Breech, Version, C-section, Tubal Ligation
My very best friend is pregnant with number 4 (well she was when I started writing this blog. I updated it to share the epic ending. She lives across the country from me. (One of the main reasons I had to develop the online birth prep program was for my friends that lived far away. https://bodymotionbirthprep.app.clientclub.net/courses/offers/a69a6eff-eb63-4737-baf1-7e5881aa4da7).
She has a son and is pregnant with her third daughter.
She hates hospitals, blood, medical stuff, and has always had gross reactions to human excrement.
That goes deep as her father was in the hospital a lot as a kid.
But she went on to fight those hatred feelings of hospitals and vaginally deliver 3 kids within different hospital systems.
In her neck of the woods, there were not any midwifery options and she only ever felt hospital birth was her option. It worked out for her 3 times.
So for the 4th they planned the same thing.
She showed up for her 37th week appointment and found out her baby was breech.
Not only was this a shock but here is how that appointment went:
"Looks like your baby is breech. So we can schedule an external cephalic version (ECV) if you're willing to take the risks, and if that is successful we will induce you right after the procedure so the baby doesn't flip again. If that procedure is not successful we will schedule your c-section and we will also be able to tie your tubes with that procedure."
No Joke.
She showed up for a normal appointment, they have her labeled high risk since she's geriatric at the advanced age of 38 (sarcasm).
Not only was she in shock that her baby is not head down, but she is in shock that they are going to do a surgery and then take away her fertility.
Let's back up a step. My friend and her husband have been talking about #5. So that was a very scary threat to them. Not only is a c-section scary but now you're just going to make her infertile?
One of the biggest things people are never told (and I truly believe it's because the doctors do not realize the long term impact of this), but tubal ligation or tying someone's tubes, causes way more scar tissue than the actual c-section scar itself. It is a huge problem. And surgeons just assume, ‘I am in there, let me make this permanent change for you.’ What I see clinically is that this can double the healing time of c-section recovery and or cause even worse period pains and bleeding in the years to come. (If this is you, respond to this email and come in for some shockwave and a pelvic therapy session. You will forever be grateful that you started to deal with this scar tissue).
Okay, now back to her position.
She of course is freaking out and wanting to know everything she can to flip this baby. And from afar I am guiding her in what fashions I can. I sent her resources from the Three Sisters Spinning Babies, The Myers Circuit…. And gave her some other pelvic floor opening techniques, to help give more space for the baby to flip.
It's not uncommon for third or 4th babies to be breech. Unfortunately, in the United States providers are not trained on breech delivery. Maybe this is changing. But for as long as I have been practicing, if the baby is breech, then you are getting signed up for a c-section. It is absolutely very possible to have a vaginal breech delivery. You can find examples of this all over social media and the internet but it is not widely supported by the medical system in the United States.
The thought behind this is that since the skull is the biggest part of the baby, if the legs and pelvis come through first, they haven't paved the way (stretched the vaginal canal enough) to make space for the head and then the head can get stuck.
Of course the Body Motion Birth Preparation Protocol is the answer to preparing the pelvis for this stretch and fully know this could improve the chances of many successful breech deliveries.
But I DIGRESS.
She showed up for her ECV to flip the baby and found out that the baby was already head down! That was a huge relief and they proceeded with induction. It was the fastest induction I had ever heard of and she had the baby vaginally without tearing 6 hours later.
I was so thrilled for her.
I hope sharing her story helps empower you if you end up in her situation with a breech baby or are considering a tubal ligation or have had one. There is so much healing that needs to happen with belly scars after surgery and tubal ligations are absolutely part of that, even though you can not visibly see the scars.
