imagine the baby better and imagine what that bump inside my belly was cause from. down low = baby kicking downward, soft bump up high = baby punching upward. neat!

all in all, don't worry yourself too much... baby could go head down tomorrow and then be breech the very next day. practice good posture and think good thoughts and everything will work itself out.
 

I hear the Webster technique works well.

I just don't see the point in telling someone the baby is breech when it doesn't even matter at this point. I'm only 21 weeks. If I were closer to my due date it would be relevant. My big concern is this getting sent to my MW and then later on it being a problem with a vbac at the hospital. I'll worry about that when the time comes.

[alireb]

My baby is also breech right now because kicks are super low.  I'm not worried yet but I know there are lots of things you can do once you hit 30 weeks to keep the baby head down.  And by then, they won't have as much room to move around as they do now. 

[nerdymom]

I would be surprised if anyone in our DDC has a baby that has settled in head down!  Right now these kiddos are tiny little acrobats, turning somersaults and moving all over the place. During our u/s Andy turned a somersault it annoyed our tech because she had to go looking for whatever it is she was looking at, but it's very normal. It was a bit of a thoughtless thing for your tech to say. All ours was allowed to do was identify body parts (that's a head, that's the placenta, those are the chambers of the heart, oh look a penis!) and I am surprised that yours said any more than that. It quite honestly isn't his/her place to say that at all, imo.

[Astrid1024]

At my u/s last week, my girl was breech too. I'm not worried. There is plenty of time to turn yet.

[bleumoose]

When we had our U/S a couple weeks ago, the Dr told us baby was breech too. Silly, pointless information at this point. They aren't "supposed" to turn head down and stay head down until sometime after 30 weeks anyway! Right now it's absolutely normal for them to be flipping all over the place.

[CookAMH]

Wow I agree that is a completely useless comment. I suppose they need to note the position but that's all it is, a note.

[Liora]

I think they tell you that just so you can visualize the baby's position.  I always ask for details about where the baby is - breech, which way is he facing? etc. 

[pattimomma]

At 22 weeks my girl is breech but I nor my midwife is remotely worried about it right now.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

i was told they couldn't see the cord and we may need another u/s later, um i don't understand why? Obviously the baby is fine right, so that should mean the cord is too as well? I may decline the u/s, I don't have a problem with u/s, but for something like i don't see what the point is.

 I also don't understand the whole breech = c-section thing, I thought back in the day lots of people delivered breech babies=ie before u/s, can someone please explain this to me?

[lexapurple]

They would need to see the cord to make sure there is nothing wrong with it that may pose the risk during birth, like knots, single artery, very short cord, no cord at all,  if cord is inserted into placenta correctly, etc.  Most of those things do not cause any trouble for baby in uterus but could possibly cause severe complications during birth.

[StarCat]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyBabyBird 

i was told they couldn't see the cord and we may need another u/s later, um i don't understand why? Obviously the baby is fine right, so that should mean the cord is too as well? I may decline the u/s, I don't have a problem with u/s, but for something like i don't see what the point is.

 I also don't understand the whole breech = c-section thing, I thought back in the day lots of people delivered breech babies=ie before u/s, can someone please explain this to me?

well, at the 20 week ultrasound they are supposed to get shots of certain things- one of those is the umbilical cord to make sure it looks normal, has 3vessels, etc.  If they aren't able to see any of the things they need to they would ask you to come back.  They can't just assume that if everything is okay with baby the cord must be fine (even if that is most likely the case) because its a medical test.  But you could certainly refuse to go back if you feel comfortable with everything.  They just have to document certain things as part of their job. 

As far as breech- the argument is that a vaginal breech delivery is more risky and if complications arise they are often fatal for baby.  Yes, there used to be lots of vaginal breeech deliveries but they were also more neonatal and maternal deaths.(I usually hate this argument but to me it fits here)  breech is just one of those things that most professionals really have decided that the benefits outweigh the risks as far as c/s.  I think  a good portion of the ob community tends to feel this way (midwives, OB's, MFM) of course each case would be different.  the presentation of the breech (footling/frank), is it a 1st baby, a multiple gestation, etc.  And of course docs really aren't being trained in breech deliveries anymore and having someone who doesn't know how to deliver a breech baby is scary, too.  They are a little trickier to manuever.  But who wants to volunteer to be the one to let them practice on them? sort of a catch 22.  If I had a breech baby I would try everything to get it to turn but if it failed I would opt for a c/s. 

[Blanca78]

At our ultrasound today the doctor mentioned our baby was breech but then immediately said, "But that doesn't matter a bit--it's perfectly fine right now." She didn't say it like it was a bad thing, it was just a technical term to describe the baby's position. My guess is your ultrasound tech/doctor wasn't trying to scare you--it's just terminology they use that happens to have some negative implications, because we usually hear the term in relation to more complicated births. At this point, though, it doesn't have those negative implications. We have sooo much time left now for baby to turn--it's flipping all over the place anyway! Maybe they just didn't realize how it would sound to you, because for them, noting the position is just part of the job.

[mclisa]

we're breech too.  It explains why all my kicks are so low.  I'm hoping that changes soon so that my family can start feeling this baby bounce around.

[mclisa]

 I also don't understand the whole breech = c-section thing, I thought back in the day lots of people delivered breech babies=ie before u/s, can someone please explain this to me?

There was  study done by the medical powers that be that showed an increased rate of kids born by breech having more medical problems.  Not just in the short term, but in the long term meaning learning capabilities.  That's a study that will never be able to be repeated so it remains as the gold standard as to answer of whether to do a breech delivery or not.

Around here, they will do one if it is the 2nd twin.  They will consider it if mom has had other vaginal deliveries.