Baby Tips
Surprise Natural Breech Birth Story – No C-Section
This post is part of several birth stories submitted by REAL women looking to share their experiences with other women. If you’re interested in submitting a birth story, please visit my contact page.
This is a beautiful breech baby success story shared by a lovely mama and reader of the blog. Her surprise natural breech birth is so beautiful to read. Seriously, it brought me to tears.
Granted, most birth stories make me cry at least a little bit! Hah!
If you’re pregnant and you’re wondering about labor and delivery and want to hear REAL stories from other women, this is a positive natural birth that is very unique!
Let’s hear about Laura’s birth!
Surprise Natural Breech Birth Story – No C-Section
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Reminder that these are Laura’s experience and do not substitute the medical advice of your physician. Always talk to your doctor about your unique situation!
Spoiler alert – my second birth was a surprise breech birth. This baby had been head-down at my last check-up, but 4 days before her birth I became aware that she had dropped, as I was suddenly able to breathe easier.
I should have been clued in to the change by the kicks. Instead of being kicked in the ribs, I could feel kicks in my groin. However, breech never crossed my mind – I just assumed baby’s feet were folded down by her face, or else I was feeling punches.
This second labor started 17 days before my due date. I had had Braxton Hicks since 30 weeks, but there was nothing out of the ordinary that morning or the night before to warn it was coming.
It was like something out of a movie: I was minutes away from leaving the house that morning, when out of nowhere WHOOSH, I was standing in a giant puddle with the toddler standing there staring and repeating “mess! Mess! Mom make mess!”
Contractions started within about 30 minutes, much stronger than the early stages of my first labor, so I could tell things were going to accelerate much more quickly that my first birth (30 hours).
We got to the birth center about 2 hours after that. One thing I am grateful for with this birth was that the midwife never did a single cervical check – she didn’t want to risk infection with my waters already broken. As it turns out, you don’t need cervical checks to know how to give birth 😉 Plus, this is probably another reason no one discovered the breech situation, which helped me avoid an unnecessary c-section.
With my first labor, my strategy had been to relax deeply to ride out the contractions, but this time I knew I wanted to do something that would keep them moving along.
I spent a lot of time pacing the halls, leaning over a chair or against my husband to sway during a contraction. I never felt like eating, but I know my body needs fuel, so I nibbled cheezits and sipped juice.
About 6 hours into labor, I knew things were getting close. The contractions were quite strong by then. With my first, I had reached that other-worldly place mentally – but this time I felt very present mentally and well aware of what was going on!
3 Positive Birth Stories from Real Women to Read Before Labor
They filled the tub for me to try a water birth, which I was hoping would be gentler than my birth stool birth (and hopefully less tearing/stitches).
I could feel the baby descending and announced “I’m going to push” when I felt the urge and began pushing immediately. The official time recorded for pushing came out to 2 minutes. Things were definitely stretching uncomfortably, and I assumed I was working on baby’s head. My first clue was the surprised midwife saying “baby’s coming out feet first!”
Things got a little chaotic there, but it was always controlled chaos – the midwife and nurse handled things wonderfully. The midwife directed me to get out of the water and stand, so I did!
Somehow my husband ended up in the tub holding me, where I put one leg up on the side of the tub in what we call the “Captain Morgan pose.” I’m sure he will never forget the sight of baby’s bottom half hanging out of my bottom half!
I wasn’t sure what was going on below, but in the background I could hear the nurse calling 911 for emergency backup just in case – this was their standard protocol for such a situation, but that made it no less alarming for me, being completely mentally present.
She was using terms like “possible resuscitation”, and I figured there wasn’t going to be any resuscitation on my account. I calmly asked “should keep I pushing now?” to which everyone responded “YES!”
Another push or 2, and baby came flying out in a great position with her hands up by her face and her chin tucked. My first words were “is she breathing?? Is she breathing??” over and over.
They kept reassuring me that she was pink and breathing fine, in what seemed like the eternity it took to suction out her lungs a bit and pass her up to me – I’m pretty sure it was only like 3 seconds.
The EMTs were already at the door, but they never came into the room since all was well. We had just done a perfect breech birth, which the nurse later described to me as surreal to watch.
Our daughter came flying into the world 17 days early, feet first after 6.5 hours of labor and weighing 7lbs 5oz. We got to take her home a little over 12 hours later (they monitored longer for signs of infection because she was on the earlier side).
We are so grateful to God that all went well and to avoid what would have otherwise been a completely unnecessary c-section. I remember recounting a friend’s breech birth and saying “I don’t think I’m hard core enough to do that.”
God must have been laughed and said “watch this!” The more I have learned about breech birth since then, the more I have come to believe that it is just a variation of normal birth.
Breech babies can have complications, and vertex babies can have complications – the secret is in the provider knowing when to be hands-off and when and how to intervene and with what techniques.
This is a guest post submission of a natural birth story by Laura P. Laura is a mom of 2 expecting her third little one. To read her first birth center birth story, go here.
These are her opinions, experiences, and thoughts and do not reflect professional medical advice. Always consult your physician about your own medical situation!
Other posts you may like:
My 4th Natural Birth: Charlotte’s Natural Hospital Birth Story
Birth Center Story: A Natural Birth for First Baby
Last Hospital Bag Checklist for Mom and Baby