Latest / The Birth Lounge Podcast / Ep. 500: How to Turn a Breech Baby: Posture, Spinning Babies, ECV, and Finding a Breech-Trained Provider

Transcript

Ep. 500: How to Turn a Breech Baby: Posture, Spinning Babies, ECV, and Finding a Breech-Trained Provider · The Birth Lounge Podcast

• 0:00
  You know, having a breech baby is not as dangerous as it's cracked up to be.
• Can it be? Absolutely.
• It can absolutely end in tragedy, but it doesn't have to.
• 0:12
  The education exists, the practice, the skill, it's there.
• 0:18
  Our American hospitals just aren't doing it.
• 0:59
  Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Birth Lounge Podcast.
• 1:04
  If you are feeling overwhelmed and unsure of where to turn to for evidence-based education around your pregnancy and birth, maybe you've just found out that you're pregnant and you don't really even know where to start.
• 1:19
  Maybe you're well into your pregnancy and you're starting to have questions, but you're having a hard time understanding what is honest, data-driven, science-backed education versus what is just viral and circulating on the internet.
• 1:41
  Then I want to introduce you to The Birth Lounge app This is an app that is designed to put the control back in your hands no matter where you are in pregnancy.
• 1:53
  It's available for iPhone and Android, so head to your respective app stores and type in The Birth Lounge app, and you'll be able to download the app directly to your phone and access it any time.
• 2:08
  So one of my favorite features is the week-by-week update of fetal development, and you know me, I'm not gonna be comparing your baby to the size of a lime or an apple or a cantaloupe or something.
• 2:21
  No, I want you to actually know what's going on.
• 2:24
  When I say data-driven, I mean it.
• 2:27
  I want you to know, hey, this week you're growing kidneys, and hey, guess what? This week you're working on them ears, baby.
• 2:36
  I want you to know exactly what your baby is doing inside of your belly so that you can stay informed, so that you know no matter where you are in pregnancy, you are the decision-maker, you have free will and autonomy, and you have access to data that will help you make the best decisions for you and your family.
• 3:01
  In addition to that week-by-week update of what your baby's actually going through, you're also gonna find pregnancy and postpartum evidence-based articles.
• 3:11
  Now, these are gonna tackle your most common questions.
• 3:14
  Should I really get tested for GBS? Why do we test for gestational diabetes? What is the science behind hiring a doula? Do I really need to write a birth plan? What is the best position to birth my baby in order to reduce my push times and decrease tearing? What are the newborn procedures that I should expect after my baby is born? How much should my baby be eating? How do I establish good breastfeeding? What about newborn sleep? Help, the umbilical cord fell off.
• 3:52
  OMG, I'm still bleeding, and I don't know if this blood clot is too big.
• 3:57
  All of it is inside of The Birth Lounge.
• 4:01
  Not only do you get those evidence-based articles, but I link all of the data for you so that you can click on it.
• 4:07
  It's clickable links.
• 4:08
  I want you to be able to access the data that I'm talking about.
• 4:13
  You can just rely on me to synthesize it, but I'm still gonna give you the resources that I'm sharing with you.
• 4:19
  And in addition to that, at the end of every single article, there are questions broken down that you can take back to your provider to ask them so that you can truly have this collaborative, respectful communication with them to make sure that not only are you getting evidence-based medical care, but that you're really building this really respectful, collaborative relationship and getting individualized care from your healthcare team.
• 4:45
  Head to your app store, whether you have an iPhone or an Android, and download The Birth Lounge app.
• 4:52
  I promise you it's gonna be such a game changer Today, we're gonna be talking about breech babies.
• This is something that I get asked about quite often, probably because I'm not quiet on the idea that breech is a variation of how a baby might be positioned in your body.
• I don't think that it necessarily in and of itself is an emergency or an obstetrical complication.
• I think that breech birth can be very, very safe, and there are previous episodes on the show where I have experts on and I share my own opinions.
• but today, I wanna talk about how you can actually set your body up right, and not that there's a right or a wrong, but there are positional things you can do to encourage your baby to be head down.
• Not only that, but if your baby is breech, what options do you have to get them head down? Which I want to take a moment to kind of hone in on that little piece right there is get your baby head down.
• I do think that some babies are very amenable to this, and I think that some babies are gonna flip head down, no problem, be pretty easy.
• But then you're gonna have babies who are more challenging to flip down, or maybe no matter what you try, they may not flip head down at all.
• And in those cases, I really want to challenge you to think about, does your baby know something that we don't know? Does your baby know something that n- that they know they should be feet down, head up, right? I think our babies are very, very smart.
• They are very intuitive, and they have insights that we do not have access to.
• Now, you have access to your baby in a way that none of us do.
• So I really wanna challenge you to take some time to sit down and really connect with your baby and think about, is there a reason that your baby may not be going head down? All right, let's talk about what we can do with our body to encourage our babies to go head down and remain head down.
• And when I say go head down, don't forget that babies in the first and second trimester, they still have a lot of space in there, and so they are gonna be able to flip around.
• And just because they're breech today, they may not be breech tomorrow.
• But once we start to get to 26, 28 weeks, a lot of times we start to see your baby kind of nestle down into your pelvis, and that's the position in which we're really, really concerned about, 'cause we want them to be head down.
• If they aren't, I think that the first place to start is to watch your posture.
• Now, if you are someone who watches your posture regularly every day throughout each day, then you should be good.
• If you are not someone who kind of leans back or lounges or slumps when you sit, then you should be all set.
• Your posture matters so much because your ribcage and your pelvis, they talk to one another, and those are kind of like the bookends of where your baby sits in your body, right? Your ribs are on top of them, and your pelvis is underneath them.
• And so when those two things are kind of crunched together because you are slouching, your baby is going to find a position that is more comfortable.
• I have this working theory that's sometimes how we get transverse babies.
• Because the ribcage and the pelvis comes together, the open space is this way.
• No data to show that.
• It's just my own thoughts.
• But when, what we do know is when someone is lounging and they lounge back a lot or they lie, they kind of, don't have that nice straight spine posture when they're sitting, those babies often go head up, and that's because your baby's head is always going to go where there is most room.
• The way that we can make your pelvis have the most room is to sit really nice and tall, so making sure that we're not slumping forward or to one side or lounging backwards Watching your posture is something that I recommend you do if you are pregnant.
• Not if you have a breech baby or if your baby is not head down, just regardless.
• If you are pregnant, I think watching your posture is one of the best things that you can do, and you have this added benefit of helping your baby, really encouraging them to get down into your pelvis.
• Now, this leads me to the second thing that I would try if I had a breech baby, and that is body work.
• I'm talking seeing a chiropractor, going to massage therapy.
• There are spinning baby techniques.
• There are two of them that I love.
• They have a whole breech kind of protocol.
• The breech tilt is really helpful.
• The forward-leaning inversion is also another one that is going to help make more space in your pelvis so that your baby just wants to get cozy There are also spinning baby techniques that you can use to help get your body more supple is the word that keeps coming to my mind.
• It's stretchy and loose.
• We don't want a really tight and rigid body, right? So we're working on our posture.
• Now let's work on the muscles that hold our body up, making sure that there's not a lot of tension.
• So many of us walk around really, really tight.
• Our jaws are tight.
• Our shoulders are up.
• Our pelvises are, you know, tight.
• Our butt is clenched.
• Our jaws are clenched.
• We sleep that way.
• We sit in our chairs in our office that way.
• There's no time that our body is just kind of relaxed, and in pregnancy, that will only work against us.
• So the massage, the chiropractor, doing the spinning baby exercises, things like a forward-leaning inversion and the breech tilt and body balancing.
• You can do those body balancing exercises every day during your pregnancy just to get yourself a little movement, and I would be remiss if I didn't put a little plug here that strength training is really, really important in birth.
• We want you to be strong, and we want you to have stamina to be able to labor and birth your baby.
• However, with that, you need to be partnering it with stretching.
• Something like Pilates that's more low impact, but it builds strength and it has the stretching component is my personal fave.
• That's what I did.
• I found that that prepped me totally, like absolutely, completely prepped me for labor.
• I had a three-day labor, and of course, I was tired, but there was never a moment where I thought, "Wow, I could have prepared more," in terms of stamina or strength.
• And I have one last thing in this category that doesn't exactly go with body work, but it is mindset, which I believe that your mind and your body are totally connected, and that is visualization.
• So much like I was talking about earlier to, like, sit down, connect with your baby, actually think about their experience and what they might be trying to tell us from the inside, I want you to give them energetic encouragement as well.
• What if energetically your baby is just kind of chill? They're just floating about, they're just hanging about and they have no idea that it's time to get head down.
• They're just chilling.
• Take some time each day to rub your belly, connect with your baby, talk with your baby.
• Let them know, "Okay, baby, it's time to get head down."
• In your brain really visualize your baby turning head down and nestling their head down in your pelvis, getting ready for birth.
• I genuinely believe that you two are connected.
• I genuinely believe that you and your baby are connected on a deeper level than you will ever experience with anyone else ever.
• Ever.
• Not only are you literally and physically connected through the umbilical cord and the placenta that you grew, by the way, right, you grew the placenta and then, you know, you see physically how you're connected, like literally connected.
• But also spiritually I believe it goes that deep too.
• You know how they say like, "It's not that deep"? That actually, this one, it is that I think that you have a connection with your baby that only you can tap into, and I want you to really harness that power and that honor and sit in that and be that guide that your baby may be asking you to be.
• So sit down, talk with them, be connected, and really visualize your baby going head down Now that, the visualization, in conjunction with that body work that you're doing, and now you're keeping up all those building blocks that we just put into place, you're keeping them up throughout the day because we're watching our posture.
• I truly believe deep down in my heart that if most people would do that when they found out that their baby was breech, if we have enough time, that will resolve a lot of breech babies All right.
• It's that time of year.
• Gift-giving season is officially upon us.
• We are entering into the holidays, and one of the gifts that I have given for the last couple of years, and I will again give this year, are Cozy Earth PJs.
• They are so soft.
• I mean, they're soft when you get them, but they get softer with each wash.
• They are, of course, so cozy, and I love that they are warm, but they don't keep you too warm.
• Do you know what I mean by that? Cozy Earth PJs are the only ones that I wear.
• I'm serious.
• If I am not sleeping in Cozy Earth, it's probably because I'm overdue for a laundry day.
• So, if you're looking for a gift this holiday season that gets better with time, give your friends and family PJs, but not the PJs that are polyester and filled with microplastics.
• Go with Cozy Earth bamboo PJs.
• And right now, they are having their biggest sale of the year, but it ends on December 3rd.
• So, head to cozyearth.com,
• pick up some bamboo stretch knit PJs, and use the code HeHe, H-E-H-E, for 35% off.
• That's cozyearth.com
• with the code HeHe.
• And when they ask at checkout where you heard about them, please let them know you heard about them right here on the Birth Lounge Podcast.
• Happy gift giving.
• Now, simultaneously of doing all of this, I would also start to educate myself on breech birth, true data, not just what the hospital system wants you to know, and not just what US hospital practice has been since the term breech trial.
• From the time that that term breech trial came out to now, the waters have been so muddied because not only was that data incredibly flawed, but it has now been debunked and retracted.
• They have now come back and said, "Don't base your decisions or your policies on this data," but the problem is, oops, too late, it already was.
• All of the hospital policies and all of the medical school textbooks and all of the educational programs that we have here in the US had already made shifts based on that data.
• And so right now, we're still living there.
• We've never made those shifts back or changed them when we found out that data was faulty and had been retracted.
• So we have a big, big problem here.
• I think that you understanding what the actual risk of breech birth is gonna be super comforting to you.
• I also want you to start to look into a breech provider because that is highly, highly influential of the safety of breech birth.
• So when you go digging for breech birth, you're gonna find that relatively it can be safe, but that can be safe is hinged on the fact of if you can get access to a breech trained provider.
• And I'm not talking about a breech trained provider that's gonna make you birth in the OR with a possible epidural on board and they only do breech extractions.
• I'm not talking about that.
• I'm talking about a provider that truly understands breech.
• They know the mechanics of breech birth and how it differs from a head down baby.
• They're comfortable in that.
• They trust that process.
• They're comfortable in their skills and they know how to deliver a breech baby hands off and when hands on is needed, they don't do barbaric things like extraction.
• They are doing breech maneuvers that you sweep the arm in front of the head and you turn the baby a little and sweep the other and the head pops right out.
• They do a shoulder press where you simply press the baby's shoulders and their head pops right out.
• Very, for lack of a better term, minor maneuvers to help a breech baby navigate that pelvis.
• Very different than an extraction I love Breach Without Borders for breach education for both you and to find a provider.
• There's also education for your provider.
• If you happen to have a provider who's open to this idea but just doesn't feel like they're trained enough, doesn't feel like they have the support around them, there are resources on Breach Without Borders for this exact scenario for everyone involved.
• I really highly encourage you to sit down with you and your partner and your doula, if you have one of those, whoever's gonna be in your birth room, and really think about getting educated on breech birth.
• And then again, finding a provider that is truly, truly trained in breech birth, not hospital trained in breech birth Now, finally is something called an ECV, an external cephalic version.
• This is where your provider's going to put their hands on your belly and actually physically turn your baby.
• Every provider practices a little different.
• Some of them will do it only if you're unmedicated.
• Some of them will only do it if you have an epidural, and then some of them, of course, will leave it up to you, as it should be If you want to learn more about ECVs, download The Birth Lounge app.
• I have an entire evidence-based article written out for you about breech birth, and it tells you all the things that you need to know about considering an ECV All right, you guys, that's all I have for you today.
• You know, having a breech baby is not as dangerous as it's cracked up to be.
• Can it be? Absolutely.
• It can absolutely end in tragedy, but it doesn't have to.
• The education exists, the practice, the skill, it's there.
• Our American hospitals just aren't doing it.
• Our doctors aren't being trained.
• Our medical schools aren't including this in the curriculum.
• And the unfortunate thing, and this is why I'm so hung up on it and so, so loud about it, I just can't be quiet because the people who pay the price are moms and babies because when we don't offer it in the hospital, which is where most breech parents would prefer to have their baby, they then are forced to look outside of the hospital system at home birth or free birth if they aren't going to consent to a C-section, which they know is unnecessary.
• So now they're stuck between choosing an unnecessary major abdominal surgery for myself or home birthing and free birthing with a breech baby, when I'd rather be in the hospital supported by truly, fully trained, and completely confident providers in breech birth so that I can have an untraumatic, very joyful, grounded, calm, hands-off breech birth where I feel empowered and supported and loved through the whole thing.
• And that seems to be too much to ask in American hospitals today.
• So that's why I can't be quiet about breech birth being safer than you think it is.
• Thank you so much for tuning in today.
• I love hanging out with you, and it is an honor to be your go-to gal when it comes to preparing for your baby.
• If you've enjoyed today's episode, please leave a five-star review and tell others why they should be listening to the Birth Lounge Podcast too.
• You deserve to have a birth that you love with a provider that values your autonomy and respects informed consent without all the trauma that you so commonly hear about on social media.
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• I'm HeHe, and this is the Birth Lounge Podcast.