Has anyone had a homebirth/natural birth with a bicornuate uterus?

[mum2be]

I was diagnosed with a bicornuate uterus around 8 weeks into my pregnancy. I don't know if this is truly what I have, as an ultrasound diagnosis is not the most accurate.

As far as I know, breech babies and early labor are very common with this. We are working with a birthing center right now, but soon will move more than an hour away and I really wanted to do a homebirth. I just have to talk DH into it.

Has anyone homebirthed a breech baby before?

Any info or suggestions are appreciated!! :)

[annakiss]

Moved to homebirth.

[Belle]

There's a lot of breech homebirth stories on the birth story thread.

In Spiritual Midwifery, Ina May briefly mentions that she had a mom who had a bicornate uterus and she gave birth from both sides of her uterus. There is a lot if info about breech birth in there too.

[Starr]

Wow. I also found out about 4 months ago that I had a bicornuate uterus and a double cervix. Wether it be from this or endometriosis I have had a hard time becoming pregnant. My Dr. wants me to eventually go to a specialist before we actively try to get pregnant just to determine the degree and severity of it. I hope everything goes well, sorry I can't be more help.

[Hayes]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=408167
This is a link to my friend Leanne's birth story. Lovely breech birth at the farm it was.

[chumani]

Congratulations on your coming baby!

My midwifes oldest daughter has a bicornuate uterus. She caught her granddaughter breech. She said that basically the position the baby is in at 20weeks (usually breech) is the position the baby will be in at birth. Definitely look around for a care provider that is comfortable with breech as you will have a slightly higher chance of breech positioning.

www.spinningbabies.com -I would start the positioning exercises around 12 weeks.

www.breechbabies.com -great information and stories about breech birth.

Best wishes!
Sarah

[sapphire_chan]

One thing which you might look into, is that a bicornate uterus can make preterm birth more likely. My SIL had something done to her cervix to help keep the baby inside because she'd had a few miscarriages as a result of having the divided uterus. In her case she ended up with a c-sec. (baby was term!) but she was not motivated to find an alternative.

The midwife blog at Oregonian.com actually just had a story about a lady from Washington who travelled 4 hours into Oregon to have her breech baby since the laws in Washington were stupid about homebirths for breech presentations.

[alamama]

Hi there! As Hayes mentioned, my son Thomas was born breech at the Farm with Ina May Gaskin. If you live anywhere in the vicinity of the Farm, I highly recommend it. Also, even if you don't live near the Farm, you might want to email/call Ina May. She would probably be willing to talk to you on the phone about her experience with this condition and what options might work best for you. Her knowledge and experience is really breathtaking. Best wishes to you!

Leanne

[jenny-g]

My mom had a bicornate uterus, and had all four of us frank breech births. We were also severely underweight (although that may have been due to smoking- thanks, medical guidelines of the '70s!) I was under 4 1/2 pounds and supposedly almost died multiple times since I would stop breathing. Fun!

Anyway, being able to have a breech vaginal birth AT ALL depends heavily on the laws of your state. In IL, you can't even do that in a hospital with an OB (they can't get malpr. insurance for the procedure anymore). No homebirths or birthing center births here at all. So, it really depends on where you are.

There has been a lot of pressure in various states on midwives who do breech births. Hopefully you are in an area where you can get the type of birth you want, with a midwife who has a safe OB backup and all of that.

The possibility of having a premature birth due to a bicornate uterus is a seperate issue, and may end up making you unable to have a homebirth. I suggest to make sure you're really comfortable with the midwife's backup OB and where you *might* end up giving birth if you're too early with a homebirth.. to cover all bases! Just because you may not end up with a "perfect" homebirth, does not mean that a backup option need be a travesty- best to be prepared for all cases!

[mum2be]

Wow! Thanks everyone for the wonderful information.

I talked with an OB yesterday about a possible homebirth and he said, "Definitely NOT!" :( So I am going to talk with my midwives and make sure I could still have the baby at the birthing center if it's breech.

I'm going to look into everything you awesome mamas have told me! :thumb

THank you all so much!!

[kerikadi]

I talked with an OB yesterday about a possible homebirth and he said, "Definitely NOT!" :(



Just FYI - just about any OB would say "absolutely not" to any woman with a 'normal' uterus. The choice is yours but I would not take this OBs word as Gospel.

Good luck,
Keri

[tracylhl]

I have a bi-cornate uterus and am planning a homebirth in August. My midwife does not seem concerned with it. I have had 3 previous hospital births. My ds#1 was breech until the VERY last moment and 2 of my 3 were born posterior, but I have not delivered any of them breech. I have lost 4 babies during pregnancy - a set of twins was definately a result of my uterus deformity. I also tried to talk to an OB about a homebirth and he started telling me how inappropriate, uneducated, and life threatening it was. A good cue to me that it was time to find a midwife that supported me and had ample experience. I would definately recommend talking to a midwife!

[Guest*]

I talked with an OB yesterday about a possible homebirth and he said, "Definitely NOT!" :( So I am going to talk with my midwives and make sure I could still have the baby at the birthing center if it's breech.


Please take what he said with a grain of salt. Like another poster said, the great majority of OBs will tell you that whether you have a perfect uterus or not. ACOG's position is that homebirth and midwives are dangerous and should not be attempted or even legal.

If a homebirth interests you, get out there and talk to midwives. Considering that your bicornuate uterus is mild, you should be able to find some who are comfortable with taking you as a client and assisting with a breech should that be necessary.

But a midwife who has experience with this condition and her comfort level is only part of the equation...YOU have to be comfortable with the different scenarios that are possible...breech, early labor, whatever (I'm not familiar with the complications or rates of complications associated with this condition). Your confidence in your ability to birth your baby, no matter the location, will probably effect your birth outcome a lot more than your bicornuate uterus will.

That said, I had a friend with a bicornuate uterus (not so mild from what I can deduce). Her docs talked c-section the entire pregnancy, she kept saying no, she wants to at least try a vaginal. They very reluctantly agreed to let her try. She birthed her baby vaginally with no complications.

Keep reading and learning. Talk to some midwives if a homebirth is what you want or some CNMs if you want them to attend you at a hospital or birth center. The doors have not been closed on you because of your uterus. Just don't give up.

Best,

[lacysmommy]

My MIL had a bicornuate uterus had had 5 c-sections. She tried to delivery vaginally with her first (my DH). DH was about 3 weeks early but was fairly large baby, so it could have been a number of reasons that he was early. He was breech ( actually all her babies were breech) and because it was the 1970's, she attempted a vaginal breech delivery.

I think bicornuate uteruses have varying degrees of severity, and that certain women can't physically give birth vaginally but I'm not an expert on the topic (I did do a little research on this when I found out my MIL had a bicornuate uterus). My MIL had a late miscarriage (16 weeks), which is pretty common with a bicornuate uterus. I believe that multiple miscarriages are pretty common with this condition, but MIL only had the one.

After she died, we found out she had multiple other problems with her uterus and ovaries (cysts, tumors, and who knows what else-- haven't seen the autopsy report even though it happened 8 mos ago), and that could have complicated her births further. Or else hospital policies interfered with her ability to birth as nature intended, I'm not sure which!

[Zyla]

A good friend of mine has a bicornuate uterus and has birthed three fullterm babies with no difficulties (has no difficulty conceiving either). One was a home-breech-water birth. Number 4 merrily on the way.

Good luck to you.

[mamaverdi]

Rare is the OB that supports homebirth. Talk to the midwives in your state who do homebirth. Many birth center midwives don't necessarily support it either.

Breech birth used to be common. OBs and insurance companies have made it otherwise.

mv