Breech Baby

Ok, i know i have been told it is a little to early to be getting worried about this... But i am... so i want to get as much information as possible... So some questions for my very wonderful smart gorgeous BB friends...

Princess beany is breech atm, always has been (have only ever got kicks down below) and the US tech and midwifes have all said shes breeched, but not to worry as she has room to move...

So when do they turn?
What are some things i can do to make sure she turns?

My midwife scared me yesterday by telling me the truth... If Beany doent turn they will do a csection, but she also said they wont start to think about it until my next appoint 28weeks, and won't start worrying until late 30wks.

Why can't i just have a breech birth?
What are the risk involved?

Thanks all...

Cass - that is an absolute load!!

They can't tell you that. Daniel was breech until about week 35 and then he turned and was born.

They have enough room in there at the moment to do somersaults or invite a friend over for the day. There is just no way they could tell you at this point whether the baby is going to be breech. I wouldn't worry about that.

Worrying about having a breech birth is slightly premature - I'm not saying it won't happen, but I wouldn't even go there yet. That's just plain weird.

Are midwifes and Drs aware of what they're saying sometimes? They can really frighten the living garbage out of us sometimes!!

Cassie, don't worry about it. Bubs has heaps of room to flip around etc all the time. You can do your sitting/standing exercises to encourage bubs to turn around, but seriously at this stage there is no need for any alarm at all. My friend's bub just recently was breech until around 35ish wks from memory. Some babies actually turn just before labour or at the onset of labour too.

Also, re: c/s for breech... HOGWASH!! There are plenty of ladies here who have had vag births of breech babies. They can't MAKE you have surgery as you have to sign to consent anyway. Arm yourself with all the info you can and stick it to them honey.

Hi Cassie
Chloe was breech from about 26 weeks on, and never turned but we found out the reasons for that later (she had club feet and low muscle tone). We tried absolutely everything but stopped short of manual turning. Some of the things suggested to me by midwives and Drs were:
1. playing music to the baby down low to encourage it to turn its head downwards
2. lying on my back with shoulders on the floor and bum up in the air supported by 3 or 4 cushions (extremely uncomfortable if you have back pain)
3. putting cold things on the outside of my tummy where here head was to make her move away from the cold (it was summer at the time so I didn't mind)
4. (And perhaps the weirdest) Shine a light at/in your vagina to encourage the baby to move towards it!!! (Sounds like ghost-whisperer!) I never tried that one, but a Dr told me that!!!
As I said, none of these things worked for us but in reality they were never going to. I went to an acupuncturist who burned a candle near my toe, which did make her turn 1/4 way at 36 weeks, and then she turned back a few days later (breaking my waters along the way and causing labour and an emergency C-section!).

I would recommend the acupuncture though, (but find one that can do things without needles like our guy did). It was the only thing that actually caused her to try and turn on her own. That being said, you can just wait and see. The chances are very high that bub will turn on its own when its ready. We did all of this stuff because it was getting late in the pg and I desperately wanted a natural birth. The day after Chloe arrived I was due at the hospital for a checkup and they were going to book me in for a c/s then if she hadn't turned. Also, the c/s wasn't the end of the world for me, she came out eventually and was happy and healthy. If you have to have one don't stress too much. It took me a while to come to terms with but I'm fine with it now.

Gee it's a bit early. Bubbas turn all the time. Ashton was breach then not then breach then not.

There is no reason why you have to have a cs anyways. You can simply say no. You can birth breach babies vaginally. Plenty of people have.

I shall clarify - My MW was NOT worried that bubs was lying in a breech position she said she has heaps of time to move... And won't start to get worried until late 30's mark...

I just wanted to know the what ifs and was quite shocked when i got told it would be a csection no questions asked etcetc... Thats why i came to you girls for help!

Thank you Rosy for all those techniques...

And thank you for the rest of your replies...

Why is it tho that something like 90% (from what i was reading on net) of breech babies end in c section not vaginal birth? What is so wrong with vaginal birth?

My DD was breech. She was bum down the whole pregnancy, I am not kidding, she was that way at the 12 week scan and everytime we looked there after.
Sorry but there was no way I was going to try and give birth naturally that way :o given the risks and a health issue of my own, I decided the best way to get my bubba out healthy was c/s but then that is only my personal take on it. Many women do birth breech babies naturally.

:bellyrubs:

I know that for all but two NSW hospitals breech babes are born via c/s. It is another fear-factor thing. The two hospitals that will allow vaginal breech births are for frank breech only (i.e. bum first), footling breech births are still c/s'ed I believe. I don't know what the situation is in QLD, but perhaps you can do some research - there may well be an OB who is supportive of your desire to birth your baby vaginally if s/he is breech and that might be the way to go. (You also may well have more luck in finding support because this baby isn't your first.)
I think it is probably just one of those hospital policies that can't be explained adequately (aside from fear of litigation).
Of course having said all that, as you know, there is still plenty of time for bubby to turn yet. Have a look at the spinning babies website - it should give you some handy tips.

you can do it vaginaly the riskd are no greater then normal.. it just requires your care providers to be hands off...
i will be back with more shortly

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...-bit-long.html
this one has photos
http://www.homebirth.net.au/2008/03/...of-normal.html

you dont need a c section, its your choice! also only 3 percent of babes stay breeched after 35 weeks, so dont stress, also you can do it vaginally, when you get further along they will assess whether the little ones legs are first or bum and go from there, most bum first bubs are fine to birth vaginally.

What is the issue if the feet are first? (i don't know much about breech)

Ta

Kate, I think the reason is that the bum and head are similar in size, so they both work well to dilate the cervix fully. If bubs comes foot-first (or very very rarely knees first) there's a risk of cord prolapse and also that when the head comes the cervix hasn't dilated fully so the head can get stuck.
The risk of cord prolapse in a frank breech baby (not fully sure of statistics or where I read this, so take it with a grain of salt!) is comparable to a cephalic baby, I believe.
Frank breech is the most common presentation if a baby's still breech at term.

Spinning babies is a good website to check out and as one other person said accupuncture is great also. Moxibustion sticks can be used an certain points on the feet (they dont touch your feet - just close by) and warmth onthe points activates the uterus, and gets the baby moving, thne you can get into certain positon to encourage the baby to turn. Moxibustion has shown nuerous time to be more effective (and certainly safer) than OB trying to manually turn the baby.

RE c/s - not as many OBs are willing (or very experienced) at vaginal breech birth, so if it is something you want you need to do your research and get an OB who is experienced. Yes you can refuse to have surgery, do you necessarily want to have a v. breech with inexperienced staff attending?

The only hospital I know that do enough of them for me to be comfortable with is in NSW.

I wouldn't be worried at this stage. They are often still breech at 32-34weeks and I have even heard of them turning at the onset of labour. We have had women booked for C/S and then presented for the surgery on the day and bub has being head down. Obviously this is not very common but it can happen that they turn at the last minute. They usally don't book you in for a C/S for breech till 36-37weeks. Hope your princess turns for you.

I know how you feel. Baby was breech @28wks. I know it has room to move cause it was head down a few days earlier.

My ob won't do a breech vaginal birth and i wouldn't try argue with him about it personally. That's the way he is, slightly catious. I respect that he is catious about breech as i am pretty sure that he had an unexpected death during one. Which was also a work college's baby so it hit him pretty hard.

I think there is more risk of cord wrapping etc during birth if it's breech.

While i am not really worried yet and he won't be till 34wks. The only thing is i went into labour at 35wks with my first so i am kinda expecting an earlier than due date baby. I am also short so i am worried about room if it doesn't move soon. With my first preg it was bwt 30-35wks that the baby grew the most and she was also 1/5 engaged from 28wks. I was expecting an nice normal size baby 7pds or so from my 30wk scan. I got that 7pd baby at 35wks not 40wks! I always thought she simply ran out of room/my body knew that baby was at max for a vag delivery. (no gd or anything either)

My appts have been bumped up to 2wkly slightly ahead of schedule so i can have extra scan at 32wks to see where baby is. It's still breech atm though.

Thank you everyone :)

the reason the numbers are so high is because of the crap they tell you. like you have said you got told straight away that it would end in c/s if it was the case. If more mothers knew they could have a normal birth the numbers would lower.

Cassie - I'm in nearly the same situation and was about to post similar questions. The only difference is my DD was breech. I was booked for a c/s at 38wks but she decided she wanted to come at 37 wks. My OB won't deliver breech vaginally and I'm not about to argue with that. I will be trying things from now on to try and turn the baby, even though I know there is still time to turn but given the first was breech I really want this one to turn.