Thoughts on a breech birth.

[sarah698]

Hi

I am 34 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child second breech baby. My first was a normal vaginal delivery. I had a c section with my last as he was breech. I was totally pushed into it and really regret having it now i know he was in a good postion for a vaginal birth. I dont really want to try ecv as i have heard loads of horrible storys about it. I feel this baby and my last are/were breech for a reason and i dont want to force this baby to move. I have tryes moxibustion but had no sucsess. I want to have a breech birth but i want to know what the chances of things going wrong are. I have to have a scan to see what position the baby is in in 2 weeks then see my consultant who is going to hopfully refure me to a different hospital that has more expereince of delivering breech babys. I am in the uk so i dont know what its like there with trying to get someone to deliver a breech baby. My midwife told me to stand my ground if thats what i want as she and i both know hat they will try and talk me out of it. I would like to hear of any birth stories of breech vaginal deliveries good or bad, and any opions that you may have. I really dont think he will turn now so i have a big dicision to make so any help will be great.
Thanks

[Citykid]

Sarah, you might want to search the birth stories forum http://www.mothering.com/discussions...play.php?f=166 for breech stories. I see there is one on the front page right now.

Good luck!

[FarmerCathy]

Here is some homebirth breech links. I don't know if that will help or not. http://breechbabies.com/home_breech.htm

Cathy

[Jennah_Gole]

My baby has been breech since very early on...now I am 33 weeks and the midwife says there is still a chance for the baby to flip and turn but he might be head down now and she did not seem so sure. I read alot on the internet on the subject and I even viewed some homebirths which was really awesome of women having breech babies...one of them was butt first but most were feet first. It is possible to have the baby that way. But one concern was that the uterus might clamp down on the baby's head so once you are dilated completely you would wait one hour before pushing the baby to ensure that the uterus won't clamp down. The other thing was to try and push the baby out as quickly and possible and not wait the period that is in between the contractions to rest. Of course, some of the job is the midwife's job to support the baby while coming out but some don't like to touch the baby at all during this but they must make sure that his arms are in a position to be able to come out.

This is what i have learned and it took the edge off of being so scared of having a breech baby. The thing is I am much more scared of having a c-section then of having a natural birth with a breech baby.

It almost goes to the point that if I know I am having a breech baby then I will stay home as long as possible (eventhough my labors are really precipitous) to try and avoid any situation that I would not like to be put in at the hospital. Where I live it is illegal to homebirth and they might not issue a birth certificate if they suspect you did it on purpose but I do have really quick births so I can say there was no time to get to the hospital.

In my case, its a risk I am willing to take to be at home and try to deliver breech then go to the hospital and be forced into a c-section.

I will try to look for the links I found on breech babies but I think if u searched thru any search engine on those keywords that you can find a whole lot of useful info.

I hope I have helped.

[Wittyone]

Hi Sarah,
There are lots of gentle ways to encourage a breech baby to assume a more "optimal" position - the links you've been given will go into those. You are correct to be wary of ECV as most physicians are not taught to be particularly gentle or intuitive. However, some midwives or older docs are very, very good at this and can do it in ways that are neither harsh nor dangerous. However, if this babe is determined to be born breech and you are willing to go along there are two really important things to do. First, educate yourself about the various ways that breech babies are born, ideal positions for you to use, potential complications, etc. Know your stuff! Second, and this may actually be more important, find a provider who is very, very experienced and comfortable with breeches - probably the worst thing to bring to a breech birth is someone who will be scared or panic. I hope the tone of this post isn't too heavy - breech really is just another way to be born. Good luck!

[chumani]

Hi Sarah,

Just visiting from the August ddc. Breech birth became a passion to me when I was planning and after I birthed my frank breech babe 18 months ago. Breech Birth by Benna Waites. It is a very in depth look at breech birth in the UK. Best wishes on your coming birth.

I have cut/paste a post I made to a breech homebirth thread
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=415012

"It was an amazing birth experience, I grew so much spiritually and in trust of my body and baby.

For planning a breech birth www.breechbabies.com was the best resource I found online. I also googled "breech homebirth" and got a lot of great stories. Is your midwife comfortable with breech homebirth? My midwife was not experienced so I had another midwife I loved come (5 hour drive). M has caught over 40 breech babies including her footling granddaughter. She was so calm and peaceful. I knew at 30 weeks that my baby needed to be born breech. It was such a strong feeling that I didn't do anything encourage turning. Short version- I had an accident at 20 weeks that caused partial placental abruption of my anterior(in front) placenta, since 3 of my other babies were born posterior in my opinion had she turned head down she would have most likely turned posterior and been able to kick her damaged placenta. I felt such peace when planning my baby's birth. I was able to surround myself with 2 of my sisters and 2 close friends that were very supportive of our decision. My mom and other sisters were not even notified that I was in labor as they were very negative towards us.

I spent a lot of time praying/meditating and listening to my body and baby. Our decision to birth breech at home was not made lightly. Best wishes on your coming babe. If you have any other questions feel free to pm me. I have my daughters birth on video and would be happy to copy and share if you want. "

Also Ina May's breech birth video is very informative. She is more hands off now than in the videos (1980's) but it is still a useful tool for learning about breech birth see if your midwife has a copy. http://www.inamay.com/videos.php

Have a wonderful day!
Sarah

[2+twins]

I'm personally fine w/the idea of giving birth to a breech baby. I read this book:

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/Mercha...gory_Code=OTBK

And it says that basically the best course of action (as far as assisting in delivery) is no action in the vast majority of cases and that the main problem that providers fear is that the cervix will not be dilated enough to fit the head, however in a full term baby this would not be a problem as the head would not be larger than the butt/hips.

I think there's just a lot of fear and lack of education surrounding this variation of normal and that's just too bad. I'd say, pick up the book if you can, research some more, then stand your ground if that's the way you want it. My biggest fear about giving birth breech - honestly - is my care provider mucking it up by trying to be proactive. I think you need to just let the baby slide out. Oh, and waterbirth is ideal for a breech. Hope this helps.

[sarah698]

Thanks for all your great replys they are much appreciated.
I hope all goes well for all of you and your babys, i will do lots of research and probabley post lots more before the babys born so i look forward to talking to you all then.

Thanks again
Sarah
xx

[aprilushka]

I know someone who had a breech footling VBAC recently (it was her second VBAC) in the hospital after her water broke at 35 weeks. She had to wait two weeks in the hospital and fend 'em off but fortunately there is one doctor supportive of woman's choice in this area (she had seen him some for shadow care, she had been planning a home birth) and so she was able to successfully do it after waiting two weeks for labor to start (although I can imagine the crap he was getting every day, and she was definitely getting crap every day from other doctors). The only reason she stayed in the hospital really was the broken membranes and her family freaking out about her leaving. The doctor had said he wouldn't do footling but they thought he was frank until he was coming out.

She also kept them from giving her an epistiotomy by saying "I do not consent" twice really loud while the baby was coming out.

I think she's probably a legend in that hospital now.

[lrlittle]

Hi Sarah!
I just had my baby almost 7 weeks ago. He was breech and I had him vaginally. We had to change care providers last minute because the midwives I was seeing would not deliver vaginal breech...

My advice to you is to do your research and ultimately find someone that you're comfortable delivering with. My husband and I read and read and talked and talked and TALKED with all kinds of people about the supposed risks of vaginal breech delivery. We were lucky to find someone in our city who has a lot of experience delivering breech babies and I was so comfortable with him and the knowledge that we had about vaginal breeches that in my mind there was NO safer way to deliver little Henry.

We are thrilled with the birth and, of course, the outcome. Good luck with yours

[sarah698]

[QUOTE=lrlittle]Hi Sarah!
I just had my baby almost 7 weeks ago. He was breech and I had him vaginally. We had to change care providers last minute because the midwives I was seeing would not deliver vaginal breech...


Hi

Congratulations on the birth of your son . Was your baby a footling breech? Would you of still had him vaginally if he was? Im glad it all worked out well for you, i hope i can find someone who is supportive about a breech delivery i really dont want another c section.
Thanks for the reply.

[eilonwy]

My daughter was a double footling breech; I wouldn't have had a problem with that, but she dropped her cord and stepped on it and when she went breech (at 38w6d, after being vertex the entire pregnancy!) she broke my water, so there was no chance of her either turning vertex or of the cord moving out of the way. She was delivered via emergency c-section.

That said, I'd still be cool with a vaginal breech delivery, as long as there was no chance of a prolapsed cord (which still freaks me out).

One of the moms in BooBah's DDC had a vaginal breech delivery about 20 months ago. He was a big guy, too!

[lrlittle]

hi sarah,
my babe was frank breech, but my doctor also delivers footling breeches if everything looks ok with mom and babe (same with frank breeches). if he thought everything looked good for a footling delivery, i would have done it. he is so experienced with breech births that i feel confident in what he says and does.