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Hannah’s story – a midwife-supported hospital breech birth

Our baby girl was born on Saturday at the hospital in Truro, Cornwall. She is perfect! We had an incredible VBB, assisted by a lovely midwife. If anyone out there is feeling overwhelmed and unsure about their breechling please know that VBB can be so special.

Briefly, our little one flipped at 37w2 much to my surprise as my first was born vaginally head down so I hadn’t even really thought about breech at all. We went to the hospital to confirm and they immediately jumped to elective section and throwing quite a lot of data at me. It was overwhelming and I felt as thought something was “wrong” with me. I felt pressured to try an ECV but I went home first and did a loooooot of research. The internet is amazing. I decided to try the ECV. It was unsuccessful and now we know that the cord was wrapped around my baby’s head twice so I think that was what stopped her from turning. I doubt I would do an ECV again. I found it to be a very emotional experience.

So I moved on and decided to embrace my breechling as I was now 38w. I didn’t try moxibustion or anything else apart from continuing on with my daily yoga practice (which I did all along anyway). I let go of my homebirth plan because I couldn’t find anyone in my area to support me. I contacted the head of midwifery at the hospital and sent her my VBB plan and request for second birth partner (my doula) which was granted. I also spoke with Kemi Johnson who was just absolutely so supportive and reaffirmed my faith in myself. I filled my mind with positive VBB podcasts and stories and websites and videos. I also wrote an emergency C section plan and spent a little bit of time thinking on that.

My waters broke on Friday night/Saturday morning at 1:30am. The waters were red with quite a lot blood which is a bit scary. I was told to come straight in, the midwife on the phone was so excited when she heard I was planning on a VBB. Hospital was over an hour drive away and when we arrived I was still losing quite a lot of blood. I allowed the doctor to do a VE. I was 3cm. They asked if I wanted to do a section because they didn’t know where the blood was coming from. I declined and asked to wait a little longer as I felt fine and baby was happy. Surges had begun inconsistently. They agreed I could wait but they asked to put a canula in my hand so they had quick access to a vein should the bleeding get worse very quickly. That was scary and also very uncomfortable. But I felt it was a fair compromise.

My labour took a few hours to establish because I kept getting interrupted by various doctors giving me their unwanted opinions about my decision for a VBB. But the bleeding had stopped and waters were coming through clear now so my worry decreased. I got really annoyed with two male doctors pressuring me to talk about my c section plan should labour fail to establish within their timeframe since waters had broken. I just ignored them. When they left I asked my doula and partner to go and speak to our midwife.

They told her no more people in the room. Only her. No one else. They gave me my safe space back.

After that my surges came properly, soon they were just 2-3mins apart and lasting at least a minute each wave. I used my hypnobirthing and essential oils (lavender, frankincense and clary sage). My doula supported my back beautifully with a pressure point. My partner was amazing, reassuring and loving and supportive.

After an hour the midwife came to check in and she noticed that things had ramped up a lot. She asked to do another VE. I agreed but asked that she didn’t tell me my dilation, she was a bit surprised but agreed. Afterwards she told me I was 9cm. But after the check she just said we were going to get ready to meet baby soon. She began to get the room ready and spoke to me about staying standing and trusting my body to guide me into whatever position I needed to be in. I was on my yoga mat, kneeling and leaning into my partner. I began to shake and I knew I was in transition. All I could think was “the only way to my baby is through each wave”.

My midwife gently guided me in trusting my body and reassured me she would be hands off unless absolutely necessary and would talk to me the whole time. She told me not to push until there was just no way I couldn’t. She told me to breathe and take my time through each contraction.

Pushing began and lasted just 11 minutes, midwife called in second midwife to be present. This part was hard. Her one foot came out first, then her bum with her other leg. She was hanging beneath me, the midwife said I could reach down and then I felt her! We discovered we were having another baby girl! I cried! Then the midwife could see her arms were caught over her head. She asked me if she could assist baby because she was a little stuck. I agreed, it was very intense but I see in the video how gentle she was releasing the arms. After the arms were out I could feel the hardness of her head, it was soooooo hard after the squishy body! Midwife said to wait for the next surge and when it came to give everything. I did and she was out! Midwife told me to stand still as she unwinded the cord from around baby’s neck after which came her first cry as she was passed straight to me.

We did it! Euphoria.

The placenta took about an hour but we enjoyed golden hour and baby girl was just perfect, so alert and content. She scored 8/10 on the Apgar at birth and 10/10 after was few minutes. She began rooting and immediately latched on and started asking my body to feed her.

Later I was told that there were doctors and a neonatal specialist outside the door. But the midwife told them she would press the button if she needed help and otherwise to stay outside. She was absolutely incredible. I feel so lucky to have had her assist us in this birth.

Our baby girl was born at 12:54pm and weighed 3.4kg and we were discharged a couple of hours later. No stitches for me this time around.

I know it’s a bit of a long story but I also know there are others out there looking to stock up on positive VBB stories so this is for you. Our bodies are amazing and however we birth our babies, head down, head up, through a section, we are all incredible for what we go through.

Sending love to you wherever you are on your journey.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: diagnosed, foot-first, hospital, midwife, photos, planned, upright, vaginal

Isobel’s story – a planned midwife-led breech birth

I just wanted to share my positive breech vaginal birth story. I spent many hours in the weeks leading up to the birth searching for such stories, so hopefully mine will bring some comfort to those who are in a similar situation.

We found our little boy (second baby) to be breech from about 28 weeks following regular growth scans. I had an unsuccessful and rather distressing ECV at 38 weeks and was then given the option by our hospital of a planned C-section on our due date, or to attempt a vaginal delivery. I was desperate for a natural birth so I was lucky that our local hospital supports this option and we were told we would be assigned a senior midwife on arrival if I went into spontaneous labour.

Fast forward to 5/7/21 at 39+3 I started having regular contractions so we made our way in to the hospital. I was put on continuous monitoring as per protocol but was allowed to move around.

4 hours later I noticed the telltale signs of transition and began to push. I was allowed to be on all fours which was my preference. I heard some commotion of more people entering the room but we were made aware of the need for a doctor, NICU nurse and additional midwife to be present for the birth due to the potential for myself or baby needing some additional help.

The whole birth was hands off, with the midwife just talking me through what was happening which I found a huge help and a great motivation.

His body delivered in 2 contractions, these then died off and I was instructed to push his head out without the aid of contractions as there is a time limit on how long they will let the head go undelivered. This was actually not as difficult as I had anticipated and I got away with not even a graze.

Our little boy was born unresponsive, and needed immediate cord clamping, CPAP and vigorous stimulation at the beginning but quickly came round with no ill effects. Having the NICU team present was actually a real comfort and at no point did I feel anxious, I knew he was in safe hands and having done plenty of reading in the run up to birth I knew that this was quite normal for breech babies.

Apart from having some spectacular ‘frogs legs’ he is doing really well and my recovery has been far easier than my first vaginal cephalic birth.

I hope that this helps even one person in a similar situation who may be undecided about what sort of birth to go for. I knew I wanted to avoid surgery and felt that on balance trying for a vaginal birth was the right thing to do for me.

At the end of the day, you must go with your gut feeling – you will make the right decision for you!

Filed Under: Birth Stories Tagged With: diagnosed, ECV, hospital, midwife, planned, vaginal

Freya’s story: Two breech babies, both born naturally

First breech birth – Abigail

Born at the Oxford JR Hospital, 15 June 2017, 8:43pm, 7lbs

We found out at the 36-week scan that our daughter was breech. Having limited knowledge of breech babies at the time, I assumed this would rule out a natural delivery. I was booked in for an ECV (external cephalic version) for the following week. (This is an attempt to manually turn the baby back to a head-down, or cephalic, position through manipulation and pressure on the bump.)

In the days between the scan and the scheduled ECV, I began practising some of the techniques from the Spinning Babies website to encourage the baby to turn – crossing my fingers that something would work and the ECV wouldn’t be necessary. I also went to see an acupuncturist, who specialised in moxibustion, a technique of heating acupressure points, involving holding a burning mugwort stick next to your little toe for ten minutes at a time over several days. While these various techniques have undoubtedly been successful for other people, none of them worked for me, as the scan prior to the ECV confirmed: she was still in an extended, or frank, breech position.

The ECV appointment was my first experience with the Oxford JR breech team, and from this point right through to the end of my birthing experience they were absolutely amazing in their approach, treatment, care and expertise. They told me that they would make a maximum of two attempts during the session: the first with no other assistance, and the second, if it was needed, with an injected muscle relaxant that could help things along. As it was, both attempts were unsuccessful and Anita, the breech team’s lead midwife, said we should stop there; that there must be a reason the baby was stubbornly staying breech. We would not try again the following week. The procedure itself was uncomfortable and not particularly pleasant; however, it was all over relatively quickly, and I didn’t feel any residual pain or discomfort afterwards.

I spoke to the team for some time following the procedure – they took the time to explain things fully and answer all my many questions! My options now would be either to book an elective C section (usually at around 39 weeks) or to aim for a vaginal breech birth. I already knew the latter option was what I wanted to try for. The possibility of needing an unplanned C section during labour was higher than if she was head down – but, as I had been discovering ever since that 36-week scan, the main reason breech births had been considered so “problematic” is that hospital staff in many areas simply didn’t have the experience of dealing with them. Since the early 2000s, when a flawed report (the Term Breech Trial) sparked off the stigmatisation of breech birth, the number of hospitals able, or willing, to deal with natural breech births had fallen dramatically. Most people, when learning my baby was breech, automatically assumed I’d be booked in for a C section.

Following my ECV, and after a couple more days of doing moxibustion and Spinning Babies techniques, I decided to embrace the breech, and spend the rest of my pregnancy focusing on relaxing, breathing and doing hypnobirthing techniques (I listened to Maggie Howell’s Hypnobirthing Relaxation tracks), and generally looking forward and being positive. I’m so glad I took this approach, rather than desperately hoping that she would turn right up until the birth. 

I went into labour on 15 June 2017, when I was at 39+1. I felt the first twinges not long after lunch, which initially felt like period pains. At first I thought it might be Braxton Hicks, not having felt them up until then, but they got stronger and it soon became apparent that something more significant was happening. Things progressed quite rapidly after that. My waters broke on the bathroom floor and contained meconium – which is very normal for a breech birth, given the position the baby is in! Even so, the MAU told my husband on the phone that we should come in straight away. He managed to get the TENS machine on me (the only pain relief – or, really, pain distraction – that I used) and we drove the 20 minutes from our house to the JR. I was now fully contracting, and it wasn’t the most pleasant journey, but the TENS vibrations and me making a lot of noise definitely helped! We arrived at around 6:30pm. Once at the MAU, I was assessed fairly quickly, and then taken through to the breech team in the delivery suite. It was a lovely room with dimmed lighting and floral patterns on the wall, helping create a calm and soothing atmosphere. Once in there, I was given space to let things happen. 

I didn’t have an internal examination at all throughout the entire labour; it wasn’t necessary. The breech team’s approach was the preferable “hands off the breech”, and that’s exactly what they did – simply talking me through the breathing and pushing when appropriate. They needed to attach a heart-rate monitor to my tummy, which was quite difficult as I couldn’t lie back at all, it was far too uncomfortable. But very soon after that, they could see the baby coming. I instinctively started pushing and the birth started happening. The only assistance Michaela, the midwife, needed to give was to ease the baby’s arm down once her bottom, legs and other arm were out. Her head was still to come, but then my contractions stopped, so I had to push without a contraction – this was more difficult, but I managed, and all was fine in the end. And then, at 8:43pm, just over two hours after we arrived, our baby, Abigail, was born weighing just under 7lbs.

I found the labour and birth to be a positive experience – the whole thing was relatively quick, so I wasn’t in painful labour for hours, and only pushed for a few minutes. It was extremely intense but not unmanageable. My recovery post-birth was relatively rapid too. I felt that if we ever were lucky enough to have another baby, I would be OK with him or her being breech too, given my first breech experience. 

Second breech birth – Camille

Born at home (born before arrival), 11 October 2020, c.2:50am, 8lbs 6oz

Having joked about the likelihood of this baby also being breech, I was still a little shocked when I found out this was indeed the case at the 36-week scan. She appeared to be in exactly the same position as our first daughter had been: frank (extended) breech, with her back to the right. I knew already that this was an optimum position for birthing as far as breech went, and due to my previous positive breech experience, didn’t feel the same anxiety as the first time. 

After discussion with Anita from the Oxford JR breech team, I ended up opting for an ECV this time as well, as the absolute ideal position (with the minimum risk) to birth a baby is head down, and I knew I’d be constantly wondering if she could have turned if I hadn’t tried it. I had the ECV towards the end of the following week, at 38 weeks. I knew there was more likelihood of it being successful as it was my second pregnancy. However, this one also failed; the baby, just like her big sister, was completely sure she wanted to stay bottom down! 

We booked ahead an appointment for 40+4 to discuss options if the baby hadn’t come by then (they don’t like to let breech babies go too far over the due date, generally ten days maximum, rather than two weeks plus for head down babies – and breech babies aren’t induced; if labour doesn’t start naturally, it will most likely lead to a C section). As my first baby came at 39+1, I kind of assumed this one would come at a similar time, or maybe even earlier as it was my second baby. However, 39 weeks, and then 40 weeks, came and went, and I became very keen for her to make an appearance, as I really wanted a natural delivery again. The Saturday night following the Thursday due date, I couldn’t sleep (again!) and eventually went downstairs around 1:30am (so, now Sunday, 11 October). I’d been feeling low-down pressure in my abdomen, which was getting more pronounced, and found I was unable to sit comfortably on my birth ball, and after a bit longer, was unable to walk to the kitchen (I really wanted a cup of tea!). It took a little time for my brain to catch up with what was happening: I crawled back to the lounge where my waters broke. It was then that I called to Gareth, my husband, and he came rushing downstairs. I managed to make it to the downstairs bathroom to go to the toilet, then got a very strong, continuous contraction, followed minutes later by an uncontrollable urge to push, so I just went with it. We realised that the baby was coming – right now! She started emerging, and Gareth raced to get his phone to call 999 and grab towels (I was insistent that we needed them!). As he came back, the baby was born into my arms. It only took about three or four pushes; an incredibly quick birth! The 999 operative talked us through the checks to do on the baby; thankfully she was fine and was responding well. A short while later, the ambulance arrived and transferred me and our baby, Camille, to the JR hospital, while Gareth followed in the car (once he’d cleaned up the downstairs bathroom!).

Camille passed all her checks and observations at the hospital with flying colours, and we were back home at lunchtime that day. Her weight was 8lb 6oz (3.8kg). I was really pleased to have had another successful breech delivery; even though this one was much speedier than I’d expected, it was still a positive experience. Our first daughter, Abigail, who is now three, was fascinated to learn that her baby sister was born the same way up that she was – our two special breech babies!

Filed Under: Birth Stories, Featured Tagged With: diagnosed, ECV, home, hospital, midwife, moxibustion, positional exercises, vaginal

Helena’s story: breech birth in a Birth Centre

I gave birth to my daughter in December 2020 and I just want to share what an amazing experience I had at the Royal Oldham Hospital Birth Centre.

When I found out that my baby was breech I was extremely worried. The last thing I wanted was to have a section. I had a straightforward, head down water birth with my first baby and I was obviously hoping for the same experience again. The thought of having a section filled me with dread and worry.

When baby failed to turn, I had an ECV at 37 weeks, which was unsuccessful. The consultant who carried out the procedure then informed me straight away, in no uncertain terms, that the only other safe option would be to have a section. The midwife present quickly stepped in and informed me there were other options that could be considered. She then very kindly put me in touch with a specialist breech midwife, Amy Meadowcroft, who luckily worked at the hospital. She was amazing to say the least. She explained to me that a section was not my only option and that I could give birth naturally to my breech baby. As we were both low risk, the risks to my baby from being born breech were incredibly low, the same as a straight forward head down birth. So I decided that this was what I wanted to do. With the constant support of Amy, we made a plan for me to birth naturally at the hospital birth centre.

Baby decided to arrive 8 days before my due date and the labour and birth could not have gone better. I gave birth to my baby girl naturally, bum first, and everything went perfectly. The support I received from Amy and all the staff at the birth centre was just amazing and I couldn’t have done it without them all. So for that I will be eternally grateful.

I just wanted to share my experience with any ladies out there, that may be in the same position as I was, and are worrying about what to do. If it wasn’t for the midwife stepping in, after my ECV, I would have been none the wiser about my options, to an extent, and I would not have been put in contact with my midwife Amy. I just want to say to any ladies in the same position as I was, please ask if there is an experienced breech birth midwife at the hospital or if they know of any at other local hospitals. If you want to go down the vaginal birth route then it is worth fighting for. I am so glad that I did.

Filed Under: Birth Stories, Featured Tagged With: birth centre, diagnosed, ECV, midwife, vaginal

Zoe’s story : A first baby born breech

I planned a home birth but found out at 40 weeks that my baby was in extended breech.

I felt scared into a caesarean after a failed painful ECV but went away from the hospital and had a think and spoke to midwives and my friend who’s a midwife and decided on a natural breech birth.

The hospital had little to no experience with breech births so I think the doctors discouraged me but always remember it is your choice. The midwives were fantastic and very supportive and excited!

I went into labour 40+5 at 3:30AM and delivered at 11:24AM with no issues.

Now I have had no problems throughout my pregnancy which was my first and he came out 7lbs 1oz. A natural pregnancy can be achieved even with breech ?

Filed Under: Birth Stories Tagged With: diagnosed, ECV, hospital, midwife, vaginal

Arlo’s story : a footling breech freebirth

By Tess Bell

Here’s my story about Arlo Herbie Bell 6lb 6oz born feet first at home on 29th November 2019 at 4.08am.

A bit of history about me – I have the biggest hospital and needle phobia ever. As a child I spent 2 years in and out of Ipswich hospital, I was 4 at the time and had a cyst on my throat, it ended in 5 operations (because the hospital never removed it properly the first 4 times) and 2 years of my life in and out of the hospital and the doctors.
I was pinned down and forced to have all my hospital treatment, I used to beg and sob for them not to hurt me again but they still did, I had no trust in these people that forced horrible things onto me or my parents who allowed it to happen and pinned me down too, I felt so alone and lost, why were all these hospital staff and my mum forcing me through this hell? I fought with all my might with every needle, anaesthetic, plaster, ‘magic cream’, everything they were doing to me was a fight, a fight I never won! What are they trying to do to me? Kill me? No one explained what was happening or why, I just knew when we turned up at this horrible place everyone forced horrible things onto me and I didn’t understand why! I felt so helpless and afraid! It was torture and it has stayed with me forever, it’s something I’ve had to live with all my life, this horrible demon that follows me round and lives with me. Due to this I refuse all needles and refuse any kind of treatment I’m not happy with, the control was taken away from me as a child so I have to be in control with any medical situation now and I’m against any medical intervention if it can be avoided!
I tried to have therapy a few years ago but the memories and phobia were so bad that the therapist ended up giving up as she was getting nowhere with me.
I was diagnosed with a unicornuate urterus and 1 kidney during an ultrasound scan for a misscarriage, I’d had 1 successful vaginal delivery but I kept miscarrying when trying for our 2nd baby. I knew my urterus was efficient – it always miscarried early and fully without needing any medical intervention and the miscarriage was because the baby hadn’t stuck properly or in the right place. I’ve had 6 miscarriages in total.
We had our second baby, I went through the pregnancy refusing bloods as I had first time but because they knew about my uterus this time I was sent for lots of growth scans, everytime I saw the consultant they discussed why I’d refused bloods which bought my bad memories flooding back and ended in sobs of tears, at 37 weeks they said they will be inducing me as the baby is too small. I knew my baby was fine and I trusted my instincts so I refused induction and they were awful about it and had me sobbing yet again as they told me to come back next week and explained they would be persuading me to be induced and my home birth couldn’t happen, so I cancelled my appointments and never went back, I had the baby at 40+5 by myself at home in the bath with a quick, painless beautiful labour and he was 6lb 6oz and perfectly healthy.
Baby number 3 was a surprise, the pregnancy was the same with growth scans and constant tears everytime my past was brought up because I had refused bloods, I ended up writing a note on the front of my notes to say I do not wish to discuss bloods please respect my decision for my own mental wellbeing but this was ignored yet again. I had all my scans at Norwich hospital but due to where I lived had to have the Ipswich team for the home birth and after care. Baby was breech at the 32 week ultrasound but 2 midwives had said he was head down at 34 and 35 weeks (must have been thanks to the week of walking I’d done at Disneyland at 33 weeks).
At 36 weeks I was sent to Ipswich hospital to see the homebirth team to book the birth in. I was dreading this, I couldn’t even drive past the place without having awful flash backs of my childhood but I knew I had to face it to get the home birth I wanted. I was asked about my phobia yet again and then asked to go into further detail about it, I said I can but it’ll really upset me but she wanted me to go ahead so I did in floods of tears of course, she then felt my tummy and told me baby is breech so I can’t have a home birth or a vaginal birth, a c section is my biggest fear, putting my trust in their hands wasn’t something I could mentally deal with. I left the appointment crying, I got in the car and called my husband, I was an emotional mess, barely being able to talk through the sobbing, then it hit me, the panic, I had a panic attack, I couldn’t breathe! Hubby stayed on the phone trying to get me to breathe and after 20 minutes I started to calm down enough to drive myself home, I sobbed the entire journey then fell into a heap on my husband when I got home, I said I can’t do this anymore (I had been diagnosed with PTSD a few years previously due to my traumatic childhood experiences and I couldn’t let that dark place consume me again) my husband said ignore them, do what you need to do for you!
I booked a private scan the next day which showed the baby was footling breech, I told the home birth midwife the outcome and she said you can’t deliver a footling breech naturally. I cancelled my next scan to give me time to try turn him, I then spent weeks trying to turn him, moxibustion, pulsatilla, spinning babies, laying upside down on an ironing board, frozen peas on his head, sitting up right but nothing worked.
I put my phone on silent and ignored all the hospital calls, I cancelled all my appointments, I knew I could do this and I knew my body and trusted my instincts. I had to ignore them and concentrate on me for my own sanity, I had started having flash backs from my childhood and couldn’t mentally cope with anymore pressure from the medical staff trying to force things onto me.
From ‪36 – 39‬ weeks I was harassed, I was getting phone calls, voicemails and appointment letters constantly from both hospitals, midwives and my Dr’s surgery. The midwife that caused my panic attack even turned up at my house but I wasn’t in! They even tried making contact through Facebook by a mutual friend who happened to be a midwife! Then I received a signed for letter, it was Ipswich hospital (signed by the same lady that turned up at my house) stating if I vaginally birthed a footling breech my baby would die and if he was transverse we’d both die! I had no support so knew my only way forward was to free birth!
I did all my research online and read lots of positive breech birth stories, the more I researched the more I realised how possible it all was, I was totally prepared.
At 39+6 I went into labour, I kept active spending 30 mins at a time in different positions, laying on my side in bed, in the bath, on my birthing ball, on all fours, walking round the coffee table. After 4 hours I felt it was getting close, I got in the bath on all fours tried pushing but nothing happened, I told hubby that I think I’m ready to push before baby is ready to come so I waited an hour and breathed through my contractions, I stood in the bath and rocked my hips I kept getting the urge to push but nothing happened, I had read that breech babies can make you want to push too soon, I tried to resist the urge as much as I could, I knew when the time came I had to go for it so the head didn’t get stuck, I could feel it getting close but wasn’t 100% sure when the right time to push was as it was so different to the head down experiences. I couldn’t get in a good position so sat on the toilet and did a push, I could feel him coming, I jumped back in the bath and squatted, I felt for the cord in case of a prolapse but I could feel feet so I pushed and shouted hubby. I put my hands down and felt legs, I quickly pushed again whole heartedly and as hard as I could, I knew I wanted the head to follow the body. He flew out and I caught him in the bath and instantly pulled him up out of the water and he cried straight away. It took 2 pushes and about 10 seconds for him to be born, it was the most painful, intense feeling, 10 times worse than the previous two with the pain of him coming out but it was worth it to avoid medical intervention. I sat on a bin bag that was in the toilet and within 2 minutes the placenta fell out, we waited an hour and hubby sterilised a hair band and scissors and cut the cord. I wanted this special moment to be calm, I wanted it to just be us to enjoy, no rushing around and midwives turning up. I showered and got dressed while hubby dressed the baby, I made myself comfortable on the sofa then the children woke up, it was perfect as though this baby had just appeared, they instantly loved him. I text the midwife and told her he was here, she came out that afternoon to weigh him and register the birth, she checked us both over and said we were both perfectly healthy.
It was the best decision I made, I knew what I was capable of and I trusted my instincts, it was very painful and very intense towards the end but it was so worth it to avoid any more mental damage and a c-section.
2 days after birth a different midwife came to do the newborn checks, she was lovely and very old school and in previous years had been an independent midwife, she asked all about the labour and I discussed the whole story with her.
She was over joyed, she said she was so pleased I stood my ground, she said she wished more pregnant women were as assertive as I was and that breech is just a variation of normal. She said years ago she would deliver breech twins without a second thought and nowadays they just get every breech in for a section. She also said every mother has a choice and it makes her cross that they don’t stipulate that, they just say you have to have a section when they should be saying we can offer you a section but it’s your choice! She was so supportive and so pleased that I had ignored them and free birthed, she also said she would be taking the news back to Ipswich and passing it on so it gets back to the midwife that wrote the letter and upset me so much.
My advice is to trust your instincts, you know your body better than anyone, your body was made to carry and birth a child, it is your body, your baby also therefore your choice!

Filed Under: Birth Stories, Featured Tagged With: diagnosed, footling, freebirth, home, planned, unassisted, vaginal

Ada’s Birth: A Hospital Breech Vaginal Delivery

By Lizzie Johnson

Even before I became pregnant, I always knew I wanted to give birth at home. Home births seemed safe and familiar because my mother had me in her own bed thirty-four years ago. Moreover, hospitals had bad associations. Their wipe-down surfaces and windowless rooms reminded me of the months I’d spent being treated for breast cancer a decade earlier. A hospital birth was the last thing I wanted. And yet here I was, under the moonlight, my body bent double by contractions, climbing into the back of a car destined for St George’s hospital in Tooting. How had I got here?

The news that my baby was breech was delivered without much fanfare during a routine (but late) ultrasound at University College London Hospital (UCLH) in week 34 of my first pregnancy. At the time the sonographer was more concerned about a suspected and potentially dangerous complication to do with my umbilical cord, making my baby’s breech presentation seem almost incidental. Even after the doctors established that my umbilical cord was fine, I wasn’t concerned about my baby being breech. I had been breech until late in my mother’s pregnancy. She persuaded me to turn using moxibustion; a practice used in traditional Chinese medicine where dried mugwort is burned next to particular acupressure points. Plenty of time to turn, I thought. And there was always moxibustion to fall back on if my baby didn’t make its own way into a head down position.

Up until that ultrasound, my pregnancy had progressed without any real difficulties. It was deemed low risk and I hired a private midwife to help me give birth at home. I also registered with UCLH to have my antenatal scans and ensure that I could easily transfer into hospital if needed. My midwife seemed relaxed about the breech presentation, but suggested moxibustion and swimming to encourage the baby to turn. Each night before bed I ground up fresh ginger and put it into a plaster that I taped to the outside edge of my little toe. I got to grips with the exercises designed to encourage optimal foetal positioning on the Spinning Babies website, and could often be found lying on an ironing board propped against the seat of my sofa with my feet elevated in the air. Friends and acquaintances made suggestion after suggestion about how to turn breech babies. It seemed that everyone had a theory and a tale of a baby turned at the last minute. I was happy to give anything a go, no matter how peculiar, so long as it might prompt my baby to turn and keep my home birth on track.

Three weeks passed and despite my efforts the person growing inside me remained stubbornly bottom down. My midwife advised me against a homebirth if my baby stayed breech, and made an appointment for me to have an external cephalic version (ECV) at UCLH to try to turn the baby around. I knew the procedure came with risks, but on balance I thought they were worth taking if it meant I could potentially avoid a medicalised hospital birth. The talk of caesareans only began after two doctors failed to push the contents of my swollen belly into a more typical position. Responding to what they referred to as my baby’s “malpresentation”, the team at UCLH strongly encouraged me to opt for a planned caesarean section, arguing that a vaginal birth represented an increased risk to my baby. They could support a vaginal breech birth, and did agree to respect my wishes if I made this decision, however it was made clear that it would likely be a highly medicalised affair. I would have to give birth on the labour ward (the midwifery-led unit was not an option) and the delivery would likely involve obstetric interventions including lithotomy, and potentially forceps and episiotomy. An emergency caesarean might still be necessary if my labour wasn’t making sufficient progress, and I would have to agree to a caesarean if I had not gone into spontaneous labour by 40 weeks. Whether they intended it or not, I left UCLH with the feeling that I would be regarded as reckless were I to choose anything other than an ‘elective’ caesarean.

The problem, I later learned, was a scientific report published almost twenty years ago known as the Term Breech Trial (1). It concluded that an elective caesarean section presented a significantly safer mode of delivery for mothers and babies than planned vaginal breech births. Following the publication of the report vaginal breech births became a rarity in developed countries and a whole generation of doctors and midwives went through their professional careers with almost no clinical experience of this type of delivery. As I read more and more online articles, clinical guidelines and blogs about breech presentation, I discovered that they were rare, affecting only 3-4% of pregnancies at term, but not abnormal. I also learned that since its publication in 2000 the Term Breech Trial had been widely criticised and aspects of its findings found to be flawed (2). Vaginal breech births could be as safe as vaginal cephalic births so long as the supporting doctors and midwives were trained and experienced in this mode of delivery (3). This is the catch 22 situation familiar to all pregnant British women who discover their babies are breech. Vaginal breech deliveries are safe with experienced staff, yet the Term Breech Trial had all but eliminated that clinical experience.

The day after the ECV my tender stomach muscles needled my conscience about going through with the previous day’s potentially harmful procedure. Weary with guilt, I tried to make sense of my new situation. A caesarean represented a major surgery; a prospect coloured by my previous treatment for breast cancer. I was terrified of what I perceived as the loss of physical sovereignty that my past surgeries had entailed. Following my mastectomy, the slow dissolution of my surgical stitches had counted out the postoperative days, turned into weeks, in which my body was bruised and swollen. I knew all too well how flimsy the promise, “You’ll be up and about in no time”. Despite their obvious differences, I struggled to separate the idea of a caesarean from my mastectomy. Having a caesarean was the most sensible decision given the lack of vaginal breech experience at UCLH, but it also meant letting go of the idea that my birth could be an opportunity to heal; to regain trust in my body and its physiological processes.

The fragile belief that there was still time for my baby to turn was my only shield from my fear of a hospital birth. Foetal positioning exercises took up hours of my time each day. I listened to hypnobirthing audio tracks designed to encourage breech babies to move into a cephalic position. Instead of resting, I took almost daily trips across London, spending hundreds of pounds seeking help from chiropractors, osteopaths and acupuncturists.

Two weeks before my due date I had the good fortune to meet midwife turned acupuncturist Meredith Churchill. Meredith placed her needles in my skin with care. She suggested that my baby had been given every opportunity to turn and perhaps there was a good reason for it staying with its bottom lodged in my pelvis. If I wasn’t sure about the caesarean, she proposed, perhaps I should research whether there were any other London hospitals with staff experienced in breech vaginal deliveries. That way, if there was nowhere supportive of a vaginal breech birth, I might find it easier to accept the caesarean and focus on making the experience as meaningful as possible to me. Her suggestions recognised how important it is for women to feel that they have agency in the way they give birth. Referring to the psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott’s theory of the ‘good enough’ mother, Meredith sensitively suggested that my experience of birth did not have to be perfect: it only had to be good enough. Buoyed by these words, I began to let go of the perfect home birth I had envisioned and wonder what my ‘good enough’ birth could look like.

After a few hours of searching online, I sent emails to mothers and midwives interested in physiological breech birth asking if they knew of any London hospitals experienced in this area. One of the people kind enough to respond was Dr Shawn Walker, Midwifery Lecturer at King’s College London, who directed me to the breech clinic run by Emma Spillane, Lead Midwife for the Carmen Birth Centre, at St George’s hospital, Tooting. On contacting Emma, I discovered that over the past few years the team at St George’s had been building confidence and clinical experience in physiological breech birth. In the thirty-ninth week of my pregnancy, my boyfriend and I met Emma, looked around the hospital and booked in with St George’s. St George’s had strict guidelines designed to minimise the risk to mothers and babies. I had to give birth on the labour ward, rather than in their friendly midwifery-led birth centre. If I had not gone into spontaneous labour before week 42, I could not be induced and a caesarean would be necessary. Finally, if my labour did not progress smoothly, I would have to have an emergency caesarean. Although its policies were broadly similar to those at UCLH, for me the difference between the two hospitals was that the team at St George’s made me feel my wish to attempt a physiological breech birth would be supported and respected. What I was being offered was a chance at a vaginal delivery: there were no guarantees. I knew that I might still end up having a caesarean, but if that happened I could be certain it would be the right decision at that point. After weeks of anguish and confusion I finally felt ready to have my baby.

A day after my due date, I returned home from a long, slow walk in the summer evening. My boyfriend had gone to a work event and I slumped on the sofa, glad to take the weight off my feet. Ten minutes into an episode of the Great British Bake Off, I felt a small rush of water flow between my legs. I jumped to my feet confused and thinking that I might have wet myself. More fluid trickled into my knickers and down my leg. It took me a few seconds to realise what was happening. This was it: my waters had broken. I called my boyfriend to tell him he probably ought to come home. I called my midwife to ask her to come to check on me. I called my mother to share my excitement.

I rushed around the flat, shoving my slippers and phone charger into the hospital bag, wiping down the kitchen surfaces and tidying away clutter. My boyfriend arrived back. We sat on the sofa chatting, giddy with excitement. When the midwife appeared she checked my amniotic fluid, told us all was well, to get some rest and to head to the hospital, where she would meet us, once I was experiencing three contractions in every ten-minute period. My first contraction came as she spoke; a tightening in my uterus like period pain. It was about 9pm and I had no idea how quickly things would progress. I got into bed with my boyfriend and tried to rest, but the tightenings were too distracting. With each tightening I felt the urge to jump out of bed, as though I could run away from the feeling now taking over my body. I repeatedly ran to the toilet, responding to an urge as though I wanted to poo. I’d fail to shit and climb back into bed. After about an hour of this back and forth between bed and toilet, I stopped returning to the bed, preferring to lie on the bathroom floor. The surges of energy consumed my body for short periods at a time. I found myself saying to my boyfriend, “This really hurts,” for some reason surprised by the intensity of the feeling. With each surge I’d jump to my feet as though I could outrun it, and then bend onto all fours moaning. Not once did it occur to me to ask for the TENS machine or the glass of wine I had planned to drink as an analgesia, and had so been looking forward to after nine months sober. The sensations consumed me.

By 11.30pm it was clear to me that if I did not head to the hospital there and then I would refuse to go at all. I had no idea how many contractions I was having over what period of time, but I knew I couldn’t face getting into a car if we left it any longer. The plan had always been to take a taxi, but now in the heat of the moment I had no confidence in my power not to puke, shit or leak amniotic fluid in the back seat of a cab. We decided that my boyfriend would drive us. Armed with a bucket and an incontinence pad, I climbed into the footwell of the backseat.

In the car I fumbled with my headphones, eventually managing to start the playlist I had put together. Focusing on the music between the surges and the speedbumps, I belted out familiar songs all the way from Kilburn to Tooting. The sensations and the music enclosed me so completely that I was shocked when the car stopped and my boyfriend told me we had arrived. The short walk from the carpark to the labour ward was punctuated by several contractions, with pitstops leaning over bike racks and railings, but eventually we made it. I hobbled through the ward’s double doors and immediately got onto all fours in the corridor. Everything in my body told me to stay low to the ground with my bum in the air. A midwife directed us towards a waiting room, but the idea that I could sit on a chair was preposterous. After five minutes on all fours in the corridor, I was moved to “somewhere more appropriate”, which turned out to be a triage room. It took some persuading to get me off the floor and onto the bed to be examined. The routine blood pressure test and internal exam seemed unnecessary to me when I was certain that what I needed was to be taken to my own room and left alone. I only agreed on the grounds that after this there would be no more routine exams. The midwife checked my dilation and went to fetch a more senior colleague who also examined me. I watched them realise what I already knew: my labour was well advanced.

The midwife led us to a small room with no bathroom. I requested that the lights be lowered and the resuscitation equipment pushed to one side. The blankets, fairy lights and pictures that I had so carefully selected to make my hospital room feel more homely remained untouched in my hospital bag. All I wanted was to kneel on the floor, leaning over a couple of pillows, and disappear back into the headphones’ cocoon. I hardly noticed when my private midwife arrived and various hospital staff came and went. Surges of pain ebbed through me with no clear beginning or ending. I found myself chanting as their intensity increased, sometimes Buddhist chants my mother had taught me, sometimes instructions like ‘relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax, relax,’. When the intensity slowed, I would tune into the music playing on my ipod, occasionally giggling at song lyrics. “Nothing’s gonna change my world,” sang John Lennon, as my world was in the process of changing forever. The surges rose up regularly and relentlessly, crashing over my body. There was only one occasion during the labour when I integrated the contraction into my being, instead of trying to escape it. I rode the feeling, rising to meet it with my breath. It was my only glimpse of how labour could be experienced without feeling pain in its usual sense.

The surges continued and I was starting to get tired. I wriggled around on the floor searching for a position where I could rest a little. But as I lay on my side I had the sense that it was a mistake to try to slow the surges’ intensity. It seemed that any momentary relief would merely slow the juggernaut of labour. There was no way out but through.

My midwife suggested I stood and leaned over the bed, swaying my hips from side to side. I managed this until the next surge propelled me to climb onto the bed, where I would stay, on all fours, for the rest of the labour. My birth plan specified that I should not be offered pain relief and I was so overwhelmed by sensation that the idea didn’t enter my mind. What I did do was tell my boyfriend that I didn’t think I could do it. “You’re doing it,” he replied. I gained strength from knowing he was at my side throughout it all; holding my hand, rubbing my shoulders, encouraging me to relax my clenched jaw and making sure I kept drinking water. Seeing that I was flagging, my private midwife waited until the hospital midwife had left the room and encouraged me to eat. (Eating is generally discouraged in hospital because it increases the risk of complications should a labouring woman go on to need a general anaesthetic.) Instead of eating, I slurped a carton of apple juice and felt replenished by the sugar.

Every so often I would surface from the pure sensation of the surges and become aware of the people around me. I turned to my hospital midwife, who had already cared for me for over an hour, and said “Hello”, as if introducing myself for the first time. This represented a rare occasion during labour where my feelings towards her were not warped by circumstance. I hated her when she did her initial internal exams; when she explained that she needed a small lamp light in the room so she could see to write her notes; when she held the Doppler to my belly to check the heartbeat of my baby at ten-minute intervals. I also developed a passionate dislike for the objectively personable man who was the Consultant on duty. Although I was well aware of the risks associated with a vaginal breech delivery, he insisted that I remove my headphones so he could explain again and warn me about the possibility I might need a caesarean. “Just say what you’ve got to say quickly and I’ll consent,” I murmured; prepared to say anything so he’d go away.

The labour drove on and my hips began to feel as though they were about to burst from the pressure. Then, when the baby’s body started lowering into the birth canal the sensation changed completely. Still on my knees, I gripped the metal bed head and emitted a low, fast “Huh!”, like the sound made by someone doing martial arts. I felt prised apart and as though I couldn’t breathe. As the surge subsided I could feel my baby’s body slowly slide back up into my body. “Huh!”: the sensation of my baby’s body moving down again. I felt it slide back inside me. “Huh!”. “Huh!”. “Huh!”. The surges pulsed the baby’s body in and out, until it began to move down and stay down. “Huh!”. Somehow my headphones had been removed. I was kneeling on the bed facing the wall, unaware of the crowd of people gathered behind me. “Huuuhhh!”: I felt my body opening. At this point, my boyfriend would recount later, a tiny bottom emerged from my backside and did a swirling shit of treacle-black meconium. Another surge came and I went with the feeling, experiencing relief as a leg flopped down out of my vagina, then another. A downwards movement forced my body open and out slipped the arms. The baby was now out up to the chin and the surge subsided. “You need to push now,” said the midwife. “But I don’t feel the push feeling,” I replied. The directions issued by my body had got me this far and I was unwilling to listen to advice that ignored my instincts. But the medical team now gathered in the room explained that getting the baby out quickly was now imperative, so I forced myself to push like I was doing a shit.

I felt a tremendous rush of relief as my baby slipped fully from my flesh. I spun around and there on the end of the bed lay a lanky purple doll on its back. The Consultant rushed towards the silent, still baby to cut the cord. My boyfriend tried to stop him, hoping we could still achieve the delayed cord clamping set out in our birth plan. But our baby still hadn’t drawn a breath, and a medical chorus insisted that cutting the cord now was necessary. We consented quickly, the Consultant cut the cord and our baby yelped and opened its eyes. Everyone in the room cried out and sighed with joy. My baby looked so utterly unfamiliar, like a person I had never seen before. A paediatrician I hadn’t noticed until that moment whisked the baby over to the resuscitation equipment to perform some initial checks. “What kind of baby is it?” I asked my boyfriend. “It’s a girl,” he replied. It was 4.20am. I had been in the hospital for barely four hours. My baby weighed 7lbs and 3oz. Five minutes after her birth her Apgar score was 10. I had a small perineal tear, but apart from the stitches that sewed it up I had managed to avoid any intervention. We had made it. She was safe. She was well. So was I. I felt elated.

My daughter was not born at home surrounded by the sights, smells and people now familiar to her, as I had hoped. She was born in a room filled with wipe-down surfaces, strangers and her parents. Her birth was not what I had imagined. But it was good enough.

1) Hannah, M, et al. (2000) ‘Planned caesarean section versus planned vaginal birth for breech presentation at term: a randomised multicentre trial’. The Lancet, vol. 356, issue 9239, pp.1375-1383.

2) Glezerman, M. (2006) ‘Five years to the term breech trial: the rise and fall of a randomized controlled trial.’ American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 194, 1, pp.20-25.

3) Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (2017) Management of Breech Presentation (Greentop Guideline No. 20b).

Filed Under: Birth Stories, Featured Tagged With: diagnosed, doctor, ECV, hospital, midwife, moxibustion, planned

Sarah and Michael’s breech birth story

So after a lot of thinking I have decided to share my pregnancy story in the hope it helps other mummies and daddies to be.

I found out I was pregnant with my sixth child and me and my husband were over the moon. We decided to have our baby in Lewisham Birth Centre and couldn’t wait till the day came when we got to meet our bundle of joy. Everything was going according to plan – we had our 12 week scan and baby had a strong heartbeat and was growing lovely. Me, my husband and our children were so happy to see her.

Then we had our 20 week scan and found out we were having a girl and were so happy – we had our name picked. Baby Niamh was due on the 9/9/19. We were all so excited – we couldn’t wait to meet baby Niamh to see who she looked like, what colour eyes she would have, what colour hair she would have. We then had our 32 week scan and baby Niamh was breech. We weren’t worried as at this stage there was still time for baby Niamh to turn.

So at 36 weeks I went to see my amazing midwife and she then told me that baby Niamh was still breech. I had to have a scan just to make sure baby was breech and talk through my options. So I went for my scan the next day and was told baby Niamh was definitely breech and there were a few choices I had. The choices were talk to a consultant about a cesarean, or try an ECV (external cephalic version) to try and turn baby Niamh, or have a breech vaginal birth, but there was no way I could have my baby in the birth centre. So I went away feeling a bit worried about a breech baby and disappointed that I couldn’t have Niamh in the birth centre, but I was looking forward to talking through my options with a consultant.

At 37 weeks I had an ECV to try and turn baby Niamh – she was monitored constantly to make sure her heart rate didn’t drop but her bum was firmly in place in my pelvis and they couldn’t move her. So I had a scan at 38 weeks just to see if baby Niamh was still breech. She was so I saw a consultant/senior doctor. This was such a bad experience I cried and cried after this appointment feeling worried I was going to be putting my baby at risk if I went ahead with a breech birth and then on the other hand I was putting myself at risk if I had a cesarean. I was booked in for a cesarean for the 7/9/19, 2 days before my due day and really wasn’t looking forward to major surgery as I had 5 other children.

I then spoke to my midwife as I was so unhappy about my consultant appointment. My midwife phoned me and spoke to me for a while trying to calm me down and talk me through things. She then said that she wanted me to speak to her manager (a lovely lady) so she passed my details on to her manager and told her what had happened. Her manager then phoned me and asked me to go in and see her. We spoke about a cesarean and also a breech birth. She made me feel a bit better about it all. I was still nervous but feeling better.

She also phoned the labour ward to see if they could fit me in for another ECV. Which they did so I went along to try and get baby Niamh turned again. Sadly it was unsuccessful again. Niamh’s bum was firmly in place in my pelvis and wanted to be born breech (cheeky baby). I was then trying everything I could to get baby Niamh moving so I could have a breech birth but nothing seemed to work, she was just too comfy.

It then came the day 5/9/19 to have my pre-assessment for my cesarean so I went along to Lewisham Hospital to have my bloods taken and find out what time I had to be in on the day of my cesarean. The midwife I saw was absolutely amazing – she asked me if I was 100% sure I wanted a cesarean. I said no I didn’t want it but baby Niamh didn’t want to move. The midwife then asked me if I wanted to push back the date of my cesarean to give Niamh more time to come naturally so of course I said yes and was so happy so my cesarean was now booked for the 9/9/19 my due day.

I asked if I could have a sweep as it worked with my last daughter. So in came a matron (absolutely lovely) and I had a sweep and she said she could feel baby Niamh’s bum so I was excited things might start moving soon. I then went home and drank more raspberry leaf tea, bounced on my ball, went for walks, but still baby Niamh didn’t want to move. So on the 7/9/19 I went back to the hospital for my pre assessment. When I got there I saw the same midwives again, had my pre assessment done and also had another sweep in the hope it would work.

Then on the 8/9/19 my waters broke. I was so happy I phoned the hospital and off I went to give birth to my breech baby. I was still a bit nervous as I have never given birth breech before but it was just as simple as a normal (head down) birth. The midwife on the labour ward knew about baby Niamh being breech and talked me through who would be in the room when I gave birth.

Then the time was here to push. Her bum was coming, then her legs came, then her arms, then the final push and she was in my arms. All the worry was over. She was here safe and sound and perfect. I gave birth to a breech baby. I was fine and healthy and baby Niamh Fionnuala was finally here happy and healthy.

It was such an amazing experience I would do it all over again. I’m so proud to say I gave birth to a breech baby and to share my amazing story with you. I hope this helps some mummies to be feel at ease with a breech birth.

Stay positive you can do it. Good luck!

Filed Under: Birth Stories, Featured Tagged With: birth centre, diagnosed, ECV, midwife, planned, vaginal

My birth story – Sarah & Ronnie

We found out at our 29w growth scan that baby was breech but were told not to worry as baby had plenty of time to turn but me being a bit of a worrier went away and did the thing I tend to do and turned to google!

I found myself doing lots of research on breech babies and birth options and I decided then that if baby was still to be breech further down the line I wanted a vaginal breech birth. In my case knowledge is power and having researched I felt a lot more calm and relaxed about what might happen if baby were to stay breech.

At 34w I went into hospital with reduced movements and got chatting to one of the lovely midwives and she said she could refer me to The Safe Active Birth Team that consisted of Supervisors of Midwives for support with my plans and I’m so glad I agreed for her to do that. The support I received from them was amazing, we chatted about everything I wanted and none of it was too much of an ask and a specific ‘plan’ for me and baby was put in place. One of the midwives asked if it was ok with me that she would like to be on call for the birth, to which I agreed. Knowing someone I had met and who knew what I wanted would potentially be there made me more relaxed.

I saw 2 consultants at around 37w after it had been confirmed by a scan that baby was still frank breech, they both fully supported my choices of a vaginal breech birth and understood my reasoning of declining an ECV to try and turn baby, they also answered any other questions that I had
.
We left it that I would see the consultant again at 40+5 if baby hadn’t arrived before that. From 36w I had some reflexology sessions and as I passed my ‘due date’ I started to feel a little fed up but I think that was mostly to do with hormones, tiredness and being uncomfortable.

I saw the consultant at 40+5 and we decided that if baby hadn’t arrived before 42w we would go in and have a planned c section, even though it wasn’t what I wanted, I felt that by that point I would have given my body a good amount of time for things to happen spontaneously and if it hadn’t then I had some time to come to terms with having a c section.

As I reached 41w I went for another session of reflexology and had a good chat with the midwife who did it, I then headed to the hospital for a sweep which didn’t go ahead as my cervix was too posterior too reach. I came home feeling a little deflated and had a really good cry for no particular reason, and I mean good as it took a while for me to stop crying at anything and everything.

I went to bed early only to be woken at 2.30am with pains, I started to time them to which they were coming every 5 mins. I gave it half an hour before waking my husband and I called the hospital at 3.20am. The pains became more intense quite quickly so I put on my TENS machine and started getting ready, My mum arrived to look after our eldest and we set off to the hospital at 3.50am. Whilst in the car the contractions started to get more intense and closer together, I called the hospital again and asked them to contact the midwife from the Safe Active Birth Team to let her know so she could make her way to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at around 4.30am and were greeted by a midwife who showed us to a room, she did my blood pressure and temp before hooking me up to the wireless monitoring to keep a check on baby and then she went to start filling the pool with water (the consultants were happy for me to use the pool to labour in). The midwife from the Safe Active Birth Team arrived shortly after and with the contractions I started to feel a bit pushy so I asked for some gas and air. We moved down the corridor to the pool room where I got on the floor cushions on all fours before being asked if they could examine me to determine where we were at. I agreed and was happy to hear that I was 8cm, I was feeling a lot of pressure. I went back to all fours and after a couple of minutes baby’s heart rate dropped and took a little while to come back up so the consultant came in and asked me if I would get onto the bed. In the mean time a number of other staff came into the room and stood well back to watch the birth (I had said I didn’t mind others watching when we were originally doing the birth ‘plan’ and I was asked again if it was ok whilst I was in labour). It’s not very often people get to see a vaginal breech birth especially in our NHS trust with if being quite small.

Pretty quickly I was 10cm dilated but baby’s heart rate dropped again so it was advised by the consultant that an episiotomy would help baby be born a bit quicker. I started to push and baby arrived into the world bottom first after 5mins of pushing.

We had another boy!

Ronnie was born at 6.05am weighing a healthy 8lb 15oz.

He didn’t need any support with breathing, we had delayed cord clamping and some skin to skin then about 20 minutes later my husband cut the cord and had a cuddle whilst I had some stitches done. After that we were left for a good hour or so to have some lovely skin to skin and take it all in. We stayed in hospital for observations to be done on him due to him having slightly low blood sugar at birth but there were no further concerns and we went home the following day!

I’m so proud of myself for trusting my instincts and believing in my body knowing what to do. This was 100% the right decision for both myself and baby!

Filed Under: Birth Stories Tagged With: diagnosed, hospital, midwife, photos, post-dates, vaginal, water

Estelle’s birth – a planned home birth of a first baby

Our little breechling

By Ali Barker

We planned a home water birth for the birth of our first baby. We had bought a pool which we blew up at the weekend I turned 40 weeks pregnant (10 August 2014) and felt ready for labour to commence. However a few issues presented themselves at the latter stages of my pregnancy which had a great bearing on the planned birth.

Estelle-newborn-40

During a routine ante natal check carried out at our home when I was 40 weeks + 1 day on 18 August 2014, a midwife, whom I had not seen previously, carried out palpation on my bump and suspected our baby may be breech. I could not believe it. All previous ante natal checks had identified our baby (given the moniker, Beatty) as head-down and, by this stage, 4/5 engaged. I was shocked to hear this at this late stage in my pregnancy.

The midwife was fairly confident that our baby was head-down. Such was her conviction, she sent me for a scan at the hospital the following day, rather than an emergency scan on the same day. Upon arriving at the hospital, the midwife carried out palpation and she also thought the baby was head down. However, upon carrying out the ultrasound scan, one of our biggest fears was realised when our baby was confirmed as being breech. I was devastated as I believed our home birth was an impossibility and I was naturally concerned as to any consequences of the breech presentation in relation to our baby’s health/delivery.

I had to wait in the hospital from 11am on Tuesday 12 August 2014, when the breech was diagnosed, until 7.30pm, before an ECV (a procedure carried out by a consultant doctor to try and manually turn our baby) was performed. I was told this was because I needed to be nil by mouth in the event I needed to go into theatre for an emergency C section. This was far from ideal at 40+ weeks pregnant on a hot summer’s day on a hospital ward. After the ECV failed to turn Beatty, I was told by the NHS that the only option was a C section.

While I waited for the ECV procedure to be performed, I started to research breech birth and came across midwives who were experienced in the field. From my research, it seemed that breech presentation was not abnormal, it was, in fact, a variation of normal. This was something I held at the forefront of my mind in the coming days.

As I was 40 weeks + 2 days, the hospital wanted me to sign a consent form to have a C section on Friday 15 August 2014. I asked the hospital whether it was possible to deliver a breech baby vaginally but I was told this skill was a “dying art” amongst midwives.

I spent that evening/into the early hours of the next day frantically researching breech presentation and the possibility of vaginal breech delivery. The possibility of a breech vaginal delivery was not discussed at the hospital.

I had been practicing Natal Hypnotherapy for the majority of my pregnancy and attended a 2 day workshop in Wimbledon. This, I believe, gave me the confidence to trust my body’s ability to give birth naturally and to trust my instincts, both of which led to our birth story I describe below.

On the evening of 12 August, after I was discharged from hospital, I searched Google for “natal hypnotherapy” and “vaginal breech” and found Ruth Atkinson’s birth story. I emailed Ruth at an ungodly hour desperately hoping she would reply to my email. Time really was of the essence given the late stage of my pregnancy. I was truly grateful when I saw Ruth’s reply in my inbox at around 11pm at night. One of the things she said which gave me an element of hope was “All is not lost. It is still possible to have the birth you want…”

Ruth kindly spoke to me the following day and shared her birth story which was, strangely, not too dissimilar to mine in respect of the breech diagnosis late in her pregnancy and her desire to have a vaginal breech delivery. Ruth told me about the wonderful independent midwives who had supported the safe arrival of her breech daughter, vaginally, at home.

I wasted no time and contacted the same independent midwives who then came to our house the following day to discuss matters in person. My husband and I digested all of the information and decided we would engage their services. I was so happy to have their assistance as they shared similar views to my husband and I as to natural birth.

This sentiments of this quote rang true during this time:

“The more Wisdom you attain and the more Conscious you become, the crazier you will appear to others”

I think Beatty knew not to come until we had our team in place. By this time, we had an excellent, supportive team together (including my wonderful husband). It was therefore a matter of waiting for labour to commence.

By 41 weeks, Beatty had still not arrived. However, the midwives recommended that I ought not to do anything to try and augment labour, whether that be reflexology, acupuncture and/or a membrane sweep as it was important for a breech baby to come when it was ready, or opt for C section. So, it was a matter of (patiently) waiting.

Our independent midwives therefore embarked on ‘Project Relaxation’ as it seemed apparent that my body/mind were in a state of flux given the issues of the preceding week. I believed that I would not go into spontaneous labour until I switched of my ‘thinking brain’ and allowed my primal bran to engage, something I learnt in Natal Hypnotherapy.

All the while, I was getting many messages from friends/family wondering if we had had our baby. As each day went by, I was getting more anxious as I knew post 42 weeks would bring further issues to bear. We had even booked a fetal well being scan on Harley Street (as we were keen to avoid attending the hospital, where possible, to avoid further pressure from the hospital as to an elective C section) to check Beatty’s heart beat, amniotic fluid and blood flow to the placenta.

I was not overly concerned as there is perhaps unnecessary significance placed on the ‘guess date’; many people had said to me that babies come when they are ready. In France, for instance, full term is considered to be 41 weeks, so there are different interpretations of ‘full term’. Beatty continued to be very active with lots of kicks which the independent midwive said was a good indicator of Beatty’s wellbeing.

I wrote a letter to Beatty and read it aloud to her and also talked to Beatty several times a day to try and encourage her to start her journey into the world. I knew we could do it together and I truly believed that.

At 41 + 6 days, my contractions started at 3.45pm on 23 August 2014, while eating strawberries and cream in the garden on a lovely warm day. They were irregular and not very strong. I had had the same sensation a couple of days before, while watching a DVD, when I had to get out of bed to ease the sensation, however on this occasion it passed after an hour or so. We were therefore convinced that this was another false start. Nevertheless, we walked to the park to try and encourage more contractions. While I had a few sensations, they continued to be irregular and did not increase in intensity. We did, however, practice filling the pool but promptly emptied it, again not anticipating labour to commence imminently.

We received a message from one of our NCT group at around 2.30pm that day to confirm they had welcomed their little boy into the world, 2 days’ early. I was delighted for them but it served to emphasise the fact we were still waiting for our little one.

After a little break from the contractions, we retired to bed. However, by 8.30pm the contractions were coming more frequently and with increased intensity. We therefore called our independent midwives to come to the house.

My surges were concentrated in my back so my husband massaged my back with increasing force to counteract the sensations. My contractions continued but did not seem to progress sufficiently therefore the midwives retired to bed. I continued to have infrequent contractions throughout the night. I recall shouting at my husband (who was asleep) to massage my back throughout the night. We all woke up around 7am and, as my surges continued in a similar manner, the midwives decided they would give my husband and I privacy to seek to encourage labour to progress. They all went into the local town for breakfast.

My husband made me breakfast of yoghurt and fresh fruit but I promptly threw this back up again. I was in the kitchen on my exercise ball and could feel myself drifting away from my husband and the environment around me and retreating into my own body. Once the midwives arrived back at 8.30am, I was in established labour. The midwives did not carry out any internal vaginal examinations, rather they read my behaviour to assess progress.

I had never really considered where I would labour in the house but I remained in the bedroom. I recall it was a lovely sunny day outside but we kept the curtains closed to create a more ‘safe’ enclosed environment. The Natal Hypnotherapy relaxation music was playing in the background for the duration of the labour and we had lavender essential oil in a diffuser. The midwives were very respectful of our own space and left my husband and I alone for much of the time.

My waters broke in our bathroom during one of my contractions at around midday. I realised I was getting ever closer to meeting our baby!

My husband and I were prepared for the transition stage from labour to pushing. However, I do not recall this period in the labour, nor does my husband; although, in retrospect, it may have occurred when I asked the midwife if I could use gas and air. I think this was a moment of slight panic in my mind when I knew I was entering the final stage and thought I may need assistance. The midwife gently discouraged this and I was happy to proceed without gas and air. I did have 2 paracetamol at some stage but not sure they would have had any effect whatsoever!! I did, however, use my TENS machine throughout labour and found this really helpful for easing the effects of the surges and it also served as a distraction, together with the tools I learnt with Natal Hypnotherapy. I also made loud chanting sounds of AHHHHH and OOOOOM to get through the surges which I learnt from JuJu Sindin’s Birth Skills book – I would highly recommend this.

At around 3pm ish we were all preparing for the birth of our daughter. The midwives prepared the bedroom with the dust sheets and old bedding. I assumed a side lying position on my left side. This was an odd position in the sense that I had never considered this position in any of my birth preparation classes.

I recall the bedroom was very hot as we had to use a heater to ensure the room was sufficiently warm to receive Beatty. During the pushing stage, my husband cooled my forehead with a cold flannel which was replaced regularly by the midwives to ensure it was cool. I also had lots of coconut water throughout the labour, together with ice cubes, made of honey/lemon and himalayan sea salt, raspberry leaf infused water and black molasses in hot water to maintain my energy levels.

Beatty was slowly descending but I could sense that the midwives were keen for me to change positions, although they very much allowed this to be led by me. As a matter of common sense, it would have been more logical for me to be in a vertical position/all fours. I had pulled a muscle/ligament on my left side at some stage during labour so I was not desperate to change positions, as I knew it would hurt. However, something urged me to jump onto an all fours position. Once I changed position, Beatty seemed to descend much quicker.

The midwives have since commented on the extent of my movements during this stage – I was almost kneeling at one point, then swaying my hips left to right and then leaning forwards in a prayer position. All of this behaviour was instinctive, rather than conscious, and the midwives believed this assisted our daughter’s birth. It felt like Beatty and I were doing a little dance with one another. I was comforted that our daughter was almost dancing with her little legs hanging out of me and she was a lovely colour, whereas some of the videos I had seen of vaginal breech deliveries involved a baby looking a little limp and blue.

I recall the sensation of our daughter’s bum coming out and then her legs. I could sense when Beatty’s body had flopped out. I recall looking through my legs and seeing Beatty hanging there, with her head inside of me. We had kept the sex of our baby a surprise so I was constantly asking the midwives if they could discern the sex. As our baby passed urine, they could tell it was a girl. My husband and I were so surprised as 95% of people had said they thought it was a boy. While we had no firm view either way, we had become convinced that it was a boy; it was a lovely surprise to hear it was a girl.

I did not have another contraction to push out Beatty’s head for around 5 minutes. It felt like a long time. The midwives were not too concerned as our daughter’s lips were peeping out of me and her lips were opening and closing to take in air. The only time the midwives intervened was to lightly move the cord to allow our daughter to breathe safely.

As no contraction came, I pushed without a contraction and my daughter was born at 4:17pm, exactly 14 days after her due date. It was the best feeling. My husband, who had been attending to me the whole labour, gave me a big kiss and then the midwives put our daughter in front of me on the floor. I couldn’t believe she was ours. I didn’t pick her up straight away while I took it all in. I then held her close to my chest – skin to skin – and we had our first cuddle as a family.

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Our daughter was 8 lbs 9 ounces (the midwives did comment on how big she appeared as she was being born – I always had a strong suspicion that she was going to be a big baby!) and 52 cm long – although she appeared much longer; most people have passed comment on this since her birth. Our daughter scored 9/10 on her APGAR score.

Given established labour started around 8.30am that morning, labour was fairly quick. I also only suffered a minor tear which did not require any stitches. When I spoke to a midwife before the birth she told me that breech births are generally fairly quick and that generally women don’t tear – so breech birth does have its advantages!

We then all moved to our bed with our daughter in my arms while the midwives tidied up around us. One big bonus was that the student midwife used to be a chef so she made an amazing breakfast for us of eggs, bacon, spinach and tomatoes – beats hospital food any day!

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One of the midwives also made me a lovely placenta smoothie and I ate some of the placenta immediately after the birth, when resting in bed. I cannot be certain, but I attribute the fact that I did not suffer any baby blues to the placenta which I consumed. I believe this regulated my hormones and replenished vital nutrients lost during labour.

I will treasure forever the memory of the three of us snuggling in bed that evening. If we had given birth in the hospital, my husband may have been asked to leave us that evening which would have been awful. This was another (of many) advantages to a home birth.

DSC_0867-copyOur daughter was slow to latch on but after a couple of days of practice, she was guzzling away – her new found hobby.

If the hospital had had its way, our daughter would have been born on 15 August 2014; that was not her time. In fact, the midwives noted that our daughter did not show any signs of being particularly over her due date. We were delighted she came naturally on her true birthday and not a date fixed by a hospital.

We did not name our daughter until a couple of days after the birth; such was our belief that our baby was a boy, we had not properly considered girls’ names. On Tuesday 26 August, we named our little breechling Estelle Augusta Barker – inspired by the main character in Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, Estella. A strong, formidable character which we hope Estelle will be, too.

BIO

Ali Barker gave birth with the assistance of Maya Midwives, Kathryn Weymouth, Liz Nightingale and Suyai Stenhauer. Ali is married to Sam Barker and they are looking forward to celebrating 10 years together this summer 2015. They are very much still in love and have enjoyed every single moment spent with their breechling, Estelle.

Filed Under: Birth Stories Tagged With: diagnosed, home, independent midwife, planned, vaginal

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