Please talk to me about natural breech births

[Backgammon]

What are the advantages of a natural breech birth over a planned c-section please?

Am looking for advantages for the baby only (obv know about recovery for mothers from c-section).

Thanks!

[lynniep]

I'm afraid I don't have any offerings on the benefits front to give you either. I was unlucky - like Rolf my breech baby was undiagnosed. Unlike Rolf, however, the speed of the birth as well as him being feet first resulted in a very poorly baby. I chose not to have a c-section (he was halfway down the birth canal by the time they realised he was footling) but his shoulder was stuck so it was v. traumatic for him trying to get him out. They didnt know how long he was without oxygen due to cord compression. I dont think it helped that he was quite big (8lb2oz)

The midwife actually called for the consultant when they realised - he had never delivered a breech either, so he did the delivery - she watched with about 7 other people who were on stand-by to resusitate.

DS has recovered fully but the first week was touch and go - all his organs failed, he was ventilated the first night and fitting regularly. We had months of waiting to see if there was evidence of brain damage.

If it happened again, I would be hard pressed to choose a natural birth. I'd rather go through the pain of a c-section than see my baby suffer like DS did. But it is very much the 'luck' of the draw. Rolfs experience was totally different to mine.

[motheroftwoboys]

DS1 (now nearly 18!) was breech so I had an elective C section. I was 34. It was a wonderful experience and it took me much, much less time to recover from that than from DS2 "natural"/forceps birth a couple of years later.

[Rolf]

Lynniep - I'm glad your DS recovered and hope I didn't upset you. I am aware of how very lucky DD and I were. Your experience sounds terrifying.

[happyfaceschildcare]

Hi there, not wanting to scare anybody but my daughter was extended breech and my midwife and doctor encouraged me to go for a vaginal delivery because she was only small, her being my first and not knowing any different I went along with it, everything went against us she went in to distress,she had the cord around her neck and got stuck, she was to far out to push back in and to far in to untangle her, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but that's my personal opinion I'm sure some people have breech deliveries that are perfectly normal but I would have recovered from a c section alot quicker than it took for her to get better and discharged from hospital - good luck

[beforesunrise]

my cousin had a natural breech delivery (bottom first) 3 months ago. she had a scan at 36weeks, all was fine but then her baby decided to turn around overnight and come out the next day. it all went so fast there was no time for a section, and this is in scalpel-happy Italy where they do a section almost automotically if not textbook labour. she was therefore incredibly lucky to find an old midwife on the shift who completely took over from the young obstetrician who was nominally in charge (all births in Italy are consultants led) and delivered her little girl safely and soundly. she told me one look at the consultant's face was enough to scare her out of her wits, but the mw was cool and collected throughout.

all went well, save for a massive episiotomy, but she told me she would never repeat the experience and if shed known baby was breech she would have gone for a section any time. the reason is not so much the pain or recovery, but the way she lived the birth, she said she was in complete and utter panic the whole time and felt really lost and scared, imo that counts for a lot and if you go into the labour AWARE that there is a higher risk, it makes the whole thing much harder on the mum.

previous posters have given lots of very good advice based on first hand experience, but whatever you decide- best of luck!

[Tangle]

Lynniep - that sounds awful. I'm so glad things seem OK now.

I think knowing DC is breech in advance of labour is a huge advantage - at least you have time to try and make an informed choice when you're not under pressure.

madmouse - the version of "hands-off" breech birth that I experienced and that I am advocating is that used by Mary Cronk: The midwives remain completely hands off until they catch the baby. If it looks needed, the mother is encouraged to drop from all fours to a knees/elbows (or shoulders) position which rotates the pelvis and releases the head. I didn't need to do this for DD.

Backgammon - Some recent papers (dicussed and referrenced here) show that vaginal breech delivery is as safe as CS as long as strict criteria are met. This research seems much more rigorous than the Term Breech Trial (which found much poorer results for vaginal breeches than CS, but has since been widely dicredited). These papers are still looking at vaginal breech delivery or extraction rather than vaginal breech birth, however, and talking to experienced midwives would suggest that a vaginal breech birth may be safer still.

Some generalised risks to the baby of a CS are the risk of premature birth (if your dates are wrong for whatever reason) and the risk of being cut by the surgeon. As you say upfront, a lot of the risks in CS relate to the mother rather than the baby and some of those risks are far more significant if you want more children.

Hope your appointment went well

[morocco]

all I can add is it is also worth considering the risks to future pregnancies as a c section tends to load risk onto the next pregnancy. this might not be mentioned by the consultant, i don't know if it is part of the 'talk', but is worth knowing about now rather than later

[Backgammon]

Hi,

thank you everyone for all your replies, they are really helpful.

I saw the consultant today and the baby is not breech (confirmed with a scan). I am so relieved!!!

This was all really useful info though, thank you all for sharing your experiences with me

[Tangle]

Backgammon - so pleased for you. Makes life much easier! Fingers crossed the baby stays nicely head down and you have a good birth

[Alishanty]

I was a breech baby delivered naturally. My mum decided that she didn't want a c-section. It all went ok apart from she had to have an episotomy. In a way she said it was easier as she didn't have that horrible feeling of the head pushing down. Just to let you know that it could be done.

[madmouse]

wahee backgammon, that is the best ossible outcome!

[happyfaceschildcare]

Congrats - well done so pleased for you and the baby will make things much easier I'm sure, good luck with everything x

[laweaselmys]

Very exciting! Glad you don't have to choose now g

For other people's reference much family knowledge leads to the opinion that it is really 50/50 but the evenness of the stats depends on how comfortable/practiced your doctor's/midwives are at doing either one. The danger of vaginal delivery is supposedly that the amount of time one has to fix anything that might go wrong is much shorter (a doctor told my dad when I was being born that it was eight seconds! But would need a doc to double check that memory). C-Section in contrast has all the usual risks of major surgery. Statistically the risks come out the same.

I expect to be in this situation (lots of breeches in my family, I know it doesn't mean that I will have one necessarily - but it's best to be prepared) and have decided that since I have no really strong desire either way I would just go with whatever the consultant was comfy with and recommended!