izaiah_breech

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My water breaks at 11:15, an hour later contractions begin. It is a fast labor and things move quickly, so quickly we forget all about taking any pictures. After only 2 hours of labor I start feeling the urge to push.	As we discussed before with my midwife, we wait another hour before beginning the pushing. It is a hard hour, feeling a strong urge to push and denying my body the pleasure, but my husband Mark and our birth team get me through.
	Pushing goes quickly as well and in in just a few pushes we see some little toes. As the whole foot emerges, one of the midwives remarks- "This would make a great photo!" My husband runs for the camera and we start to take photos. (Here you can see the difference between pushing and not pushing. The foot slides out with each push and goes back a little bit between, just like with a head down presentation. (next 2 pictures below))

I picked a standing position for the first part of pushing. I felt the urge to put my foot up on the bed and lean in.	I could feel the bones in my pelvis shift apart when I did this, making room for the baby, very cool.

My midwife suggested I move to the birth stool and try some pushing there (just to see what would work best). Here you can see the legs come out together. I had the urge to put my hands down to my perineum at that point.	My midwife told me later that "hands off the breech" was so ingrained in her that she almost asked me not to touch the baby, or my perineum, but decided a mother's loving hands were different from her own, and since my birthing instincts were serving me well, she decided not to say anything.

Pushing was really enjoyable to me (perhaps because of the long wait). I felt so elated and powerful. My husband captured me smiling here during a big push.	And here come the...

knees into view.	And another big push and the baby is out to the navel. My midwife makes sure there is a little slack in the cord so it is not pulling. Here is where my midwife's support midwife reminds me to just keep pushing- even without a contraction, to get the baby born fast.

Some birth attendants feel strongly that there is a 4-5 minute window to get a breech baby out after the cord comes into view. I know this ahead of time so this does not phase me-	I just put all my effort into getting my baby out. I feel powerful and in control; I know I can do it! I begin pushing continuously, only stopping to take deep breaths.

My midwife keeps her fingers on the cord lightly, so she can monitor the heart rate- the baby is doing great, his heart is beating in the 150's the whole labor and birth. They reach in to see if the arms need a little help; they are both right there.	The support midwife tells me later she could not believe all of the room I still had for the baby to come, my tissues were very stretchy and there was plenty of room for the arms to come down.

My midwife tells me to reach down...	...and she guides me so I can catch my own baby.

I lift my baby up onto the bed.	Everyone has known for the last four minutes the baby's sex, but they wait so I can discover it for myself.

It's a little boy! Well not so little, at four days past my due date- he is a big, healthy 8lbs 10oz. I rub and kiss him all warm and wet with amniotic fluid. He starts to breathe right away. The oxygen is standing by and so is a bulb syringe in case he needs a little help, but he is pink and happy.	He does not cry but starts to look at all of us in wonderment. I look at my beautiful little boy in amazement. I cannot believe that the whole labor is over so soon. I kiss my husband, "That was fun Honey, when can we have another," I say to his joyful face.

Our little family settles in. After the cord stops pulsing I feel an overwhelming urge to get the placenta out. My husband cuts the cord so I can squat next to the bed and push out the placenta. He holds the baby, because I feel the need to concentrate just on getting the placenta out. A few pushes later the placenta is out, and there are two, a big one and a little one connected with a single large vein through the amniotic sac. Very interesting!	We settle in as a family to nurse and rest. My awesome birth assistant takes this photo of us. The Birth of Izaiah John- November 27th, 2003 8lbs 10oz Apgars of 10 and 10 My breech score at 40 4/7? a big fat 0

As an afterward...

It was difficult and exhausting during the last few weeks of my pregnancy finding a new midwife who felt comfortable attending a breech birth, and at the same time trying everything to turn the baby head down. We tried everything and spent lots of money on chiropractic, and moxibustion in addition to all of the other positional and homeopathic remedies to turn the baby. We scheduled two external versions; one with a doctor in the hospital and another with a midwife. He decided against turning our baby because it was so low in my pelvis. The experienced midwife tried again, after the baby turned transverse, but the baby, although very happy to have her try for sometime, did not go head down. We are very grateful she offered to put our baby back feet first, so we could try to give birth vaginally. And that was all we wanted; A chance to give birth vaginally. We got so much more than that- we had the birth of our dreams.

This could not have been possible without the support of my first midwives, a loving caring practice of CNM's, who helped me find a breech birth attendant when they could no longer attend my birth, my co-operating doctor who agreed to take me as an emergency if we ran into trouble at home, and my fantastic midwife! Who gave me a chance! I would also like to thank my birth assistant and my Bradley teacher for supporting me, no matter what. Last of all, I would like to thank my husband Mark. Who was not only the best doula for me during my birth, but cheered me up when I was low, had so much confidence in me and our birth team, held me when I cried during those last few weeks of pregnancy, and never once suggested we should schedule a c-section.