Thinking (maybe) about UVBAC breech baby

[NoraB]

I'm doing all I can to turn this baby and will certainly wait until labor before even thinking about a c/s for position.

My OB has delivered breech babies before, but I don't think she'll be very supportive of my desire for a vag breech birth. She doesn't know about the breech position yet (and hopefully baby will turn vertex soon), but she already seems to be looking for ways to discourage the VBAC (though I've already signed the consent, etc).

I started thinking the other day about UVBAC. I'm not sure how I really feel about it though. Can anyone give me advice based on my situation?

TIA

[MaWhit]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I'd consider a UBAC or a breech UC, but putting them together would be too many uncontrollable risk factors for my comfort level.

JMO. :shy

[NoraB]

Right now, I'm just exploring the possiblity. I wasn't ready to try homebirth this time around, but the possibility of being forced into a c/s for breech presentation scares the crap out of me. I hate the feeling of being trapped by the medical model of care.

I pray the baby will turn before birth.

[Sagesgirl]

I'm working very hard to prepare myself for just that eventuality. Both my previous girls were c-sections for footling breech. I cannot (for reasons admittedly mostly mental) have a third section.

What I have done to prepare:

First off, I have approached this just the same as any other vaginal breech birth. Since I'm willing to birth vaginally for a head-down baby, it doesn't make sense to me to change my mind just because the baby might decide to present feet-first.

There are a few UC birth stories of breeches at Laura Shanley's site, & plenty of UCVBACs as well:
http://unassistedbirth.com/ucstories/index.html
Maia's Birth (http://unassistedbirth.com/ucstories/maia.html)
The Birth Story of Donnegal Amber (http://unassistedbirth.com/ucstories/diane.html)
(The downside of that site is it's hard to find the breech births, since they're not all labelled as such.)
Actually, Mrs Shanley's story of the birth of her son Willie is a very good one: http://unassistedbirth.com/shanleys/willie.html
Here's a photo essay of a vaginal breech birth in a hospital:
http://www.birthdiaries.com/diary/47vbirth.htm

For a more practical approach, I also read through the "Attending a Breech Birth" section of the Midwifery archives at GentleBirth.org: http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/breechbr.html
More good stuff from midwives here:
http://www.radmid.demon.co.uk/breech.htm
If the labour progresses spontaneously, ie the contractions come oftener, last longer, get stronger, the cervix effaces and dilates, and the breech descends through the pelvis, the baby will be born.

Looking at the photos of a very managed vaginal breech birth in the hospital here on Moondragon's site (http://www.moondragon.org/obgyn/pregnancy/breechvag1.html) (warning: very graphic!) make me think you'd be much better off staying home to birth a breech.
Elsewhere on her site, the info for Breech Delivery at Home (http://www.moondragon.org/obgyn/pregnancy/breechhome.html) I found very useful, except the part where it says that the head must be delivered within 5 minutes of it being the only part remaining in the mother. That theory is debunked quite well in the first of the midwife links.

The thing to keep in mind is this: Most of the problems with breech deliveries do not exist in breech births. Which is to say, most of the injuries to babies born this way are caused not by the presentation, but by overzealousness on the part of birth attendants. The best way to avoid that? No birth attendents.