Homebirth a breech baby? - Page 2

[Juliacat]

I am so relieved that, if need be, you'll have access to doctors and midwives who will do a vaginal breech birth! I know now that you'll only have to have a C-section if you REALLY need one, and that's a big weight off my shoulders.

Good for you, sweetie! You're going to do great!

[Elyssia]

hi
it sounds like you are doing everything possible to cover your bases
it is fantastic that there are midwives in the area who will attend breech births at home
as long as one of them can attend you, i see NO reason to go to the hospital just b/c there may be an md who will let you try to deliver there

my twins were both transverse most of my pregnancy
and even when i went into labor
i got to about 8cm and then labor stalled - no presenting part to dilate me
i took a nap and then baby A presented breech
i finished dilating and pushed her out - no big deal, pushing was 6 minutes
i read as many breech birth stories as i could find while i was pregnant b/c i knew i would probably not have head down babies
look on birthstories.com
i read enough stories to feel really confident b/c i had given birth before, have a fast pushing stage, and know my midwife really well - and trust her to the end
anyway, the stories helped me a lot when most people around me are caught up in the idea that breech is automatically a reason for a csection

wish you all the best
and i think you'll do great
at least if you do end up w/ a c
you will know that you did everything possible
and hopefully will feel good about it
--and of course the baby still has plenty of time to turn

e

[rustysmaus]

Our 4th was breech, and we didn't know better at the time when our OB said it was dangerous to deliver a breech baby. Drs are taught nowadays that breech = c-section. Most have never seen a natural breech delivery. We had a c-section and the 2 births since then have been unattended home births. When we planned our first UC, one book we read said to have a picture of a head down baby where you will see it many times a day. I know know if the visualization thing acutally helps, but it made me feel better! And, as has been said, there's plenty of time for Baby to turn.

~Laurie,
Wife to Rusty,
Momma to
hospital birthed ds 11, ds 10, dd 8,
c-section birthed dd 7, and
UC birthed dd 22 mos, and ds 10 mos.

[raynelady]

Yes, Dr. Polon and Dr. Love are the drs in the area who do vaginal breech births at home--they're also the drs who do back-up for all the midwives in town. It's actually a pretty good deal--they work pretty exclusively with high-risk mamas (multiple births, older moms, etc.) in their practice, so pairing up with the midwives, who take all the lower-risk mamas just makes sense. (And I think, since they deal with such high-risk cases generally, the midwives probably don't send their insurance skyrocketing higher as it might with other drs. Not sure on that, though.) My midwife is Christy Tashjian, and she's just delightful. I highly recommend her.

I started taking the homeopathic remedy this morning--going to wait on the other things until tomorrow, as Robert has a bit of a tummy ache tonight and isn't up for helping me. Lots of twisting and turning in there today, but no indication of a total flip. I'll keep everyone updated. And in the mean time, keep those breech birthing stories coming! I'm loving them.

Karen

[lavendermama]

I took Pulsatilla, but remember, my baby didn't budge for about 16 weeks! Pip sounds squirmy and that is GREAT!

[Mamid]

even as a multipara, I was told by my midwife that here, the BC college of physicians and surgeons and the BC college of midwives won't do a "vaginal breech birth" and that the standard of care was c-section.

Stupid Hannah Study. It should be BANNED!

Try moxibustion and a chiropractor.

---------------------------------

Gotta love it when your midwife steals your Mothering Mag (I told her where to get one for herself!) because it has Ina May's article on breech births!

[applejuice]

Denying women a natural birth for a breech has been around a long time. My mom had a breech in 1961 and had a hard time finding a doctor who would deliver vaginally. But she did. And she signed out within four hours of the birth. this was her 5th of 9 children. The rest were born at home, UC.

It was Mothers' Day!

In those days, women stayed in the hospital for a week after the birth of a baby.

[MistyD]

Will they really come to your home?! I thought you'd have to go up to St. David's. Doesn't sound like you'll need them at all anyway!! I'm writing down your midwife's name to interview for next time. In few years.

Here's another breech home birth story, http://www.birthlove.com/free/september.html I post with the mom on another board. Edited to say that the entire article used to be free, now you have to join the site! Suffice it to say, the birth was beautiful and everyone was/is healthy.

[rickyshot]

I had my first naturally and unmedicated. So I wanted to try the homebirth thing with my second. Well she was breech. The midwive said she would not deliver a breech if she did not turn. The backup doctor said he had delivered breeches vaginally before so I was set up for the hospital and hopefully another natural if not more difficult delivery. BTW they tried everything to turn her but Ms. Deidre was stubbborn from day one. (She is 20 years old now and has not changed one bit lol). Well on the day of labor I went in and they took an Xray to see the presentation. They knew she was breech and needed the pic to see how to deliver. Well she was a footing breech and looked like she was praying in my womb. Well you know the rest of the story and emergency C section. Poor me. I was totally unprepared for the surgery and called my mom first crying like a baby myself. Came through it OK. I tell you C sections are tough. Took me months to feel like myself again. But the end is about a healthy baby. There are no failures in birth stories IMO. We had a great nursing relationship from the get go as she was my second and I was experienced. I just put a pillow over my C section and placed her on top. I won't lie. The recovery was very painful for two weeks and I took pain pills at night or there was no sleep or relief for me. Amazingly it did not seem to affect Deidre. She got up every three hours to nurse and was not lethargic so there you go. I wish you a safe and healthy delivery.

[cottonwood]

"William's Obstetrics quotes a study of 1016 breech deliveries where the overall mortality rate was 25 percent for breech births and 2.6 percent for nonbreech deliveries. This was for all births including preterm but when that is controlled, there is still a two-fold increased risk for the infant delivered as a breech compared with the overall population."

What were the parameters of this study, though? There have been some nutty ideas about delivering breach in the past... I have to wonder whether the majority of problems caused were iatrogenic in nature.

"He was here and does it really matter how exactly he got here?"

Not to your sister, apparently, and that's fine! But it does matter to some people. It would matter to me. There are many benefits to vaginal birth (for both mother and baby) that are lost with a c-sec. The most important thing, of course, is coming out of it with a healthy baby, but that doesn't mean that the negative parts of a birth (if there are any) shouldn't be acknowledged and grieved, you know?

[cottonwood]

A couple of other studies:

A study of 1,240 singleton breech infants delivered at northern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program hospitals between 1976 and 1977 has indicated that routine cesarean delivery of all breech fetuses is not necessary to prevent adverse morbid events in the breech infant or child. In order to qualify for the study, the infants had to have weighed at least 1,000 grams. Neurologic sequelae were considered up to four years of age. The study concluded that vaginally born breech infants were not at increased risk for asphyxia, head trauma, cerebral palsy or developmental delay. -Obstetrics and Gynecology, May 1990.

A Swedish study of 6,542 singleton fetuses born in the breech presentation was made to compare intrapartum related infant mortality in term breech presentations in terms of vaginal delivery or delivery by cesarean section. The main outcome measures were intrapartum and early neonatal deaths, stillbirths and congenital malformations, low Apgar scores, and mode of delivery. The intrapartum and early neonatal mortality rate was two per 2,248 (0.09 percent) in the group delivered vaginally and two per 4,029 (0.05 percent) in the group delivered by cesarean section. The relative risk was 1.81, thus the difference was not statistically significant. Authors of the study concluded that the intrapartum related mortality in the group delivered vaginally was low and the result could not verify an increased mortality in term breech presentations delivered vaginally compared with those delivered by cesarean section. -MIDIRS, March 1998

[raynelady]

Pip has turned! I'm so excited! After two acupuncture appointments, lots of moxibustion (sp?), flips and handstands in a pool, pulsatilla, and laying upside down on a slant, Pip has finally turned. I'm so excited! My midwife was pretty excited too. Last night I wasn't able to find Pip's head (a first--typically it's been rammed up inside my ribs), and was a bit confused. This morning when I wasn't able to find it again, I called Christy, and she came by this afternoon. She wasn't able to find the head either, so did an internal exam and said the head is nice and firmly planted downwards. Yea! Pip is, apparently, posterior, so I'll be working on that in the coming weeks...but I'm much less stressed out that. Thanks to everyone for your good stories and good thoughts.

Karen

[Juliacat]

YIPPEE!!!!!!

[Mamid]

Go Pip!

[lavendermama]

oh my gosh! What a good baby you have there! I am so relieved for you!

[magentamomma]

My midwife gave birth to a 10 pound breech UC and says it was her easiest births. I think you should be able to try at home. your midwife will know if there are problems or distress

[BinahYeteirah]

bs"d

I am so glad to hear the Pip has turned.


Also, thank you, blueviolet, for the studies. I am of the mind that the increased complications one sees with "experienced" medical care for vaginal breech deliveries is due, in many cases, with overmanagment of the birth. Nervous docs know it is a breech delivery, and start getting crazy with the forceps, and rush things, etc. No wonder there are more complications.

[Juliacat]

Pip did, in fact, arrive safely, at home, head first. Good luck to all of you other mamas!

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Jessmomgabbyleslie

the article i am talking about is the one on mixibustion i think that is what it was called.

Moxi. My accupuncturist claims excellent luck with turning breech babies.

I only had time to browse the other replies, but there is plenty of research out there that breech deliveries aren't as dangerous as they are made out to be. Unless they are in that extended neck position, which to this day I still can't figure out how they can tell a baby is in this position without ultrasound. If anyone knows please share, I've been racking my brain on the idea all week reading those sections of Obstetric Myths and Research Realities over and over at work LOL! I guess if you can palpate the spine and feel the back of the head sticking out? What if the baby is sideways or posterior? OK, I give up.

If your midwife isn't willing to take that on at home find out if anyone in the area would. If not then find out if there is a hospital in the area where they have been doing them lately (sometimes a teaching hospital is best but of course that itself carries it's own worries IMO)

You are still early yet and most likely the baby will turn, but if not take advantage of all the gentle turning techniques out there, it can't hurt to try and they have great sucess rates.

I can totally understand being worried, but read read read all that is out there. There is alot of research and stories.

[daisycullen2003]

Not sure it has been posted yet, but having a session w/ a hypnobirthing teacher/counselor is supposedly very effective for turning breech babies.