Birthing my daughter was, without a doubt, the most powerful experience of my life – my personal celebration of the female body’s strength. It’s incredibly empowering to trust your body’s ability, even when sadly the system may not always have this approach. The challenge with breech birth isn’t our bodies– it’s the lack of education and deskilling of medical professionals.
Our little one had been breech since at least 20 weeks, any attempts to turn her were unsuccessful, including two ECVs. She was perfectly content in that position. Knowing her personality now, it makes total sense 😆
I was fortunate to have a supportive team who understood my determination to try for a vaginal breech birth. To calm nerves within my birth space I agreed to some requests – hospital instead of home and constant monitoring, as long as I could remain mobile.
Despite missing out on a home birth again, being in hospital exceeded my expectations. Each of my birth wishes was respected – midwife-led care, hands-off approach, uninterrupted skin-to-skin, optimal cord clamping and a physiological third stage. The entire experience was INTENSE, raw and surreal. Unlike my son’s birth everything happened early and fast. Baby girl was just over 38 weeks and birthed in about 3 hours, it was an unexpected 0-100 experience.
My waters broke at approximately 2:30am, contractions about 20 mins later and involuntary pushing began before we even got in the car! We arrived at the hospital around 3:30am, already at full dilation. It took two hours of the hardest work in my life pushing, with some emotional wobbles and incredible support, my daughter was born – bum first, followed by her torso, legs and half her head, then one final push & she was out 🥹 The relief, the accomplishment (and the shock)!!
Recovery was night and day compared to my C-section, being able to move and hold my baby without help! I’d take those perineal stitches over major abdominal surgery any day. I feel privileged to be a woman and to experience growing, birthing and nourishing life. It’s HARD, but it’s magic.