With cautious (read: terrified) eyes a mother lingers in my classroom after her peers have filtered out. She watches as I take down posters and I wait for her to decide she feels safe enough to approach me with her question. The fear is rolling off her body and I am sure I know what she wants to talk about. Her question is one I have heard a hundred times before. And her anxiety is the same as every other expectant mother who has stood where she stands now.
She makes her way to me and timidly asks if I have a minute to speak with her about breech birth. Of course I do. Friends waiting to have coffee with me at the local Starbucks will happily wait a few more minutes when I explain that a mom hung around after class to have a few extra questions answered.
Caesarean birth is probably the single most frightening possibility facing expectant moms I meet. No one wants to have vacuum, forceps or episiotomy used at their births either but caesarean sections are the one procedure that leaves most moms-to-be feeling vulnerable and terrified.
These days we know that there are precious few moms who birth their breech babies vaginally. It is no wonder then that I am greeted with eyes brimming with tears and a voice that breaks when just uttering the word: breech.
Moms want to know if there is anything that can be done to encourage the baby to turn from a breech presentation before their scheduled caesarean birth date. Absolutely! And, in cases like mine, sometimes you can find skilled practitioners who, if other therapies are unsuccessful, are willing to turn the baby manually. This manual manipulation is called External Cephalic Version (ECV) and my youngest was lucky enough to subject me to the experience TWICE!
There are a significant number of opinions (and websites, ugh!) about ECV, it’s efficacy, the pain involved, risks to mom/baby, etc. I am lucky to have been birthing with midwives who have an excellent working relationship with ECV-skilled OBs and mine was absolutely painless. Wait to form YOUR OWN opinions about the procedure instead of reading other people’s horror stories!
Acupuncture with moxibustion may be all you need and perhaps regular appointments with a chiropractor using the Webster Technique will encourage baby to move into a head-down position. Many moms find success with homeopathic remedies, herbal supplements, physiologic position changes or something as simple as cold/hot packs used strategically on the belly. Suffice it to say, there are a considerable number of strategies around that have been successful over the years in helping babies find the optimal position in the pelvis for a vaginal birth.
What prompted me writing about this subject in the first place? The article in today’s Globe and Mail indicating that, FINALLY, the Society of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists of Canada recommend re-introducing teaching in medical school the skills necessary to catch vaginal breech birthed babies. The article starts off by letting readers know that current research actually indicates that “many women are safely able to vaginally deliver babies who enter the birth canal with the buttocks or feet first.” (Let’s not even discuss that a woman BIRTHS her baby, she doesn’t DELIVER it – that would be splitting hairs, right?)
As far as I know there is only one OB in the Toronto area who regularly attends vaginal breech births. He is skilled and he has people travel from all over the GTA to have him catch their baby so that they can reduce the likelihood of requiring a caesarean section. He will even attend moms who have never birthed a baby before. This, for those who are not aware, is extremely uncommon. Many of the moms who birthed their breech babies vaginally in the past were only able to do so because they had successfully had a vaginal birth previously and were therefore considered “capable” of passing a baby vaginally.
What have your breech experiences been? Anyone have a successful vaginal breech birth? Anyone try ECV? What about alternative therapies? How many have used pulsatilla successfully? Or an ironing board? Anyone? Your feedback is appreciated!!
Posted by Sam
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5 comments:
I am happy to share my positive birth experience! This is not for everyone nor every situation and am only sharing my experience. DD was my second child and was in the "Frank breech". Her bum was engaged instead of her head with minimal chance of the umbilical cord slipping so for us the risk was much the same had she been head down (if the cord where to come out first which has a higher likelyhood in some of the other types of breech like a footling it could very quickly become life threatening issue). Both mom and baby were healthy and strong.
I did find it quite tiering going to all the different appointments in attempt to try and get this baby to turn. We tried the Websters chiropractic technique, moxybustion, pulsatilla, visualization, excercize, music to try and guide baby down.. I honestly think we exhausted all options including the External cephalic version where the Dr. attempts to manually turn the baby with no luck. Baby was determined to stay bum down.
One factor that weighed heavily on my decision to attempt to birth my breech baby vaginally was being able to find an OB who was competent and comfortable assisting me to deliver my baby. Sadly today there are not many OB in my area who will. I was able to locate a few but no guarantees they would be working when I went into labour.
I feel the medical community is very guarded because of legal red tape and doctors are afraid of being sued and I guess rightfully so. I feel I had to prove myself that I had done extensive reading, educated myself and even then had to ask the same questions to the same people in different forms in order to extract info I needed. Very frustrating and tiering when you are 36+ weeks pregnant! With a 20 month old at home and not a great deal of external support I really wanted to avoid major abdominal surgery and recovery time if safely possible. Thankfully for me it was possible.
Had I not found an experienced OB, I think for myself I would rather have a planned section( even though a section on a breech baby is NOT the same as a standard section in terms of risk) then push a doctor who is uncomfortable delivering a breech baby. He and his team are potentially more likely to jump to use intervention which likely could snowball and end in an emergency section.
I only had the choice of either going to Toronto or Hamilton at the time as I could not find a doctor closer to home who would give me the chance to birth vaginally. We opted for Hamilton. The OR was a very busy place when DD was being born. The hospital took many precautions which added to the comfort and security should they be needed in terms of specialists on hand. DD was like a bar of soap and was born after only 3 strong pushes. I had no tearing nor any other complications from delivering my baby breech. DD was healthy other than having her legs up by her ears which would have happened had she been born any other way after spending so long in the womb folded in half! We were able to come home as soon as we wanted which for me was a few hours after delivery.
Would I do it again? Each pregnancy is unique to itself, all things being equal I would do it again in a heart beat
I've had 6 vaginal breech deliveries. Luckily my dr was comfortable and the first was a surprise.
My birth stories are on my site.
@Catherine:
Thank you so much for sharing the link to your site here. What a wonderful and lovely family you have. And SO lucky to have had a doctor who supports you birthing the way you need to.
Congrats on that and on the gorgeous family you have created!
thank u very much
very informative blog
here is a blog women health
and tubal reversal
http://www.mybabydoc.com/blog/
tubal reversal
thnk you for sharing travesti
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