Jessica’s Breech Birth
It was Easter Monday around 5 pm. I was 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant. After doing some cleaning at home, I decided to listen to a Hypnobabies track for the first time. I laid down on my bed, closed my eyes, and finally felt complete relaxation after being an emotional wreck the week before. The words “I’m ready for my baby” repeated and stuck with me.
“I welcome my baby.”
“I’m ready for my baby.”
As soon as I stood up after finishing the sound track, I felt a huge gush of water—my water broke. It was happening. My baby was taking the Hypnobabies track quite literally.
Now let me rewind a little bit…
After 8 months of planning a home birth, I never expected to hear “Your baby is breech.” after an ultrasound at 37 weeks pregnant.
I felt like I was doing all the “right things” even before I knew she was breech…
Physio
Chiropractor
Acupuncture
Spinning Babies Exercises
I’d had an “easy” pregnancy (besides some pelvic pain) and passed every test with flying colors up until that point. To say the least, I was devastated. My nervous system was completely shot. It hurt hearing the words “breech is just a variation of normal” and then being asked, “so, when do you want to schedule your 39-week c-section?” after a failed ECV at the hospital (manual turning of the baby).
It was the opposite of everything I wanted. No more home birth, and not even a spontaneous, natural birth. But I couldn’t settle for the c-section yet. I didn’t want to.
I tried everything in my power for a different outcome, which thanks to my doula Michelle, led me to Breech Without Borders where I found a few care providers who would potentially support vaginal breech birth at BC Women's Hospital (under certain conditions like frank positioning). My consultation was set for Tuesday morning after Easter Monday, and I felt as though there was a glimmer of hope that this could be the way for me. I thought I might still have time to sort things out, at least for another week.
Fast forward back to my water breaking on Easter Monday…
My pants were soaked, and I started panicking. I texted my husband, Damian, who was just finishing up a workout 10 minutes away… “F– I think my water just broke.”
It was around 6 p.m., and I called my doula, Michelle, and asked her what to do. We then called my midwife, Tina, and quickly rushed out the door with what we could pack in 15 minutes, a few snacks and clothing items. We drove to Langley Memorial Hospital to test my waters and make sure that, in fact, it was my waters that broke. I was certain it was, but there were no other signs of labor—I had no contractions yet.
After checking, it was confirmed it was my waters. At this point, the OB did an ultrasound to try and assess the baby’s position, but it was too difficult to tell because of the loss of fluid. However, the OB thought our baby was most likely frank breech, which is the most favored position for a vaginal birth.
Myself, Damian, Michelle, Tina, and the OB tried to coordinate a plan (despite the OB's complete disapproval of still trying for vaginal birth). The recommendation was a C-section. However, since labor wasn’t progressing yet, we wanted to see if we could still wait until my consultation with the staff at BC Women’s Hospital the next day and leave for the night against medical advice since nothing was happening.
But then I started to feel the contractions come on about 4 hours later, around 10 pm. They started progressing pretty quickly and got to 5 minutes apart. Meanwhile, the team was still trying to figure out a plan to see if we could potentially transfer to BC Women’s Hospital if they would take me, knowing the situation.
The OB wanted to do a vaginal exam to check what position the baby was in and how dilated I was to see if we could potentially transfer hospitals in our own car or with assistance.
I was 2 centimeters dilated, and the OB said, “I felt a foot.”
That was the last straw.
Our baby was considered a footling breech, which is one of the least common presentations. No one would take me to trial a vaginal birth at any hospital. I had to accept the c-section. I didn’t want to, knowing our c-section rate is ~40%, and all the women in my family all had c-sections. I just wanted things to be different for me. But sometimes, there is a peace in finally accepting the way things unfold in life.
The nurses and surgeons poked and prodded me and quickly wheeled me into the operation room in the basement of the hospital which was painted an awful aged green color, it reminded me of a creepy morgue.
The bright lights were above me and I felt a lot of tugging and pulling. I remember holding my midwife Tina’s hand and then my husband Damian’s hand and trying to focus on looking at him during the weird feelings of the surgery since our doula, Michelle, wasn’t allowed in the operating room.
Hearing our baby cry and seeing her for the first time was a feeling like no other. The baby that had been a mystery behind my belly was finally real. The first thing Damian said was “look at her wide toe splay!”
Tina took some photos throughout the surgery and around the room with Damian at the scale and cutting the umbilical cord.
And there she was, her bright eyes looking around the room and her sweet perfection. She was healthy as could be—my sweet little Clara Celine at 5 lbs 15 oz. You could tell one of her legs was positioned straight down and the other bent up beside her, like weird Barbie, as Michelle described it. Clara was born at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2nd.
I really didn’t want surgery—the painkillers, antibiotics, major surgery, being a VBAC, difficulty moving around—but I couldn’t imagine going through this experience without the support of my doulas and I realize that healing is possible. I also realized I received the thing I was most afraid of happening. At times I can’t help but wonder how my birth would have played out in another country that delivers breech babies, or if our baby would have been okay if birthed naturally. But I’m learning to accept that I may never know.
I also can’t help but wonder if breech positioning is becoming more common and I’ve been asking myself why—was it my sitting all day office job? Either way, I hope my story can help others who are navigating what to do about a breech presentation.