celeste@ssc-bee.UUCP (Celeste A Strahl) (10/10/85)
I am almost 6 months pregnant and my ultra-sound indicates that my baby is in the breech position. My questions are - Is this common? - What are the chances (she)(he) will turn around? - If (he)(she) remains breech, what are my options?
45223wc@mtuxo.UUCP (w.cambre) (10/16/85)
I am posting this response for my wife since her machine is not on the net. From mcc Tue Oct 15 23:11 EDT 1985 remote from genesis Hi, I'm a childbirth educator in New Jersey. A baby being breech at six months gestation is not uncommon. It by no means suggests that it will be breech during labor. Until around 8 months (depending on the mother, baby, uterus, etc.), the baby has plenty of room to go from side to side and head to breech (otherwise turn flip-flops). Even if the baby is breech at 7-8 months, there is a 90% chance that he/she will turn by 9 months. With simple exercises or, possibly, external version (hand manipulations on the outside of the mother's abdomen), the chance increases to at least 95%. If the baby remains breech by 8 months, and you can tell this pretty reliably without doing anymore ultrasounds, you should be making sure your care provider is willing to go for a vaginal breech, if you want a vaginal breech. There are care providers that will assist you in this choice, but your everyday obstetrician is probably not one of them. It is NOT true that you must automatically have a cesarean if the baby is breech. However, most care providers don't have the confidence (have not seen enough vaginal breeches to be confident) in the body's ability to have one. It has been too easy for them to schedule a cesarean instead. Now, however, professionals and consumers both are realizing that a cesarean is not without risk, both for mother and baby. I have seen vaginal breeches here in New Jersey, which is a pretty backward state as far as that's concerned. Unless you go to Tennessee, you will probably have to plan a hospital birth if the baby is definitely breech in the 9th month. But even that doesn't mean you have to be confined to a bed and give birth with stirrups and lots of medication - the slide set "Breech Birth in the Squatting Position" shows a vaginal breech birth in a hospital. What you can do now is 1) take very good care of yourself - don't give anyone any other reason for a cesarean - especially eating plenty of wholesome, nutritional food, with little sugar (so your baby won't get any bigger than your body, and it's genes, had intended), 2) find and relieve any stresses, and voice any fears and anxieties you may have, as these tend to affect the uterus to favor a breech, and 3) find a broad-based chilbirth education class (such as Bradley, or similar to Bradley), so you will have some local support, and someone to ask questions of and possibly recommend care providers if yours does not seem willing to consider alternatives. You will probably not need to plan a breech birth,though. As I mentioned in the beginning, you already have over a 90% chance the baby will turn.
speaker@ttidcb.UUCP (Kenneth Speaker) (10/21/85)
A breech baby may often be rotated by a procedure called External Cephalic Rotation, which although "popular" in California may not be practiced in other states as often. Essentially, a few days before expected birth, a physician and an assistant will attempt to rotate the child via external means (i.e., their hands). It is is a painless procedure (well, almost painless), takes about 3-5 minutes at most, and is "usually" succesful. It does not work if there is insufficient amniotic fluid or the mother is too small, or (I seem to remember) has a lower success rate in first births. Definitely check with your physician about this procedure. Three minutes is a small price to avoid surgery. --Kne