Breech birth?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently 35 weeks pregnant and my bubs has been firmly in breech position since 29 weeks (and before, but confirmed at 29 weeks!) I have been doing everything I can to encourage the little one to turn - chiro, osteo, spinning babies, acupuncture, moxabustion, swimming, etc. I had an ultrasound last week which confirmed that there is no obvious reason as to why the baby would be in this position. Eg. No developmental, physical, obstructions, etc... all clear and the baby appears to be very happy!

This is my second baby - at 34 weeks in my first pregnancy my baby was head down and engaged and I had a natural vaginal delivery drug free in a birth centre. So this has taken me by surprise!

We were planning a homebirth this time around, but that vision is quickly becoming more and more blurry. I am planning to have an ECV in a couple of weeks. If that doesn't work I am currently looking into my options. There is obviously the option of an elective caesarean. I would like to know what other options there are in between!

I am specifically wondering if anyone has had experiencing giving birth to a breech baby vaginally, how it went and how they did it (eg where and with whom).. and also whether anyone can recommend any Obs that would support a breech vaginal birth. I have found some lists online, but personal stories would be really great too.

I can't find any recent stories online on forums and so on, guessing this is becoming more and more rare as more and more people have a caesarean for breech... any thoughts or information would be appreciated!!

Thanks :)

Where do you live? Are you going public or private?

I had a vaginal breech birth at RWH in Melbourne. This was with the approval of the consultants on duty at the time. The birth went well. In our case, baby had an unknown genetic condition and died soon after birth. This was unrelated to the method of birth but it did influence why he was breech (ran out of fluid and couldn't turn). We didn't actually know he was breech until during labour.

The most important thing is that the care providers are experienced with breech. Ours was a planned homebirth but we transferred due to bub coming early. Our IM would not do a breech birth at home, so we would have transferred anyway. We originally agreed to a c/s, but I was going well and the operation kept getting put off. So our IM talked to the consultant. I needed to make some compromises, such as continuous monitoring and birthing semi reclined but that was fine. We used the telemetric monitor so I could move around. It went really well until he was born.

It's a requirement of ours that the OB we work with must be OK with breech birth.

No experience here. Where do you live? I am planning a homebirth through the Community Midwifery program in Perth, and if bubs is presenting breech tomorrow I will have to birth at my back up hospital KEMH. They are supporting a vaginal breech delivery should that be the case (which I doubt as bubs was 3/5 palpable last week). Hope you find something suitable :)

motherwho - depending on where you are and the stance of the local hospitals you MAY be able to birth vaginally but it really does depend on the hospital.

All i can suggest is keep trying your techniques on spinning bub and research all your local options.
It can be done but you need to be confident with both your care givers and that you yourself are prepared for any issues that may arise.

Having a c-section is not the easy way out, you need to look at the impact on yourself with recovery time aswell as the risks to yourself and bub if you don't.

DD1 was an unplanned home birth (link in my sig) and was footling breech, she really did save me a c/s as the hospital i attended would not have allowed me a natural birth with her BUT had i known she was breech i probably would have chosen a c/s based on the risks the hospitals advise.
That said i am aware that vaginal delivery is possible and that research is the key (things i didn't know being a first time mum then).

No decision is an easy decision when it comes to birthing, i hope that bub does decide to move or that you find yourself a HB MW who supports breech delivery or a hospital that does.

is your midwife comfortable with breech homebirth?

there are alternatives to ecv. my bub kept swapping between transverse and breech, but we were able to move him using rebozo, and he was head down when labour began. what does your midwife say?

have you looked at the spinningbabies website?

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is your midwife comfortable with breech homebirth?

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This is what I was going to ask.

Otherwise the girls have mentioned some good techniques and tricks to try and turn babe.

Thanks for all your replies so far! Sorry, totally forgot to mention I am in Melbourne. Although we are still hopeful of our homebirth, if the baby remains breech I would prefer to be in hospital for the birth, just personal preference.

I am doing everything on the spinning babies website and I finish work tomorrow so hoping that once that is out of the way maybe my mind will be clearer and I will be able to focus more on staying active and positive and hoping for the best!

I was in two minds about the ECV but now that it is upon me and I feel like the clock is ticking, I feel that a *hopefully* successful ECV is better for the baby than a c/s if I do nothing and he/she stays put (I know there is also every chance they will move of their own accord, but I know that every day baby stays in this position, the less likely that is becoming).

I have never had to look into an Ob before so finding it very overwhelming and different to midwifery care, with all their 'policies' and rules eg. will support breech birth but must have episiotomy, etc, etc. I read on one website "You will have such and such at this many weeks. You will have this at this many weeks" and so on... really put me off but I am trying to keep a clear head and thinking of the pros and cons of all options so we can try to move forward!

Heard good things about Guy Skinner so maybe that is a good place to start?

Jenny Dowd was the on call consultant with Ds1. She's lovely and works privately out of Freemasons. Whilst she gave me a local in case of episiotomy, I didn't need one and only had a small tear. Didn't need stitches.

The other OBs I'd consider for breech would be Lionel Steinberg at St Vincent's or Danielle Wilkins at Jessie McPherson (Monash). Both of them are comfortable working with private IMs. I'd ask your IM for a suggestion as well.

For a breech birth, I would also choose to birth in hospital, despite the restrictions. That's just me.

I would highly reccommend, if you've got the money, to take your Midwife into the hospital with you. There may be a few small issues with that depending on if she has visiting rights etc, but these issues would be minute compared to birthing with health care providers who you arent familiar with and who are familiar with what you want.

Are you planning on birthing with the baby breech if the babe does not turn?

My outlook is that you still have 6-8 weeks left for the babe to turn. I'd say continue to plan for a homebirth at this point but do educate yourself on OB's willing to support a breech vaginal birth - If this is what you want ofcourse. Obviously you are in contact with a hospital if you're booked into have an ECV however don't let them railroad you into a c/s if thats not what you want. It really saddens me that women are rarely given an option to birth vaginally with a breech.

Remember, 6-8 weeks is plenty of time and many babies have turned right up to the point of labour. Keep faith in yourself and your babe and never forget what is important to you and your family.

Best wishes!
xx

Thanks Lions and Bears and Sara,

My IM will definitely be with me regardless of the place/mode of birth which is great. I have a back up booking for my homebirth at the Mercy, where my IM actually used to work, however they are fairly conservative when it comes to breech and if I went into labour, and went to the Mercy, it would depend on who was on shift and whether or not they were qualified/confident to support me, otherwise I would be going straight to theatre for an "emergency" c/s. Doesn't sound too promising and knowing now what labour is all about, I don't feel great about being in that situation and then going into a c/s unprepared and/or the chance of having someone not skilled to help me in that moment.

This is why I am now looking into an Ob who has an interest in supporting a vaginal delivery just to get more information so I know what all my options are and can then make a decision - or feel like I have choices ahead of me, instead of the two extremes of a homebirth or a c/s.. I can't get my head around it. I also have a GP obstetrician who I have been seeing through this pregnancy who will attend my homebirth however he doesn't work in hospitals so if baby remains breech I would need to find someone else or book an elective c/s. I am getting the ECV done at Box Hill as this is where he has connections and I would prefer to get it done by someone my support team knows and recommends.

So much to think about! I guess now that I am 35 weeks I am just trying to be mentally prepared and educated for any situation so that no matter what happens I have been able to make an informed choice (or at least feel like some part of what happens is our decision, not something I have been forced into), and if necessary, make the best out of a situation that is far from my ideal and my hopes for this birth. "Letting go" is what I am trying to do, while being educated and informed at the same time... what a headache.

Come on baby! All it takes is a tiny weeny somersault, right?

Just wanted to add that there is one Obs at the Mercy who will deliver a breech baby.
Her name is Miranda Robinson think.
She did my unsuccessful ECV at the Mercy on her last day before maternity leave.
Had she not gone on maternity leave- she said that she would have delivered my DD.


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Sorry I can't be more specific but...

My bubs was breech at 32ish weeks and I was worried that I would not be able to deliver vaginally. My midwife assured me that (I think it was...) the registrar at Box Hill Hospital - Birralee - was experienced with breech delivery and would support me in delivering vaginally if bubs didn't turn. As it happened, baby turned pretty soon after this so there was no need to find out more. May be worth contacting Biralee though?

Just wanted to add my DD turned one month before she was born at 35 weeks. I'd given up hope but then it happened. Good luck with the turning :)

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to reply to update this thread as to what happened for those thinking about an ecv or at all interested... after all my confusion and stress about the baby being in breech position, we did a lot of research and went ahead with an ECV (External Version) at Box Hill Hospital when I was almost 37 weeks pregnant. On the phone when I was booking the appointment the midwife said that the process would be - 1. arrive at the hospital and have an ultrasound to confirm the breech position, 2. foetal monitoring, 3. injection/drip to relax the uterus, 4. external version which would take around 15-20 minutes, 5. about an hour of monitoring to ensure the baby is ok. She said not to eat too much because they would tip me up the wrong way a little to encourage the baby to fall away from the pelvis and so on.

I was incredibly nervous and also read a bit too much online in forums and information pages... enough to stress me out and wonder if we were making the right decision.

Anyway, on the day we went in and the registrar was absolutely lovely. He was excited to hear it was my second baby as he said he has about a 50% success rate with first babies and about 75-80% success turning second babies. He confirmed the position with ultrasound and while the midwife was getting the monitoring set up he had a quick feel of my stomach... he said I felt very relaxed and as he spoke I could feel that he was pushing the baby a bit... and a bit more, and a bit more... he said I was able to relax my stomach so well that he was just going to have a little go --- literally 60 seconds later I had a head down baby who, according to the monitoring, was sound asleep! I couldn't believe how easy it was. He said it is better if they are able to do the ECV without the drugs anyway as the baby is less able to flip back afterwards if the uterus isn't relaxed by the use of drugs. The midwife came back into the room and it took her a minute to get her head around the fact that the doctor had already turned the baby and it was all over!!

I truly believe that this process was so easy due to a few things - the acupuncture and moxibustion I had been having over the previous weeks, we did two 10 day rounds of moxibustion along with acupuncture, and although it was not successful in turning the baby, according to my acupuncturist it has been connected with more successful ECVs. I was also having chiro treatment (including webster's technique when I needed it) around twice a week from about 30 weeks. On top of that I attended prenatal yoga each week and believe that gave me the ability to fully relax and breathe through the process while I was having the ECV done. It wasn't without discomfort, but was not as painful as I had read it could be online (partly because the baby flipped very easily and it was only 1 minute, I can imagine if the baby didn't want to move or if the procedure was longer it would obviously have been more uncomfortable).

After that my baby stayed in a head down position and by 38 weeks was engaged and ready to go.

On Wednesday morning at 3.02 am I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in the water at home, as originally planned. It was beautiful, she is beautiful, we are all well and healthy and safe in the comfort of our home and I am just so grateful that I had the ECV and did what I thought was right for us after careful consideration. I have been wanting to update this as when I was stressing about what to do and so on, I found hearing other's stories comforting. So here is mine!

Thanks to all those who offered advice to my previous threads.

Best wishes everyone :)

Yay :loveshower: congratulations that is awesome news

Enjoy your newborn snuggles

thank you so much for sharing your journey! No doubt it will help many other people searching the forum for similar advice and experiences!

And congratulations on your newest family member!!

Congratulations xx And that you very much for sharing with us.

Congratulations on your little girl and so glad and happy to hear it all went well. I was coming on here to post a question about breech birth too and when I read your post it was almost as if I could have written that myself. I'm 33 weeks tomorrow and have been told since 28 weeks that my bub (2nd baby) is frank breech. I too have been stressed and worried about him not turning and have also tried a couple of things to get him to turn but no luck yet. I see 3 OB's during my antenatal appointments and all of them have said not to stress as they are sure he will turn. I'm also looking into my options for if he doesn't turn and not sure whether they will allow me to try giving birth to him breech as I was told last appointment that I am measuring 3 weeks ahead (but it could just be the way he is sitting). I will have a growth scan at 37 weeks.

Thanks for sharing and for the information. It kind of gives a bit of comfort knowing I'm not the only one out there with a breech bub.

xoxo


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