Coming to terms with undiagnosed breech delivery

[JessH123]

I had my second baby in April this year. With my first I was induced so I think I missed some signs of what natural labour start would be like. Had some twinges which by mid morning had developed into contractions. I was very calm and handling them well so I assumed it'd take a while but given they were every minute and a half we decided to go to hospital.

On my walk to the midwife led unit I was stopping for contractions and then my waters went and my son's feet fell out - undiagnosed footling breech. I waddled into the ward and as soon as the midwives saw it was footling the buzzers went the room packed out and I was put up on stirrups and told to just keep pushing, don't wait for contractions just keep pushing.

My son was born 10 mins later and taken straight for resuscitation whilst they focused on me getting the placenta out. The atmosphere felt tense and for the first ten mins I genuinely thought my baby had died, till my midwife shouted for an update for me. It was half hour before his breathing stabilised and he could come to me for skin to skin. The midwife and Dr were fantastic and I'm so relieved we made it there but four months down the line I'm still struggling to emotionally unpack it. My son is doing great no problems from the delivery but I keep thinking what if we didn't make it in time, why didn't I think to go earlier and why wasn't it picked up.

I had concerns about my son's position pre birth because my bump looked a bit odd and I was getting alot of pain on my cervix which I now know was him kicking me. I was told by my community midwife he was head engaged even though she detected his heart beat above my belly button and I even joked it felt like he was kicking my cervix down. I questioned the position but she was adamant head engaged. It didn't occur to me he could be feet first but I feel let down it wasn't detected. As a side note, would you report the midwife for not detecting it? If it should have been picked up I'd want to flag it if additional training is needed because I feel we were lucky and the next person may not be.

Anyway, anyone been through similar? Have you come to terms with it now? I have asked for a labour debrief which my midwife says she's requested but I still haven't heard anything and she's not coming back to me about it. The health visitor did offer to help push it through so I will take her up on that.

This is not what you asked but sharing in case it helps - I am the breech baby from almost this exact situation! For my parents, I have always known it was very traumatic for them and I think they would be diagnosed with PTSD nowadays. For me, there were some concerns for a short while after the birth but I've gone on to have a very healthy and happy life with no lasting issues, and a wonderful younger sister too.

Congratulations on your baby and I hope you find the peace with their birth that you deserve.

As Pp said, follow up with PALS - they were great at shifting my debrief along. If possible try and have yours with a consultant or registrar - my midwife made some assumptions during my debrief which later turned out to be incorrect but made the time following the debrief very difficult. Not saying all do but i found the consultant much clearer and accurate. Wishing you the best x

Around 22 weeks my son had additional scan due to family medical history and the sonographer said he was breeched - that was the last scan I had. I raised at my next midwife appt (a different midwife to my assigned one) and she said he was still breeched but had plenty of time to move. All appts since then his position was marked as normal.

GrannieMainland that's a good idea about writing to the hospital regarding additional scan - it sounds like this is more common to miss than I thought.

Thelonelygiraffe I hadn't heard of PALS thank you. I think I'll try that because I'm not hearing back from my midwife on it. She made a weird comment at my discharge like funny I'm discharging you when I've only seen you the once - I did see other midwives during my pregnancy because she was often off but she saw me at least 6 times so it felt a weird thing to say.

I think the trauma I'm struggling with is nearly losing him and the guilt with that feeling like if that happened it would have been my fault because i didn't think to leave sooner or I didn't realise he was footling when everything made so much more sense once I knew. I mean we literally made it there in minutes I nearly had him in the car park. It was just all so tight. I'm hoping the labour debrief will help answer my questions, maybe it wasn't as close as it felt or even if it was I then know that was the case and I can accept it for what it is. Im generally fine and loving my time with little one but I think back to that day way more than I think is healthy and I do find myself more protective and worried about my son. Id probably benefit from talking to someone if it doesn't pass after the debrief.

Newbornmum23 that sounds like a very traumatic birth hope you're ok. You may find better understanding what you went through helps but just do what you think is best for you.

I know but she is talking about suing a midwife for missing it when she may not have

Spirallingdownwards I'm not on about suing just whether I should report it if midwife would benefit from additional training to save it being missed for someone else. I'm quite certain it was missed - the pain I felt on my cervix was kicking. My son was and still is very active with his legs, from birth you'd struggle to get nappy on him he'd kick his legs so furiously. I use to find it quite triggering because I recognised the pattern

I get this post and can relate to it completely! All the what ifs, if this hadn't have happened etc. When I had my first, I had a awful delivery and frankly it was the midwifes lack of support, from the person who delivered to the ward staff. I nearly ended up serverly ill, had to go back into hospital for a couple of nights. I struggle to remember anything about the whole newborn phase, which my son, and looking back I had post natal depression, but just thought it was me going mad at the time!

I did have a debrief where I could relay my concerns to lead midwife, and it did help to have someone listen to my concerns, it was certainly not about suing anybody, and yes listening to stories where others have also found it so very difficult, that helps. In the moment it feels as though, it's only you going through the difficult times.Eventually I went on to give birth again, which was the best experience of my life! I felt so much more in control, and happier.

Ultimately guess what I'm saying is be kind and give yourself time. I can imagine what you went through was so traumatic and you felt let down. Congratulations on the birth of your baby.

Thank you Starshine08. Glad to hear you are doing better. I was fortunate to have a very positive experience in the hospital itself whilst the birth was very traumatic the Dr and main midwife I had were fantastic and really helped coach me to get him out as quickly as possible

Ds (my 1st) was footling breech which was spotted so I was booked for a Csection at 38 wks. However I went into labour at 37 wks, his heart rate dipped but little cottage hospital 'didn't want to wake Consultant unless really necessary'. He was born blue with cord around his neck 3 times & needed resus. My 2nd was transverse lie throughout. Csec at 37 wks. It was very stressful & I wish u had chance to go over it. But, we're here & we're safe.

Can I ask what is labour like when breech? Do you tear? It sounds scary.

Should they feel if a baby is back to back?

I would report to the midwife's line manager yes, as you say for extra training. She should have offered you a scan referral in my (non prof) opinion

Because of my experience with DS1 being an unidentified breech I insisted on a positioning scan when I was around 36 weeks with DS2. It took 5 mins to quickly check that he was head down and gave me enormous peace of mind.

medianewbie sorry you went through that. That's ridiculous not to want to wake the consultant. So glad your kid is ok. I went to midwife led unit as I didn't know about the breech as soon as they saw his feet the buzzer went and probably around 20 odd people filled the room including drs.

BBno4 I had a lot of pain in my back with contractions. I don't know that the delivery was anymore painful than normal would be. With my first they prepped me for csection in last 5 mins of labour because of low heart rate, though I managed to push him out in the end. So I went from feeling everything to feeling nothing. So I don't have anything to compare pain to in terms of them coming out. Weirdly my recovery was much better with the breech than my 1st, second degree tear Vs episotomy with my 1st. I think because there was no intervention it was probably easier to physically recover from. My 1st was forceps delivery. I imagine it'd be different with a breech where legs are over the head though. A natural delivery with a footling breech is not recommended though because of the risk it poses to the baby.

Unexpectedlysinglemum I do wonder this given questions I asked and having been flagged as breech earlier on. ChazsBrilliantAttitude I don't plan on having more but if I did I would definitely do this. rickandmorts I think they should, though I'm not 100% sure

My breech baby was missed by the experienced midwife on examination but then caught by a student midwife who was with her!

Okay thank you. Interesting that you had a worse recovery with an episiotomy. I also had one with a terrible recovery. I had a horrendous long drawn out labour and when DD was coming out the midwife was surprised she was back to back. I didn't know if they were meant to spot it before.