Breech postion - experiences of a trial labour (Pregnancy Complications)

Member Name: maria14

Product:	Pregnancy Complications
Date:	06/01/09 (235 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It all ended very happily, but not as we expected!

Disadvantages: Millions of internal examinations, and stressed health care professionals

With my second pregnancy, they started telling me the baby was lying in the breech position - ie bottom down. It was still pretty early - about 6 months and as far as I was concerned, not a worry. I knew that while first pregnancy babies rarely moved, subsequent pregancies often involved a shift in position.

Significantly, my mum's advice was that her second pregnancy involved the baby lying in a breech position until the last minute, but then the baby (my sister) moved and was delivered head first.

Weeks went by and at eight months I was called in to see the consultant. The scan was showing the baby was still breech and big. I have a small build, so the consultant's recommendation was that I have a C section.

I had three issues with this. I have not had one before.

I had a twelve month old baby at home who was still being carried everywhere and a C section would interfere with my ability to care for him.

Plus I had my mum telling me not to worry, and the baby would move. And my gut feeling was that she was right.

I rang the NCT and they spoke about having a trial labour. Someone else recommended doing the yoga position of the cat, to maximise the amount of room available to the baby. This I did like mad.

At just over three weeks before my due date, I went to see the consultant. I was scanned again - baby still breech. The consultant was superb, in that she was prepared to discuss the options with me.

Her advice was still a C section.

Or I could be X rayed, to assess accurately the size of the baby and the size of my pelvis. (X rays of a foetus do involve risks.)

Or, agree to be induced three weeks early - ie the following Monday and have a trial labour.

Any thing else would be against her advice.

I opted to be induced and have a trial labour, three weeks early.

I was admitted to hospital on the Monday and put on a monitor straight away. They asked me if I had felt the baby turn that weekend. I confirmed that I had felt only kicks. For the next 24 hours, I was internally examined repeatedly. In part to check the baby was still breech, and in part to try and get the labour started.

A senior nurse called Brenda examined me internally herself and said that she could feel the baby's 'bony bum.' She was present at every subsequent exam and on each occasion, told the examining doctor that 'the baby has a bony bum.' A student nurse said she could feel the baby's head and was immediately squashed by Brenda.

Significantly I was not rescanned.

After 24 hours of internal exams, being on the monitor and labour not starting, my waters were broken and I was put on the drip to begin a chemical induction.

Tuesday afternoon, I was taken up to the Central Delivery Unit, even though I was only a few cms dilated. I met my midwife who was going to delivery my baby. She was a smashing girl called Debbie, who had a really radical punky hairstyle. Laid on the bed on which I was going to deliver, she examined me again.

The first thing she said was 'I can feel the baby's head.' She checked the monitor print outs. There had been no signficant movement. Another internal exam. She said 'I'm sure its a head.'

She then went out and brought in a lovely Greek doctor. By this time, I had had about 20 internal exams over the previous 48 hours. I remember saying out of exasperation - 'Not another internal exam.' He laughed and said very kindly 'No no. I think its time to get you rescanned.'

They brought the scanner into the delivery room, and guess what, my beautiful baby girl was head down. Her sense of timing continues to be exquisite, even 9 years on.

The sense of relief felt by the doctor and the midwife Debbie was visible. He said 'Oh that is good news' and she smiled and agreed. But when he had gone, she literally started punching the air and saying yes, yes.

They both looked again at the monitor sheets over the previous 48 hours to see if they had missed the baby's shift on position. They hadn't, so she must have moved over the weekend and been head down when I was admitted.

The bony bum that Brenda kept referring to was in fact the baby's head.

They asked me whether I had felt anything strange at all. The only thing I could think of was that on the Saturday, I had become very tearful and had climbed into a wardrobe to hide! Extremely bizarre behaviour, but I had put it down to anxiety over going into hospital.

As soon as I told them about this, they both said, 'Oh that will have been it' as though I should have realised all along. Apparantly, the baby moving can be signified by an intense emotional response as well as feeling it physically.

So I had a normal delivery, (though my placenta didn't detach.) My baby was and is beautiful and was 6lb 12 at birth. The next night in hospital I was visited by the student nurse from earlier, who said 'I told you I could feel the head.'

Conclusions to be drawn - I'm not sure really.

1. It was brilliant having a consultant who was willing to treat me as an adult and discuss the options with me.

2. Babies do move at the last minute - as my mum predicted.

3. You don't always feel them physically shift position. Going temporarily nuts can be a sign of the baby having shifted.

4. They should have scanned me again, before putting me on the monitor.

5. I can't forget how massively relieved the midwife was at not having to do a breach delivery. How unusual are these? Is it just that doctors are so willing to opt for a C section, that midwives are losing this skill, or do they pose a significant risk?

6. The Cat Position is really good for your back, and may have helped the baby move!

Summary: A difficult decision for any parents to be, but having an understanding consultant helps