undiagnosed Archives - Breech Babies Club

A story of many breeches, from the 1940s onwards

A story of many breeches, from the midwife’s own birth as a footling breech baby in WWII, to others she has attended during her career…

“The best part of the story is the old doctor’s instructions for when to call, i.e., how to tell when the time was right. His first instruction was to do nothing! and see if labor goes away. Then eat bread and butter (still my favorite food) and drink beer, and then do nothing! He instructed my mother that when the labor got so intense that she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, she should go for a walk in the garden or the hallways of the cloister with one of the nuns. He told her to do some slight breathing during contractions and lean on the wall, the fence or a nun. After that she should again do nothing!

He further advised that if she thought she couldn’t do anything anymore she should lie down on her left side with two pillows between her legs and do nothing! At this point he said she should tell the nuns to feed the donkey. When the donkey was full, they should hitch the wagon to the donkey and go get the doctor. He told her when he got to the cloister he would eat some food, have some beer and check in with her and that he would still have lots of time to prepare for the birth.”

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/footlingbreech.asp

An undiagnosed breech birth in a midwife-led birth centre!

“Today my beautiful baby boy is 5 weeks old! I can’t believe it’s going so quickly, he has grown so much already. Motherhood has so far been how I expected and totally not what I expected at the same time; but I’ll save that for another blog! ”

“A few pushes later and the bottom was out, a couple more then the legs and torso. I was nearly there, ready to meet our baby, I was still using the gas and air and had Paul holding my hand encouraging me the whole time. The contractions subsided a little with the head still not delivered so I had to have a small episiotomy. The baby was here. But no crying, Paul went to the midwives to check all was ok…Then there was the cry.”

http://babybreezeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/my-birth-story-undiagnosed-breech.html

An unexpected hospital breech birth – too late for a c-section!

“Doc came in and said too late for epidural and c-section, then I needed to push, they said go with your body and do whatever it tells you to do. I asked how long it would take to push her out, Doc said quite awhile as this is your first, I then had to push again, couldnt stop myself, I remember people shouting out the door DELIVERY PACK NOW, I pushed 3 times, then everyones voices went faint….Im sure I passed out as the next thing I know is Im looking at my baby on my chest!!! ”

“It took awhile for her legs to come down from round her ears and she is being monitored as one of her hips has a problem but appart from that she is perfect, and I cant wait to do it all again!!!”

http://community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a4721225/natural_breech_birth

An unexpected breech birth by emergency c-section

“At my 35.5 week check up they did an internal exam and said my son was head down. I was so relieved! I still honestly didn’t understand how I could have the bumps and kicks where they were, and where they weren’t (never in my ribs), and have my child be head down, but I trusted my doctor.

I should have trusted my gut.”

http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/2013/04/06/breech-birth-story-cesarean-after-unexpected-breech-presentation/

An unassisted undiagnosed footling breech birth

“The children said I “screamed a bit”, but I felt every centimetre of my baby descending, and I could hold the growing pressure in my vagina, without contracting against it. In this way, progress was very quick — two or three pushes, and not even a strong stretching feeling, and I said, “I’m crowning”. One more push and “Here’s the head”. Yet strangely I had no feeling of my push finishing easily at the baby’s neck.”

“We were in candlelight, and I was tucked into the darkest corner of the spa bath. Nicholas had a torch ready, and he shone it into the water to check the baby. “It’s a foot”, he said. I turned, my baby still half in my body, and saw a left leg waving in the water. Nicholas leant down — I still don’t know how did it without getting wet — and freed the other leg, which was straight against her belly, held only by the foot.”

“Standing with ease, I leaned forward, my hands supporting her slippery little legs and bottom, and, without waiting for the next wave, I pushed. Out came her chest, arms spilling out, cord tumbling and tangled, then lastly, with one push, her head. I scooped her up into my arms, to the warmth of my heart. She was like a little bundle of kelp; floppy, blue and not breathing. (The children said later “We thought she was a dead baby”.) “We love you, baby, we love you,” they cried, calling her in. After twenty or thirty seconds — it seemed longer, but Nicholas was watching her closely — she opened one eye, squeaked, and took a breath, pinking up straight away.”

http://www.positivebirthstories.com/2009/10/02/maias-birth/

An unexpected footling breech birth with transfer to hospital

An unexpected footling breech birth with transfer to hospital.

“Her words are ingrained on my memory, as is the sound of controlled panic / urgency in her voice. She said, “Oh God; it’s a foot, it’s breech, dial 999 NOW, get an ambulance, it’s a footling breech. Tell them it’s urgent”.”

“Four days after the birth I met with the midwife for a debrief. It was a useful conversation and happened at the right time in my recovery. Prior to that I was just grateful all was well, and wouldn’t have asked the right questions. By day four, though, relief had given way to anger. I was angry that despite my desire to be in control and have a natural delivery, and my best efforts to secure that by aiming for a homebirth, it had transpired to be a labour characterised by panic and lack of control and I felt the midwife could help me understand why. The crux of it was why hadn’t I been given the chance to continue labouring at home, with the medical team and ambulance waiting outside to intervene if need be. Why hadn’t my body been allowed to do its job?”

“Just one other thought … all the midwives in the hospital were very positive about the birth and congratulated me on the natural delivery and telling me I had done well. In contrast, the two doctors I spoke to took a much more negative point of view and focused on the fact that an ambulance delivery was ‘less than ideal’.”

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/louisebreech.htm

A calm undiagnosed footling breech birth at home

“Everything seemed to be going well, and at two weeks out the baby dropped. I have to admit, right before the baby dropped, I thought there was a chance she had changed positions, but being it was a first for me I didn’t speak up and let Annette know. A word for the wise…

always trust your instincts!!!”

“I couldn’t have been more grateful with how smoothly things went considering the circumstances. I am so thankful Annette knew exactly how to handle things. Looking back I would not change a thing. If I would have known Emsley was breech, I would have been tempted to go the medical route and more than likely I would have ended up with a C-section. I am now even more confident about having a home birth as I head into it for a second time.”

http://thepromiselandfarm.com/birth-story-collections-emsleys-breech-home-birth/

A calm hospital breech birth (undiagnosed)

“James was born after a 5 hour labour, no interventions or pain relief and I feel far better this time round than after my first! (Apart from lack of sleep that is!). We are all doing fine and James is a thriving, hungry and smiley little thing. I’ve even started to think after 6 weeks, I could do this again…”

“At one point a midwife rushed into the room announcing I couldn’t possibly give birth on the floor – “it’s against hospital policy”. She stormed out again not waiting for a reply. Sarah and I looked at each other, nonplussed. Sarah left to have a discreet word with the ward manager – we didn’t see that midwife again.”

“The hospital midwife pressed the monitor against my tummy, even though the baby’s body was by now hanging outside. She was laughingly redirected.”

“I was initially gutted not to have my dream home waterbirth. But I am very happy with the outcome. I avoided all interventions, used no pain relief, didn’t tear or even graze. This time there was no terror of going to the loo after delivery! Last time I’d had a bad un-stitched tear, retained product and post-natal infection. This time, the most I suffered was a bruised nasal bridge from pushing my face into the armchair!”

http://www.homebirth.org.uk/sophiebreech.htm

An unwanted caesarean for an undiagnosed breech (after multiple internal examinations)

A raw story of an unwanted caesarean for an undiagnosed breech (after multiple internal examinations)…

“If this story can encourage someone to ask more questions to their care providers, if they have doubts – then sharing this story will have purpose. If you don’t get an answer you are satisfied with ask again, ask louder, or as someone else. If you have doubts about what is happening to you or your baby you are allowed to speak up, people make mistakes, they make bad decisions, so if think they are getting it wrong or doing the wrong thing, its okay to speak up. ”

http://parentingcentral.com.au/jaspers-birth/

A successful undiagnosed breech VBAC

An Australia breech VBAC, this time undiagnosed – a planned home birth with a transfer in labour and a successful breech delivery in hospital.

“While I was ‘considering’ the caesarean things were happening very quickly.”

“She unfolded like a beautiful butterfly, legs unfolding, followed by her arms. Not much happened for quite some time after that. It was the most amazing thing to look down and see her whole body, but no head, just hanging there!”

http://www.breechbirth.net/matildas-birth—vbbac.html