McKenzie’s Surprise Breech Home Birth
“I agreed to a cervical check since I started to feel pushy during the peak of my waves. Dilated to a 9. 100% effaced. She felt a BUTT! (She also found out the gender and had to keep it a secret from us because we didn’t know.)”
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My 2nd Hypnobabies baby. Graham Ethan, 10/13 6lbs 12 oz. 20 inches long. Full lotus birth and Born exactly the way he needed to. Trust Hypnobabies and your body. You are so strong and capable!
Timeline of events leading up to the beautiful birth of this little man:
10/12:
7:45 pm Water broke 3 minutes after getting home from pumpkin patch
8:00 pm Call midwife (she lives 2 hours away)
8:15 pm Birthing waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions) start ( 3- 20 minutes apart) and I started listening to Birthing Day Affirmations while putting toddler to bed.
11:00 pm Midwife arrives at my house. Feels baby, uses fetoscope and thinks he is head down. He had been doing somersaults for a few weeks. I decline going to the birth center for an ultrasound because it’s middle of the night, my toddler is asleep, and I truly just felt that he was exactly the way he needed to be.
10/13:
12:00 am – 6:00 am Slept to Easy First Stage (Hypnobabies main birthing time track) and other birthing time (Hypnobabies term for labor) tracks (thank you Hypnobabies!)
8:00am Call midwife and tell her waves are still inconsistent (3- 20 minutes apart). She told me to eat a good breakfast, enjoy time with my family, shower and take a walk if I felt like it. I had my Bluetooth headphones in listening to Hypnobabies tracks the whole time and we spent the morning doing all those activities.
12:00 pm Midwife Checks in. I tell her waves are still inconsistent, but I felt like I was making progress. She suggests pumping or nursing (I’m still nursing my toddler). She said that if things didn’t pick up by 3 pm she wanted an ultrasound to check everything out.
1:30 pm I call my midwife and tell her pumping had worked. Waves were 3 minutes apart!
2:00 pm Midwife and birth assistant show up and take vitals. Everything looks good. My friend (birth photographer) comes over.
2:00 – 8:00 pm We all ate, laughed, and enjoyed the beautiful process. I peed A LOT. Like before or after every wave. My husband put some chili in the crockpot for dinner. I curled my hair because waves would stop if I laid down or got in the birth tub. Which made me sad because I had my daughter in the birth tub and loved the water with her!
8:00pm Waves had progressed, and midwife asked if she could do a cervical check since it had been 24 hours since my water broke. I wanted to wait a little because I knew I was in Transformation (Hypnobabies term for transition) and didn’t feel the need for one at the time.
9:00 pm to BIRTH I agreed to a cervical check since I started to feel pushy during the peak of my waves. Dilated to a 9. 100% effaced. She felt a BUTT! (She also found out the gender and had to keep it a secret from us because we didn’t know.)
At this point she was like we have to transfer you to the hospital; “I am not allowed in this state to “deliver” a known breech baby”. And I was like “I’m not going anywhere!” I’m having this baby right now and I trust you! So, she explained that with breech birth you need to wait until you’re definitely fully dilated to push because the butt is smaller than the head. She said I probably had 2 more hours before he was born. She explained the risks of a breech birth and also told me that she had safely attended surprise breech babies before I cried. I did not want to be transferred. And I did not want to wait 2 hours to meet baby when he felt so much closer!
The very next wave my body started pushing. She sat next to me during the wave and afterwards I flipped to Center (Hypnobabies technique for being hypnosis with eyes open) and told her that I was not leaving my house. I was having this baby right now with or without her. I did not want to have my baby in an ambulance. And in the moment, I had FULL faith in the ability of my baby and my body. She called a Certified Nurse Midwife with over 20 years’ experience to come to my house. CNMs can legally attend home breech babies in my state. The CNM and another midwife walked in 20 minutes later (so so so thankful for them!).
I switched to center since I had to actively try to not help my body push any more than it already was. They told me I couldn’t help push until the butt was all the way out. My husband put on Pushing Baby Out track (Hypnobabies track just for pushing) and I got on knees and forearms so gravity could help me not rush pushing.
His butt came in and out 3 different times with 3 different waves before coming all the way out. I was so excited to push with the next wave…but no more waves came! (I guess this is common with breech births that waves stop after the butt comes out). They told me to push as felt comfortable. His one leg came out and then no more progress. His other foot and hands were stuck by his face. The midwifes had me move to a full squat and push while they assisted a safe birth of my little man!
9:50 pm He was born! Apgars were great! Breastfed immediately. Only a small tear on my part. And I have not stopped thanking the midwives since for believing in me and taking care of us when the unexpected happened. I am so grateful I had him at home and not in an ambulance!
2:00 am Midwives tucked us all into bed and left the house spotless. Pure bliss.
I would choose home birth over and over again, even breech.
