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Keith's Home Birth: "Our Story" May 6, 2008 |
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Amazing Breech Birth November 3, 2006 Note: As a midwife, when I attend an out-of-the-ordinary birth like this one, every detail has to be perfect. If at any time something had not been right at this birth, we would have gone to the hospital. Breech births are not very common, so midwives don't attend very many of them. I am not advocating that every breech baby should have a vaginal birth with this story. But every breech baby should have the option of birthing vaginally, something that is not offered at many hospitals. I take every pregnancy seriously, and weigh all the options with the parents, before making my recommendations to them. I do not lightly advocate a home breech birth. God did an amazing thing today. He took me (the midwife) and my apprentice (the mother of the baby) through a very rare type of breech birth: a footling breech. There are many types of breech births. The footling is the type in which the feet descend through the birth canal first. It is a birth that may be more hazardous than the complete breech or the frank breech, in which the breech (the bottom) of the baby descends through the birth canal first. The baby’s bottom, being bigger around than her feet, dilates the cervix more effectively and there is less danger of the aftercoming head being caught in an incompletely dilated cervix. My apprentice and friend just had a footling breech baby at home with no medications and no medical interventions. And by the way, she was a first-time mother, and over 30 years old.
But before we could see the feet…before I would even let the mom push…I had the mom pant through many, many contractions that she wanted to push with. This was in order to make completely sure that the cervix was out of the way and all the way open. This was the hardest part of the birth. Once I was completely sure that there was not even a tiny bit of cervix anywhere, I let her begin pushing. She was so grateful to begin pushing. During the panting, one of the other midwives (there were two other midwives in attendance) panted with her and kept eye contact with her through every contraction, so she wouldn’t lose her concentration and give in to the temptation to push. This was invaluable. Midwives with Baby Cora
Mom then pushed the baby out to the belly button. I pulled a loop of cord loose so that the cord wouldn’t be pulling on the belly button during the rest of the birth. As I did this, I felt the heart rate of the baby through the pulsing of the cord. Mom continued to push, and soon we saw the shoulder blades of the baby. I hooked one arm out, then the other. Then we allowed the baby to dangle for a few seconds to bring the head down far enough to be able to deliver the head. I took the baby by the ankles and pulled her body up enough that her mouth became visible. Her mouth was born! She immediately started to breathe, even though she wasn’t born yet! It took about a minute and a half before the rest of the head was born, but all the time, the baby was breathing through her mouth. When her head was born, the mom said “ouch,” or some such thing. (Imagine that!) After one minute, the baby’s Apgar score was a perfect 10!!!!! This means that she was pink all over her body, breathing, her heart rate was normal, she had good muscle tone, and reacted when stimulated. And best of all, the mom birthed her first baby breech without tearing or having an episiotomy or a C-section performed on her. What a high! Surely God has created our bodies for giving birth. He was there every step of the way, helping me, helping the mom, helping the baby. What an amazing miracle. Many people were praying, and their prayers were answered. Thank you, O Lord, that You are the Creator. You have created our bodies so amazingly that I can only shake my head in wonder. Every birth is a miracle, and You have called me to be a midwife; I am so grateful that You allow me to see You at work so many times. I get to see new life, I get to feel babies begin to breathe, I get to see their eyes look at their moms for the first time ever. Many firsts took place on this birth. It was the first breech I managed as a midwife. It was the first breech that one of the other midwives had ever seen. It was the first baby for the mom. It was the first footling breech for all of us!!! The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This was the prayer I prayed as I peacefully drove to the birth of this baby. God honored our trust in Him. He led us down the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Praise His holy name! Betsy Robinett, LM, CPM
New Happy Family!
Cora at 3 1/2 months.
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Cora's Beautiful Feet 
It was incredible to
watch the baby’s feet being born first. They were beautiful! The baby
was in a squatting position, with her feet right by her bottom, so she
dilated the cervix very well. (This is nearly like the complete breech
position, in which the baby is sitting cross-legged.) 
After both of the baby’s
feet were visible, I realized that the bottom of the baby was wedged in
with the feet. Since this was probably going to be too much volume for
the mother to birth without tearing, I gently pulled one leg, then the
other, out to the thigh. At this point, the baby looked like she was
crossing her legs! This picture will stay with me forever… 
