Breech- Help

[Mama2OneLilBoy]

So, my midwife has told me that the baby is breech. Her reaction, oh no big deal. I have delievered a lot of breech babies, and sometimes mothers tell me that it is actually easier to deliever a breech baby! I am glad she feels so confident but I on the other hand am starting to worry about it. Has anyone else here delievered a breech baby? I suppose the baby could flip into normal postion before labor starts, so that is a thought. Also, are there any exercises I could do to try to encourage baby to move? Any advice or thoughts are welcomed! Sorry for all the typos, my ds is in the other room playing-can't leave him for very long,

[Mama2OneLilBoy]

Okay, I should add that I am feeling nervous because I am having a homebirth this time around and a good friend just had a c-section because her baby was breech. I guess I have head a lot of horror stories.

[Blue Belle]

Breech is just another variation of normal. It certainly does not warrant a c-sec of all things, as I'm sure you're aware! Have you checked out spinningbabies.com? I believe your baby knows what position it needs to born in and your body is perfectly capable of accommodating. Best wishes for you and your beautiful homebirth, lady!

[4daughters]

I've hear swimming in a pool sometimes helps and people have had great results with a Chiro who is certified in the Webster technique. Good Luck.

[Poppy Bee]

Try moxibustion to turn the baby. It supposedly has a better success rate than external version. My first was breech, and I tried everything but Moxibustion. I had to have a c-section, my midwife refused a breech delivery. Boo.

[danotoyou2]

Stand on your head. No, really! Try it!

Laying on a slant board (or ironing board, or anything like that) on your back for 10 minutes at a time can help. I just put every pillow on earth under my lower back and butt, and the baby flipped (a couple weeks ago). You WILL need help with this though, unless you're WonderWoman.

The Homeopathic Pulsatilla is a muscle relaxant that can be used when you do excercises to get baby to rotate. I bought some, but then didn't use it. A natural foods store or health store should carry it.

Make sure you're not slumping back in your seat. And consider the couch off-limits until further notice.

Doing a somersault and ending in a head-stand (with someone holding your feet) can help to turn the baby. You can also do this in a swimming pool without requiring so much help.

Then you can try... ice packs on the top of your belly (by his/her face), music playing down low, or belly massage. You might want to consider an ultrasound (non-medical one) to find out the exact position of the baby, so you can then work at massaging it in a direction to encourage it to move.

I think I'm out of ideas. Hope this helps!

[Alohamelly]

I was freaking out cause I found out my baby was breech at 36 weeks and they will not deliver breech here vaginally. I started doing pelvic tilts like crazy, had my butt in the air most of the day, swam in the pool and did somersaults and handstands, stopped reclining and sitting back, did the ice packs ... pretty much memorized everything on spinningbabies.com. The following week when we checked again, baby was head down!! I don't know what worked, but something must have. Now I'm nervous about him turning again, but hopefully he didn't. Like everyone said to me, you have time still!!

[ColoradoMama]

Crashing your ddc - sorry! When dd1 was transverse, I did a swimming exercise that apparently worked. While swimming lengths of the pool, I rolled front to back to front to back - if that makes any sense - keep going forward the whole time. A couple of years later when my friend was 37 weeks and baby was breech, we took her to the pool and she tried it. Two days later when she went to the doctor, the baby had turned. Good luck.

[Mama2OneLilBoy]

Thanks....these things are helpful. I hope they work. What about sleeping postions? I either read or heard that it is helpful to sleep in a semi sitting postion but I cannot imagine doing that!!! How should I be sleeping?

[gratefulmum]

Originally Posted by Mama2OneLilBoy

Thanks....these things are helpful. I hope they work. What about sleeping postions? I either read or heard that it is helpful to sleep in a semi sitting postion but I cannot imagine doing that!!! How should I be sleeping?

Hmmmm, I've heard of sleeping in a sitting position after the baby has turned to ensure he stays put. I know spinningbabies recommends sleeping on the left side with your top leg thrown over a comfy pillow so that you are kind of turned toward the bed and lying on your stomach as *much* as possible. I imagine that putting an extra pillow or two under your hips would elevate them somewhat and bring baby out of pelvis thus providing more room for him and allowing all the other exercise you are doing to work their full effect.
That's just my take, though.

[kristen1978]

Ditto on the moxibustion and the slantboard. Also, it seems that visualization can work well with this, too. Try posting pictures around the house of a babe in the head down position. Also, talk to him/her about turning. One last thing: examine your emotional state. Are you stressed? Worried? Remind baby that he/she is loved and wanted, and that cephalic (head-down) might be an easier way to be born.

Also, ditto on the "variation of normal." Well put.

[AzariaJordan]

Great suggestions, especially the water work.

For what it is worth, I am having a major shift in how I feel about breech (have been a homebrith / freestanding birth center midwife for 7 years). The collective beliefs regarding the dangers of breech are based on disasterous deliveries due to extreme maneuvers and manipulations of the baby's body. It's bizarre to me to watch how docs try to literally direct and rotate the baby's body as soon as they can get ahold of the legs or hips. It's a disaster waiting to happen, and results in things like head entrapment which is one of The Big Scaries of breech birth! (You are very unlikely to have a trapped head if the baby is term and hasn't been freaked out by pulling and tugging) It honestly is not rocket science. Ever since beginning to attend breech last year, I have been floored by how NOT even remotely scary it is. Actually, it is kind of cool!
Ultimately, however, it all depends on the comfort level of everyone involved, but if your baby decides to stay breech, please consider doing even more investigation...glad you've gotten off to a good start though

[Blue Belle]

Originally Posted by AzariaJordan

It honestly is not rocket science. Ever since beginning to attend breech last year, I have been floored by how NOT even remotely scary it is. Actually, it is kind of cool!

That is beautiful to hear! I wish there were more like you!

[AzariaJordan]

Ah, thanks Blue Belle!
What is interesting is that my beliefs and experiences were actually the norm in many different cultures and previous time periods...which is why it's important to relize that our beliefs about things like breech have been colored by a very, very narrow realm of study and experience (i.e. actively managed breech deliveries in hospital in non-upright positions. OF COURSE this has ended badly the majority of time!)

I just read a study of an OB in the 1800's who found breech so easy that he ECV's all his women to breech, which is beyond creepy in and of itself, but goes to show that something had to be pretty cool about breech

[Groggie]

Originally Posted by Mama2OneLilBoy

Thanks....these things are helpful. I hope they work. What about sleeping postions? I either read or heard that it is helpful to sleep in a semi sitting postion but I cannot imagine doing that!!! How should I be sleeping?

I've been sleeping on a foam slant bed wedge pillow thingie for a few weeks now, which elevates my head & upper body by 8 inches or so. Normally it's used to help with heartburn but could also prop you up in bed to help keep the baby head down. It is a lot more comfortable than trying to sleep in a reclining chair or propped up on a bazillion pillows (although I still use 3 pillows, two at the top of the wedge and 1 at the base, plus the one between my knees). You can order one from an online pharmacy or amazon.com, and they run from $20 to $150, but I have the $20 one and it's just fine.

[VickV]

Popping in from the December DDC

My first was breech until something like 37-38 weeks. I'm a hospital birth girl myself, so I had an external cephalic version the week before my DD turned - the version was unsuccessful, but a few days afterward, I spent an hour face-down in my hot tub - I set the water at 100 and just laid one way or another so that my belly was hanging down for an hour. I swear, I felt her turn, but even if I felt something else, at my 38 week check, she was head-down.

My thought process was: hang the belly down so that my uterus had as much space as possible. Whether it was the hour in the water or just Isabel's plan all along, she turned.

[pfamilygal]

Bean was breech up until last week. My midwife is not allowed to attend breech VBAC's and the OB would not do a version. So I did pulsatilla, pelvic rocking, inversions and went to a chiropractor for Webster technique. Came home after my second chiro appt and did pelvic rocking and an inversion and s/he flipped. So we're vertex now!