I’ve been reading up on things that can go wrong, and probably will continue to do so over the next 8 months.
I came across this fantastic article which outlines 17 methods of turning a breech baby in order to facilitate a head-first delivery. Brenda Lee (author) writes that after the 1970’s doctors stopped delivering breech babies vaginally as had been the previous practice, and now, very few have the skills and/or knowledge.
Breech babies account for only 4% of all pregnancies, but here is the Suite 101 article on Turning a Breech Baby.
One response to “Turning a Breech Baby”
Um, yeah, lets just say with Lily I tried all of those nice and not so nice tips….Lily was born breech via c-section anyway! Turns out if the baby is in a frank breech position…(their feet are straight up in the air like they are folded in half, with their feet in their face) there is no way for the baby to gain leverage to turn, so unfortunately it doesn’t matter what you do…the baby will be breech if they get into that position (usually) in the last 3-4 weeks of your pregnancy. Which is what happened with Lily when I was 37 wks. I was scheduled to have my doctor try and turn her, 4 days after she was safely delivered.. LOL
My doctor had my due date off by a little more than two weeks (I’m a person who ovulates later than day 14!) but despite all my efforts she would not believe that I, a patient could possible know more than her!!! So she refused to try and move the baby before she thought the baby was 38 1/2 weeks. When Lily was born, the nurse had the nerve 🙂 to mention in front of the doctor that “this baby isn’t early! This baby is full term and probably a couple days past her due date!” DUHHHH!
Lesson learned? Ask your doctor before your 5th month (so if you disagree you have time to switch doctors *** see note below!) what her/his policy is regarding babies in the breech position and at what week they will attempt to turn the baby. I learned later that most doctors won’t turn a baby after week 38 because they get to big! (may I say again Duh!)
***I also found out that most OB/GYN’s will not accept you as a patient, if you are switching doctors after your 5th or 6th month. I guess it’s considered a big no no in the medical industry of respect and feelings between doctors. LOL
One other consideration, if you are going to have your doctor/midwife…try and change the babies position, it should ALWAYS be done in the hospital OR, because it can cause the baby to go into distress and die within minutes! So you need to be at a hospital where they can do an emergency c-section if necessary…!
Just my thoughts 🙂