Questions for those who have had a breech baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just found out that my baby is breech at 34 weeks (butt down) and I'm already slightly dilated. I had been hoping for a VBAC, but now it looks like a repeat C will be in my future... I'm curious, when did your OBs make the call about c section for breech? Or asked another way, what's the probability that my baby turns between now and 39 weeks?

My OB was willing to delver vaginally (I'm the poster above who had Tchabo), but when baby wasn't engaged, I was pretty far dilated and nothing was happening. So c-section for me, which was 100% the right call. It really depends on your body and your baby and your situation - my little sister flipped transverse then head down when my mom was in labor; little sis was a not tiny 9 lbs something. There are higher risks to vaginal delivery of a breech baby, but they are not impossible or a death sentence to you or your baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 35 weeks and baby remains frank breech. Not a candidate for external cephalic version, and I'm already familiar with the spinning babies website.

I'm interested to hear from those who have had a breech baby, especially frank breech.
-Were the baby's legs bent at an odd angle right after birth? If so how did this affect things and when did the legs look less alarming?

-I've read hip dysplasia can be an issue. Did your baby do physical therapy?

- Anything else I should know?

(1) No, baby's legs were not bent at an odd angle. She definitely froggied and crossed them for the first few weeks because that is probably how they were in utero. Same with her arms. Always crossed like she was hugging herself. I thought it was cute, my mom stressed about it, but once she started stretching/moving more she was totally fine.
(2) Your pediatrician should check in your first few visits to see if the baby's hips are clicking and will likely order an ultrasound to check for hip dysplasia. My baby had no hip issues.
(3) My baby had torticollis, likely from being breech. I think this is fairly common, and we're seeing a PT to help with that, it's getting much better. Because of the Torticollis, she has positional plagiocephaly = a flat spot on one side of her head, which is also getting much better with PT/changing the position of her head a lot/tummy time and now she's almost mobile, so she's always on her hands and knees. FYI, we're not getting a helmet, everyone tells us it will be barely noticeable in the end. We've seen two specialists, they agreed. All of this to say, keep an eye on the baby those first few weeks to see if you notice a head turn preference or head tilt and get on that right away. I wish we'd started seeing a PT earlier (we started at four months).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried Spinning Babies, I tried moxibustion, I tried my husband singing into my vagina, I tried handstands, I tried everything even some things so ridiculous I can't even believe I did them. Nothing worked. When you have a frank breech after 36 weeks the baby has to contort so much to move back into position, the odds are really against you.

NP here. I tried everything, too, including an ECV, but my baby didn't move because the cord was wrapped around her three times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried Spinning Babies, I tried moxibustion, I tried my husband singing into my vagina, I tried handstands, I tried everything even some things so ridiculous I can't even believe I did them. Nothing worked. When you have a frank breech after 36 weeks the baby has to contort so much to move back into position, the odds are really against you.

Anything that could blow air into your vagina is actually really dangerous, PP. I hope other people don't try that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heading in for a chiropractic appointment today to try out the Webster technique...I hope that it works because doctor is already scheduling the c-section (and said it has to be early in Week 39, she said it can't be pushed to the end of Week 39) and I'm at 36 right now. :/

Why is she pushing you so early?

Probably because she doesn't want PP to go into labor on her own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heading in for a chiropractic appointment today to try out the Webster technique...I hope that it works because doctor is already scheduling the c-section (and said it has to be early in Week 39, she said it can't be pushed to the end of Week 39) and I'm at 36 right now. :/

Why is she pushing you so early?

Probably because she doesn't want PP to go into labor on her own.

Right - why. Is the cord or the baby in such a position that prolapse in the event of total water breaking (rather than the slow leak some women get)? Does she have some other possible complication? You don't just have a c-section early for no reason.

[Anonymous]

DS was frank breech - I think he was that way for a long time, midwife confirmed it at 34 weeks, if I recall correctly (I had been wondering what I'd been feeling around my ribs - turned out it was his head!). I tried several of the standard things to move him to heads down- spinning babies, e.g. upside down off the couch, handstands in the pool, music to turn him, etc. Nothing worked, and DS showed no signs of turning on his own. I did not consider an external version (manual rotation of the baby by an obstetrician); my midwife did not recommend it because it's done in-patient and has a high rate of emergency c-section if it doesn't work. I had low amniotic fluid in one quadrant; in a discussion with an experienced L&D nurse after birth, she mentioned that low amniotic fluid can be a reason a baby stays breech.

DS was delivered at 39 weeks, with no complications. Apgar scores were good, and there were no issues with hip dysplasia or any other physical things. Nursing was good too. The c-section was less of an ordeal than I thought it would be - recovery was reasonable.

Congratulations and good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried Spinning Babies, I tried moxibustion, I tried my husband singing into my vagina, I tried handstands, I tried everything even some things so ridiculous I can't even believe I did them. Nothing worked. When you have a frank breech after 36 weeks the baby has to contort so much to move back into position, the odds are really against you.

Anything that could blow air into your vagina is actually really dangerous, PP. I hope other people don't try that one.

Why the eyeroll, smartypants? She's right, blowing air into a pregnant woman's vagina can be fatal (air embolus). http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/sex-during-pregnancy-is-it-safe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried Spinning Babies, I tried moxibustion, I tried my husband singing into my vagina, I tried handstands, I tried everything even some things so ridiculous I can't even believe I did them. Nothing worked. When you have a frank breech after 36 weeks the baby has to contort so much to move back into position, the odds are really against you.

Anything that could blow air into your vagina is actually really dangerous, PP. I hope other people don't try that one.

Why the eyeroll, smartypants? She's right, blowing air into a pregnant woman's vagina can be fatal (air embolus). http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/sex-during-pregnancy-is-it-safe

Probably because the original poster's husband didn't actually put his mouth to her labia and sing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heading in for a chiropractic appointment today to try out the Webster technique...I hope that it works because doctor is already scheduling the c-section (and said it has to be early in Week 39, she said it can't be pushed to the end of Week 39) and I'm at 36 right now. :/

Why is she pushing you so early?

Probably because she doesn't want PP to go into labor on her own.

Right - why. Is the cord or the baby in such a position that prolapse in the event of total water breaking (rather than the slow leak some women get)? Does she have some other possible complication? You don't just have a c-section early for no reason.

I had a frank breech baby and had to schedule a c section for 39 weeks 1 day. It's because there's a chance of cord prolapse with a breech baby so they don't want you to go into labor on your own, and also because even if you don't have a cord prolapse, labor kicking off on its own when the baby is breech can lead to an emergency c section which is more traumatic and harder to recover from (mentally) than a scheduled.