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Krista: This is Secret Mom Hacks episode number 16. My name is Krista and I am your host. It's May 24th, 2023, and today we are talking about breech Babies. My daughter was breech twice during my pregnancy, and if you listen to my first couple of episodes here on Secret Mom Hacks, you know, I was adamant about having an unmedicated natural birth.

So when I went to the birthing center for one of my checkups and the midwife said my daughter was breech, I learned we really just had three options for moving forward. Before I share those though, I just wanna say thanks for tuning in, mama. I started this podcast because babies don't come with instructions as of this recording.

I am chasing around a four-and-a-half-year-old that no amount of Googling mom groups or what to expect when you're expecting books were able to prepare me for. There's a lot of stuff people don't talk about when it comes to pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy and postpartum, and as someone who was prev.

And as someone who was previously terrified of all that, I'm here to help you pull back the curtain on all of those things, and every now and then, it may get a little messy. We may share a little TMI, but that's why you're here, right? My goal is that you will leave every episode feeling refreshed, inspired and hopeful knowing you are not on this mom journey alone.

Now there's a lot of subject matter to cover when it comes to mom life, and we are covering it all. So let's talk about what your next steps are when you find out your baby is breech. So when the midwife shared that news with me when she said, Hey Krista, your baby is breech. So basically what that means when a baby is in a breech position, that means their head is up.

At the top of your belly and that their bottom or their feet, they're down Instead of the head being in the down position. When baby is head down, that means that they're in position to have a vaginal birth. So when she told me that baby was in breech position, I said, well, what does that mean?

I, I don't even know what my options are. She said, I really had three options. In so many words, if baby is in breech position, I would not be able to have her at the birthing center. So if I just wait and did nothing and baby stayed in that breech position, I would not be able to have her at the birthing center because that's just not how that works.

I would have to go into a hospital setting. So my three options were to, number one was to just wait and see.

I was really determined to have her in that birth center setting, and I was really trying to avoid a hospital, and so my midwife did share that babies can turn on their own. Before birth. So she said, we can wait a couple of weeks when you come back in. Let's just see if she has on her own turned into the head-down position because she was in that position previously. She was in the head-down position before, so given that she turned the one way, chances are she could turn the other way. Again, the thing is, as you progress. In your pregnancy, obviously baby's getting bigger, that womb is getting smaller and they're more contained in there, and so the more time goes by, the more likely they are to just settle in a specific position.

So that was one option was to just wait and see, find out. Let's see if the baby just on her own naturally turns into a head-down position. Option number two would be to do an E C V. Now, once again, this is still, if I'm wanting to have her in the birthing center and if baby remains in that breech position and you're nearing the full term for pregnancy. Then another option would be to do an E C V, which stands for external cephalic version. So this essentially involves manually manipulating the baby through your belly to turn them into a head-down position.

And so this procedure is, Typically performed in a hospital, and it's of course very closely monitored by doctors and medical professionals. So I was wary of that because that puts me into that hospital setting. So I really was not interested in option number two. And then option number three would just be to have a planned C-section.

So of course, if baby remains in that breech position as you're. Nearing full term, then like I said, we would not be able to go have the birth in the birthing center, do the unmedicated natural thing. I would have to go into a hospital. To do a C-section. And this is really because breech births can just be more complicated and pose increased risks to both baby and mom.

And so that planned C-section can actually help to ensure a safe delivery for for both baby and mother. So I also was not interested in that, so I was asking my midwife. Because once again, that was going to put me in that hospital setting, which I was really hoping to avoid. So I said, well, what are some options are, are there some ways that I can encourage my baby to get into a head down position?

So they did give me some natural methods to encourage her to turn. Options such as pelvic tilts, where you kneel with your head and chest, lower than your hips, or playing music on your abdomen or using a flashlight near the bottom of your belly.

So now I wanna go through these natural options. Many of which I did actually, in fact, everything on this list that I'm about to share with you, I did all of these. The pelvic tilts they say that that's actually one of the most effective techniques to help turn a Bree baby. So what you do, you lay down on your back with your knees, bent your feet on the floor, and then you just raise your pelvis.

Up towards the ceiling and you hold it for a few seconds and you, you're gonna repeat that movement for about 10 to 15 minutes, a few times a day. So pelvic tilts, that is tip number one. Tip number two would be to do exercise in yoga. So of course moving around and exercising can actually help to create some more space in your pelvis to help baby to turn.

So gentle exercises such as walking, swimming, and prenatal yoga can be particularly helpful. And on that note, I wanna share, I had my baby in the summer. Her birthday is in July. And so, As I was learning all about her being breech, it was late spring, early summer, and so our pool was open.

So naturally I was all about getting in that pool and doing some safe things to help encourage her to turn. So one of the things I did, I would do handstands in the pool. Quite often. And of course that just felt so good cuz it felt good on my joints and on my legs and on my very heavy belly.

But doing those handstands, that was something that I would just get in the pool and I would go underwater and and do handstands and just keep my feet up in the sky as long as I possibly could to help encourage her to turn. That was very helpful.

Tip number three is to use music and or light. So playing music or shining a flashlight on your tummy. May encourage the baby to move towards that sound or that light, cuz of course the baby's gonna find that very interesting and very fascinating. Like, what is that sound? What is that light?

What is it? What is that? So try playing music or shining a flashlight wherever your baby's. Head is. So once again, if they're at the at the top, start there. If their head's at the top of your belly, if they're head up, then start up there. But then slowly move that music and light down to the bottom of your belly to encourage them to follow it.

Okay, and then tip number four is acupuncture and moxibustion. So both of these have been used for centuries to turn Bree babies. Many of us know what acupuncture is if you don't. Acupuncture actually involves inserting little teeny tiny, almost hair-like hair thin needles into specific points on your body.

And moxibustion involves burning an herb near your little pinky toes, okay? Not to be. Two woo woo here, but I was up for trying everything. Okay? So I'd never done acupuncture in my life, and I had never even heard of moxibustion, but I did both of these methods. Like I said, all of these tips that I'm sharing with you, I actually tried myself, so acupuncture was awesome because it was very relaxing, just helped me take a beat, breathe.

It was in a nice, calm, dark room, and that was very relaxing and enjoyable. Moxibustion was fine. I really kind of feel neutral on that. Again, I had never, I had never done that before, but the place where I went for acupuncture, Offered the moxibustion, so I did that there as well. And then the final tip I wanna share with you is chiropractic care.

Something called the Webster Technique is what a lot of chiropractors use to help turn a breech baby. So this basically involves adjusting the pelvis and helping to reduce tension in the round ligaments, which can help the baby turn head down. I said I only had five tips, but I just remembered two more that I wanna share with you.

These two tips I actually got off of a website called spinning babies.com. Great resource. So these other two tips that I also tried, number one, Was to lay upside down on an ironing board. I realize that sounds really strange, but it's kind of the same idea as the pelvic tilts.

So basically, I leaned the ironing board on the side of the couch, and then I wiggled myself up onto that ironing board with my head down and with my feet up. And I laid there. Inverted on that ironing board for about 10 to 15 minutes, and that was something that I tried to do twice a day. And then the final method that I learned was, it's kind of the same idea as the music and the light on the belly.

So this was an ice pack at the top of my belly and a heating pad at the bottom of the belly. So I had an ice pack at the top of my belly. And I had a heating pad just turned on low at the bottom of my belly. Because let's face it, many of us are wanting to remain warm, right? Babies. Babies are no different.

We tend to be repelled by the cold, and we are drawn towards warmer things, right? So babies are the same way. The idea is that chances are the baby is going to. Go away from the cold and move towards the warm. So I had that warm down at the bottom of my belly, the ice pack at the top once again in hopes that that would help to turn her head down.

Every method I just shared with you is tried and true by me. I'm sure there are some other methods out there that perhaps I didn't try. But what I wanna share with you, I wanna give you some hope.

I tried all of these things and I did successfully turn my baby. I did not have to go do an E C V. I did not. Just decide to do the planned C-section. I did all of these things and I managed to turn her. now something else I wanna tell you was that though she turned, I went back a couple of weeks later and she was indeed breech again.

What they told me that time, they were like, you are continuing to progress, but feel free to try these methods again. Let's see if we can get her back, head down. If she does indeed move head down, we can proceed with the original birth plan for the birthing center.

But if she doesn't, that's okay. We just do the plan C-section. So of course, like I said, I was determined to have that unmedicated natural birth, so I did follow all of these methods once again, including the chiropractic care and acupuncture and so on. And she did settle into that head down position. So that is good news.

That is some hope for you. I have already shared our birth story, so if you have not heard that yet, please go back and listen to the first couple of episodes where I, I talk about our entire birth story and birth process, but I just wanna give you that hope today. If you like me, we're really a really adamant about having that unmedicated natural birth, and You wanna exhaust all the resources, then these tips, I hope, give you some hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that you can make it work.

And you know what? If they don't work for you, try some of the other resources in tips that are on spinning babies.com. Talk with your chiropractor, of course. Talk with your medical professional. Most importantly. That person is going to have the best advice for you because all of us, of course, have different body compositions and different health needs and restrictions and so on, and so everybody's case is different.

But I hope these resources are helpful for you or someone, you know, if you have a friend or coworker or colleague or whomever, family member, et cetera, who they've found out their baby is breech, please feel free to share this episode with them.

I hope what I've shared in this episode gives them some inspiration that it is possible if your baby is breeched. That doesn't mean that you just automatically have to throw in the towel and plan that C-section because there are other options. There are some other ways, and like I said, these were all successful tips for me because we did manage to successfully turn her naturally twice, which is what I wanted.

So I hope you're having a great day. As we wrap this episode, I just want to remind you to make sure you're taking care of yourself because it's really hard to take care of our loved ones if we're not taking care of ourselves first. So this is just that gentle reminder. Make sure you're drinking water today.

Do something that gets you up and running and moving, okay? You don't have to run, but that gets you walking and just moving out of the house or around the house, maybe if it's rainy where you are. Just get up, get that heart pumping, get the blood moving. If you can squeeze in like 30 minutes, that is awesome.

But even if it's 10 minutes, that's better than zero, okay? Don't forget to wash your face, put on that great overnight moisturizer before you slip into bed. And also don't forget sunscreen in the morning. Your skin is going to thank you. Okay? I really appreciate you spending some time with me today. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe if you haven't already.

Give me a five-star rating and leave a review sharing your favorite takeaway so far. Don't forget to stop by secret mom hacks.com where you can find transcripts, resources, and more. Now, stay tuned for next week's episode, and until then you've got this mama.

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