Natural Breech vaginal delivery??

k80jane · November 2012

Just found out that baby boy is breech at 38 weeks today. he's been head down for a month and breech now! ahhh! How successful are versions? and has anyone delivered a breech baby naturally and med-free. I had my DD completely natural and really want to do the same for DS. This completely throws me off, and I honestly don't know what to think. i refuse to google anything, and am only relying on you ladies until I can see my normal dr. later on this week to discuss details. Thanks!

sbevmc09 · November 2012

It's totally possible to deliver a breech baby vaginally and without meds, but first you'll want to see if your doctor even attends breech births. The mainstream answer is usually no because they are no longer trained for it, but sometimes you'll get lucky.

I honestly don't know about the success rate of external versions, but I'd probably be willing to try it. Especially if my only other choice was an automatic C/S.

The good news is there's still time for baby to flip on its own. Obviously you know this since it flipped from last week

Also, check out spinningbabies.com for some ideas on what you can do to encourage baby to flip head down again. A chiropractic adjustment could help as well. Seek out a chiropractor trained in Webster technique.

principessa81 · November 2012

At my OB's office in Boston, she told me that keep an acupuncturist on staff one day a week, because he had a lot of success turning breech babies. That might be worth checking out! I also agree with the pp who suggested a chiropractor. It's been my personal experience that most OBs will do a c-section for breech babies because they aren't trained to deliver them vaginally, but you never know. Good luck to you! I hope your little guy turns!

LittleMommaBlueHen · November 2012

It is possible, but not all OBs will attend breech births. When DD was still breech at 37 weeks, I found a homebirth midwife with extensive breech birth experience who was willing to take me as a late transfer. DD ended up flipping head down a couple of days before I went into labor so I ended up not having to have a breech birth. If I were you, I would head over to spinningbabies.com and start trying to get your LO to flip head down again.

julyjennifer · November 2012

What the others' have said. Babies can safely be born breech vaginally, with a care provider experienced with attending breech births (harder to find these days). If your care provider is up for it, he or she will also probably advise as to whether your baby's breech position is a good one for vaginal birth. Some breech positions are safer than others for vaginal birth (such as frank breech), from what I understand.

Good luck!

kerrigrooves · November 2012

https://community.thebump.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/69849476.aspx

I tried everything since we found out frank breech baby...as I had a doula and wanted a med free birth.

My Dr wont do breech vag delivery and I didnt feel comfortable switching to a mid wife so last in the game.

I feel your pain and I think we need to focus on a healthy baby and momma!! Its really hard tho...

ncbelle · November 2012

I've not but know some women in my area who have - some docs around here will still do a breech birth. It actually scares me that so few have the training for it these days!!

I would echo the suggestions to try spinning babies.com, webster technique, and acupuncture. And if those don't flip him, I would try the version - I hear they are not particularly comfortable but can be pretty successful. I'd think the success rate would be higher given he flipped fairly recently. Good luck!!

harttaken · November 2012

I second the Acupuncturist. My dad is an Acupuncturist and has much success in turning babies.

myco bonnie · November 2012

My understanding is that the success rate for ECV is about 50%, meaning that 50% are successfully turned and stay head down until labour. The others either aren't able to be turned successfully or they do turn, but turn back to a breech position later.While it sounds like an uncomfortable procedure, it sounds like it's worth it.

Acupunture and spinning babies positions also sound like a good way to go, and there have been a number of studies that have shown acupunture to be quite effective.

Vaginal breech delivery had been given a lot of bad press since about 10 years ago a study called the 'term breech trial' showed it was associated with much worse outcomes. Many hospitals changed their policies based on this study, and C section became the norm for breech babies. Since then the study has been found to have a lot of flaws that invalidates the findings, and one of the authors has said that it should never had had policy based on it. Unfortunately, many practitioners have become deskilled at delivering breech babies vaginally, and it's hard to change people's mindset once they believe that something is unsafe.

Here in Australia there is a clinic that has opened a year ago solely for vaginal breech deliveries. The hope is that obstetricians will become more experienced in this area, as well as seeing that while it is higher risk, it is not necessarily unsafe.

I hope this information helps you. Good luck with everything and I hope that you have a beautiful birth

Want a personalized experience?

Natural Breech vaginal delivery??

Re: Natural Breech vaginal delivery??

Choose Another Board

Search Boards