Breech birth seems to be widely searched on the Internet and information on a normal birth with a breech baby is getting more and more difficult to access.
Practitioners experienced in a birth with a woman who’s baby is breech are getting older and there is soon going to be nobody to pass on these skills. It seems the norm to pull out the baby using obstetric procedures that cause trauma and harm and then claim that the problems were incurred due to the breech birth instead of the care providers interventions. This was also part of the comments of the term breech trial.
Hospitals only offer a medicalized birth if you want to “attempt” this. Being active during your labour is really important and this is no different for breech births.
It’s important to know that your practitioner is experienced and confident and has the skills to remain hands off unless there is an extreme need to intervene.
I am lucky enough to have trained in a hospital in the UK where breech birth was seen as a variation of normal and at a time where midwives were considered the experts in normal midwifery practice (which of course they are).
This birth clip shows a totally hands off birth. Care providers often have issues of the after coming head. Usually the baby’s head appears spontaneously with no danger of a tear to the tentorium, which is possible when the baby hangs and the mother is in lithotomy position. It is acceptable if the head is deflexed to used flexion to help birth the head by placing the right index finger in the baby’s mouth and the left index finger behind the baby’s occiput (back of the baby’s head) . It seems more often than not nothing is needed. The Welsh accent giving encouragement in the backround is mine.
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The baby had an apgar of 9 at 1 min and 10 at 5 mins. There was a cord around the neck which we looped over once in her mums arms. No more is shown as the next bit of the video is part of the experience that wasn’t for sharing. Massive thanks to the wonderful woman who was willing for this to be put on my site for people to see. I have promised all my clients that I would only show exactly what they were comfortable with. Birth is an amazing experience to share but also an intensely private one.
You can read my previous breech article too.
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Awesome, awesome video!!
Wow. Wow. Wow. Thanks for sharing this video!
Awe inspiring post. Do you have permission to share baby’s weight? I am curious.
I am also curious if you have any criteria or use any risk assessment charts like the ElHalta assessment for breech birth?
What a lovely birth.
Thanks to the family for sharing. This kind of sharing will help keep breech birth alive.
Thanks to you, Lisa, and to the wonderful family for letting us see a hands-off breech birth.
It’s too bad you’re halfway around the world from me, because I’d love to have you for my midwife (no, not pregnant, but I’d love to be!)
What an absolutley beautiful birth! I love how very hands off you were, not messing with the baby at all till she was out. What an amazing mama, congratulations to the family! Welcome Lilly!
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Midwife of the plains. I’ve never even heard the a elhalta assessment tool.
The baby weighed 8lb. The birthing woman is also an Independent midwife I’m sure she will comment for herself at some point.
Completely off topic!
FYI:
Online seminar for midwives: What does professional activity have to do with midwifery competence?
Details:
http://sarah-stewart.blogspot.com/2008/04/online-seminar-for-midwives-what-does.html
Valerie El Halta’s breech scoring tool is available here (you have to scroll down a bit to get to it):
http://tinyurl.com/5vmkzw
I’d like your feedback about it. Does it correspond well to the breech births you’ve attended?
That is just amazing to watch and yet, perfectly normal. Esp the swearing
. And your accent!
What a beautiful birth! Thank you for sharing this!
I’m speechless with wonder! That was amazing and I want to thank everyone involved in allowing this to be shown. Just stunningly beautiful. Oh please, oh please, oh please Lisa make sure you pass your skills onto the next generation of midwives so that breech births can still happen the way they are supposed to.
Wow, what an awesome, beautiful video! Thanks for sharing (and thanks to the mother aswell!)
Lil
Beautiful!!!
Thanks for sharing Rose and Lilly
Thanks for posting this link Rixa. Valerie El Halta is a midwife who practices in Michigan, here in the US. She has a video called “Normalizing The Breech Delivery”. And it is about just that “delivering” a breech baby vs. breech birth. I believe she has offered up education on what works for her and I guess the mama’s she serves. I feel both her scoring system and her techniques are very hands on and conservative. With that said, I am so happy she put her video out there back in the late 90s. I am curious what your experience is Lisa wrt assessing a breech birth prenatally.
Neat. I wish there were more midwives like you. I gave birth attended by a midwife in a hospital, but had my baby been breech, I would have been transferred for a C-section. A friend of mine trained as a midwife in the Phillipines and delivered hundreds of breech babies, said it’s easy and can be done. My biggest fear was that my baby would be breech – thankfully, she wasn’t. Midwives like you definately need to be training others.
amazing and so beautiful!
i had a surprise footling breech birth at home myself, but didn’t get a video or pictures (other than one of a foot coming out) so it’s fascinating to me to see a bit of what my son’s birth likely looked like.
thanks to the mom for allowing this to be shared.
Hi midwife of the plains. I had a look at that assessment tool. I wouldn’t ve a woman in the antenatal period and definitely not to assess dilatation and station. Breeches often sit a little higher in the pelvis. Assessment is based on what the woman wants after she knows all the facts. If she wants a scan, we arrange that. Not many do but the option is there. If she wanted a physiological birth at the hospital I would fight for that(very rare). The breech in the video was flexed and plugging the pelvis well. She had a late scan for a potential heart problem,but we knew it was breech prior to the scan. It confirmed position and the cord around the neck. It also confirmed that the heart problem wouldn’t affect the birth and then would spontaneously right itself. Often with a flexed breech, bum and feet come down together and a foot appears first.
As a Mom who birthed my boy at home in the US two years ago, also a footling breech (after two cesareans for variations of breech), I thank you all. I literally lie awake at night thinking of plans to save breech birth, so if anyone wants to join me, I’d love to hear from you at craigiecarter at gmail.com.
Warmly,
Christie
I have to applaud twice!! Once for the video and once for your comments. Keep doing what you are doing, trusting birth.
Wonderful! Thank you so much to mum and you and baby Lilly for sharing
Hello Anonymous, I tried to email you but it was rejected. Maybe you can email me from I profile. I’d like to get in touch
Beautiful!
Amazing!!!!!!
Thank you so much for posting!
Amazing! Amazing!! Thank you so much. Thank you to Mom for sharing a beautiful birth!
i have just found your blog, and am really enjoying it! love the video!
i gave birth at home last august, and my baby was unexpectedly breech. every day i thank my stars that my care providers were experienced with normal, natural breech birth.
i am *very* concerened about how assisting a natural brrech birth is becomming a dying art, but feel helpless to know what to do about it!
sorry 4 the lack of caps, am nakking said breech baby now lol!
Cheers on the most lovely birth and baby. I had a breech at home. My midwife, who kindly nearly always avoids vag exams in labor, saw my daughter was breech just moments before she was borne – and out she came. I didn’t know she was born bottom first until she told me a few minutes later. I LAUGH to think of how this most simple of births would have been fumbled by doctors, if the breech had been known. Thanks heaven for that…
I am the mum in this video, and i am so glad the video is spreading the world and the word, that breech birth is just a deviation of normal! I truely hope it makes a difference to both women’s and care providers view’s on breech birth, it’s NOT scary….. this video proves it!! Ask yourselves “Do You Truely Trust Birth, in all its variations?”
Love Rose and Lilly xox
Thanks Rose, I think you meant variation of normal not deviation. I totally agree with you.
Thanks Lisa, i most certainly did, in my mother-exhausted fog which i stumble around in
Wonderful! I watched it with my nose to the monitor trying to see more! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Rose for sharing such a sacred time. Lisa i am loving your blog thanks for being such a powerful voice
Brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and this video (much thanks to the family as well)! I’m looking forward to the day when breech birth is seen as a variation of normal. Thank you!!
i love you, lisa. thank you for all that you do.
Profoundly beautiful! Thank you for sharing this video.
I loved the story, and having read Lily’s mothers birth story, it was beautiful to see her actual birth. and the most noticeable thing about the video is the peace surrounding the birth. No hustle or bustle or panic, just a quiet intimate birth. Please thank the family for sharing such a special moment with us. wow..
Thank you for sharing this and thank you so much to the mama. We need mothers to have more access to these positive messages about breech birth.
blessings
Robin
Coalition for Breech Birth
Ottawa, Canada
AWESOME Video and blog!!! Thanks for allowing us to be a part of that amazing experience.
My son was born 27 years ago and was a frank breech. It was a hospital birth and only luck of the draw allowed me to birth him vaginally as only 1 of the 4 doctors in that group had experience with breech births. Happily that doctor was on duty that day.
thanks Rose for posting this, i too had a breech home birth on new years eve, it was great to see how it actually happens, it was easily the best thing i haver ever done, and I often catch myself thinking about it and getting very proud! PS – I also swore lots! (not because he was breech but because that’s the way I seem to labour)! I am very happy to talk to anyone considereing breech birth etc, please do get in touch.
I’ve just found your blog, and that video is amazing. I really am speechless. Please thank that mother for allowing that video to be posted!! I delivered my frank breech son at a birthing center in the US, but it was kind of a wild party. We had the EMT guys called to transport me to the hospital, but my breech baby was out in 20 min, thank God. So they kind of turned into a cheer leading squad for me. Anyway, I would be interested to know what the breech book it was that you gave to the mother to read (or was it a different birth I read about?) Either way, I would love to read that book as I am an aspiring midwife.
My only criticism of this blog (like many similar homebirth website I have found) is that you confuse ANECDOTES for EVIDENCE. Just because your sister, or friend, of this lady on the internet had a safe breech birth at home does NOT mean, statistically, that vaginal breech births are “safe” for everyone, or that they are just as safe as c/s breech deliveries in hospital. There are several large, well-designed, published trials showing contrary to this. But for some reason you people always seem to ignore actual evidence, and, rather than refute it with your own evidence, throw more and more anecdotes into the argument instead.
The argument is akin to: sharks are known to be dangerous creatures, swimming with sharks is reported to be dangerous, but I’ve heard that some people occasionally survive shark attacks… ergo swimming with sharks is safe for all
You people need some education in stats, how to read the literature, principles of relative vs absolute risk, etc, etc.
Thanks for your comment. You sound so much like Dr Amy it’s uncanny. The absolute risk of C/S is highter than vaginal birth by at least 2ce. Please feel free to critique the large study and send it to me. If you mean the Hannah trial there is so much written on the methodology and results that it has been acknowledged that it was terribly flawed. There is not a single birth of any sort that doesn’t carry risk. I have never pretended otherwise. It is not just about the experience, your arguments are scrappy and repeatative, insults are simply used because you have no solid facts. If you ever posted something that was sound, I would be more than happy to publish it. You would rather slander people than deal with any real facts.
Thank you so much for allowing us to view what was a wonderful home birth, despite the fact lilly was breech!
I had a baby boy in march, he was an undiagnosed breech, i was rushed from a lovely midwife run ( only 6 beds) hospital to a busy town hospital. Midwife in tow, with a delievery bag and husband following in the car! Scared and unsure of what was happening I had a natural delievery with the assistance of an epidural. I was told this was essential as it was likely i baby would get stuck and i would be rushed to theatre. Is that true?!!! I would have prefered to have continued with gas and air?!
It was all slightly overwhelming I ended up with a two doctor a trainee and two midwifes all just watching. Since then I have been fustrated at the fact i felt i missed out on what actually happened. I have been trying to find a video of a breech birth to see how he was born. My baby actually came out bottom first instead of foot but i feel reasured that should i have another breech delievery it doesn’t have to be as hectic, worrying and stressful as last time!
So a very big thankyou for allowing me to see your wonderful experience. If anything it has shown me that it not as terifying as it felt at the time. You have reassured me that breech can be just as calm straight forward.
Good luck for the future with your new addition.
I wish I had video taped my memories, I do have pics so that is nice. My little girl was frank breech and we birthed after having to drive out of state and wait for 9 days for her arrival. In the USA there are very little choices for a woman having a birth undrugged and fastley approaching uncut, unless you are ready to search out the safe havens that midwives, birth centers and home births provide. Great video and wonderful encouragement!
Oh, what a beautiful birth! Thank you, and the Mum, so much for sharing it with us.
Thankyou so much for posting this video. I had a footling breech (twin 2) 27 years ago and I always wondered what it was like. Twin 1 (we already knew) had a severe neural tube defect incompatible with life and my main concern was to be awake in case he died shortly after birth. I had an epidural so that even if I needed a C-section, I would be awake. All went well and twin 1 died in my arms at 4 days. Twin 2 had a cleft lip and palate, but that seemed relatively trivial (he’s now a thriving adult with a very pleasant disposition).
I still remember seeing his foot
I stayed anon because it’s his story too.
Thank you!! Thank you Lisa, Rose & Lilly.
I have tears of joy and admiration streaming down my cheeks after watching your video.
Thank you for spreading awareness of breech as normal, and that birth is to be trusted and allowed to happen uninterrupted.
Words cannot express the way watching Lilly's birth has touched my heart. I thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I have tears in my eyes. My daughter was born 2 months ago, at home, frank breech position, with some assistance from our midwife.
Thank you so much for spreading the word. Babies can be born breech!
I want to be a homebirth midwife who is skilled in ‘watching’ breech birth. I live in Seattle but can go anywhere if you know of someone I could spend some time with to learn from. I will be a midwife in 2011, and a naturopathic physician. I am in school now at Bastyr University – 2 more years! Please if you have any leads, tell me michele.sayball@bastyr.edu I want to help woman who choose to have a normal variation of birth. They deserve it and they do not deserve to have that choice made for them by society. Help me normalize this. Help me learn! Thanks!! Thanks for all you do for woman and babies!!
I am the mother of a beautiful baby girl. She was born in a hospital and I would not have done it any differently.
I personally believe that home birthing is selfish. It may be more relaxing for you and your partner but you are putting yourself and your baby in danger.
The most common reason I hear for the decision to have a home birth is because it’s more natural and the way that nature intended it. However, if you think reasonably you will realize that back when drugs and hospitals were not available many mothers and infants died in childbirth. It was not uncommon for this to occur. I find it incredibly selfish for anyone to put their child at risk when you can deliver in a hospital where the risks of birthing are significantly decreased.
Many hospital birthing centers are made to be very comfortable. The hospital I delivered in had made a great effort to do this. They had beautiful flowers and other decorations. The rooms were dimly lit and they had plenty of furniture in the room to accommodate family and friends. The nurses were very absent unless needed so we could have plenty of family/quiet time as soon as my daughter was born. All in all it was a wonderful experience and I found comfort in knowing that if there were complications that my daughter as well as myself would be safer and have the best, most innovative care.
Dear Anonymous, why didn’t you put your name to this. Please back up your statement that homebirth puts you and your baby in danger. If you were to look for yourself you will see the spike of mortality that happened in the industrial revolution was due to citification. Hygiene and nutrition, the two things most affected by this caused way more problems than anything. Prior this time the linear stats were in a different direction. I find it incredibly selfish of anyone to put their new born baby through potentially fatal interventions with no fore thought. Check out the perinatal stats they don’t back up anything you say.
You found comfort in the sheep approach and that’s ok. It should be the womans right to chose to do their own research and take an individual and personal approach to the most important thing that will ever happen in a womans life.