Baby turning advice wanted

[Boysenberry]

Hi,

I am 38 1/2 weeks along and my baby keeps turning sideways. Then I have contractions that got to a minute apart, but did not effect my cervix because of the babies posistion. The nurses at the hospital said to do the cat/cow yoga posistion to get her to rock down into the pelvis... any other ideas? or how often I should do this? My MD is threatening c-section.

Thanks!

By the way, for anyone wanting to get pregnant, or is, raw pregnancy is much easier than SAD.

[Jamie]

I just had my baby 5 days ago and she was breech for a short time too, footling.

I tried the slant board, I put a piece of plywood against a reliner chair and got on it upside down.. .wasn't easy, and didn't work, but it is a way of getting them to turn.

Also tried putting a pillow on my upper stomach and music down below,, baby is supposed to want to turn towards the music. ( the pillow muffles sound above)

What worked for me was getting on my hands and knees with my bum up higher than my shoulders and just doing that several times daily.

I awoke in the night with a horrible pain in my cervical area and I got in that position and I could feel her do a big move..hubby checked me the next morning and she was head down and stayed that way.

One thing my midwife said to me,, and I think that you are on #7 also??,, is that the uterus gets so stretched out that baby can keep moving instead of staying head down,,, or, like i think you said, they can not put enough pressure on the cervix to dialate for delievery..... so she advised wearing a tummy girdle thing. I couldn't find one and thought it would be too uncomfortable so I didn't follow that advice,,,,,and we did have to transport to the hospital cause I was not dialating, which is very, very unusual for me. I stayed at 4cm for 8 hours,,, my longest ever labor is only about 4 hours.... anyways, she was born 10 min after getting to the hospital so it all ended well, other than I didn't get to have her at home.

Best of luck toyou!!!! Let us know what happens,

Jamie :)

[adrienne]

So happy to see you posting! I was thinking of you yesterday and wondering if that baby came...and there's my answer.
Often times when a baby is breech, an acupuncturist will use a point on your baby toe to change the baby to the "right" position. This point is at the lateral corner of the baby toenail, but on the skin. I know your baby is not breech but you or your hubby (or one of the kids! lol) could massage this area and see what happens. I've used this point on a friend and her baby turned. Do you have a friend that is an acupuncturist who maybe could make a house call - it just takes a few minutes to do it acupuncture-style but the baby toe massage may work too and of course VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE, VIZUALIZE that baby getting into the perfect position.
Can't wait to hear about the baby and delivery!
Love,
Adrienne

[light food]

I never had that challenge, but here is a list of things to do.
http://www.beautiful-births.com/content/resources/breech.html

Ways to Turn a Breech Baby

There are many ways to try to encourage a breech baby to turn. The following is a list of non-invasive, non-painful, benign suggestions. It does not hurt to try - not trying and winding up with a Cesarean Section will hurt!

1. Knee to Chest Position
In one study of 71 breech babies, 65 turned when their mother adopted the knee-chest position. To do this, kneel with your hips flexed at slightly more than 90 degrees (but do not let your thigh press against your abdomen) and try to keep your head, shoulders, and upper chest flat on your mattress. Maintain the position for 15 minutes every two waking hours for five consecutive days. By positioning your body so your head is lower, gravity encourages the baby's head to "float" toward your fundus, flex her chin onto her chest and start to turn under. As pressure builds on the back of the back of the baby's head, she gradually rotates first into transverse, then all the way to vertex.

2. Breech Tilts
Do when you have an empty stomach and times when the baby is active. Concentrate on the baby, avoid tensing the body (especially the abdomen). Lie on your back with your hips elevated 12" (use pillows) and your hips and knees flexed. Gently roll through 180 degrees from side to side for 15 minutes and repeat this maneuver three times a day.

3. Pelvic Rocking
To do pelvic rocking get down on your hands and knees and gently tilt your pelvis as you arch your back, then return your back to a flat position and relax your pelvis. Do thirty to forty of these 3 times every day.

4. Ironing Board
Elevate the pelvis by laying on a board or ironing board that has been propped up onto the edge of a couch - MAKE SURE IT IS STABLE! This position should be assumed for 8 to 10 minutes daily. This position has been shown to be as successful as an external version in some studies.

5. Massage with External Stimulation
Give the mom a full rocking massage - it relaxes the whole body and is essential for the mom to feel the space for the baby to turn. Then, place pillows under her knees, tilt her slightly with a rolled up towel on the right side. Touch the baby (mom's belly, talk to the baby and rotate hands in the direction that they want to go). Have total faith and it will turn.

6. Cat Stretch with Light & Music Stimulation
First, get in a "cat-stretch" position: on all fours, head lower than rear end. You can use pillows to kneel on. Take a flashlight, turn it on, and put the light against your lower abdomen directly the skin - the lower, the better. At the same time, use a walkman or portable CD player's headset against the lowest part of your belly, with music turned on (but not blasting-loud). The fetus will hear the music and see the light, both encouraging him/her to turn toward it, i.e., your pelvis. Try for 30-45 minutes. You may need to do deep breathing - the baby will be MOVING!

7. Moxibustion
A form of acupuncture which is currently the subject of a research study to see if it could help turn breech babies. Some therapists claim an 80% success rate, but before trying it, seek advice from a qualified acupuncturist

8. Webster's Technique
A technique used by specially trained and certified chiropractors to align the pelvis to let the baby turn.

9. Visualization
A way to enlist your mental powers to help turn the baby. Combine visualization with other exercises. You can silently picture what you want to happen. Say to yourself, or have your partner say the following or something similar: "As I lie here in a tilt, I take long breaths and relax my body. Your head presses toward my chest. The pressure of your head makes you wiggle. Come on baby! Come around. Move your head, move your body to take the pressure off. Turn around, tuck your chin and come toward my cervix. My cervix and vagina are your opening to the world. Come close, so you will be all ready to come out when the time is right and Ill be ready to welcome you. Turn around...turn around. I'm relaxing my body to give you more room to turn around, to get ready to be born."

10. External Cephalic Version (ECV)
MUST BE DONE BY A DOCTOR OR MIDWIFE!!! Should not be done on women who are rhesus negative, have experienced bleeding already, or whose placenta is situated low in the uterus. Risks associated with ECV including the possibility of causing distress to the baby and a chance of bleeding or premature rupture of the membranes. Baby is turned externally with strong guided pressure, which can be very painful. Success rates are about 65% in studies.

11. Change Doctors!
Your next best option is to search for a doctor in your area who has experience delivering vaginal breech babies. The doctor would assess the size of your baby and your pelvic size and then make a decision concerning allowing the baby to be born vaginally.

[Conscious Midwife]

Errr huh :eek:

On you hands and knees with bum in the air, as previous poster said, then have your hubby do what he did 38.5 weeks ago :D ....

you know the rest

[moonlovers812]

Please find your nearest chiropracter who specializes in the Webster Technique. This technique focuses not on turning the baby, but aligning all the ligaments and bones in that area so that the baby will turn on it's own. It is very affective not only in turning babies but making sure everything is aligned for an optimal delivery. I ended up with a c-section, and believe me if you can avoid it, please do. It can be extremely hard on your body!

Here is a link the the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. You can click on the link, find a doctor to locate someone who can help. Also, if you type in "Webster" in the search function it will pull up articles that can explain the technique much better than I.

http://www.icpa4kids.org

(if the link doesn't work just type it in)

My husband is in chiropractic college right now, and after all that he has learned I wished I had been seeing a chiropracter during my last pregnancy. I hope this can help, and let me know what happens! Good Luck!!

[Boysenberry]

ROFL!!! Already tried the "do what we did 38 1/2 weeks ago"! still pregnant! suppose it wouldn't hurt to try again! :)

You guys are great. Thanks for all the tips. some I have tried, some I will try. I have been sitting on a ball when I am not doing other stuff and that seems to at least keep her vertex, and head down. I have been drinking red raspberry leaf tea, which I heard is supposed to induce contractions, but to no avail. It worked for my last baby. I figured if I could get contractions going and her head was in the right place maybe we could get a cervix dilation going on...

My doc said that due to baby #7 the floating about was normal. Just like you said Jamie. I hope that I don't take that long to dilate though. I have had 48 hour labors, 24 hour labors, 13 hour labors... ugh. my shortest was 4 hours. She is still my most active child and easiest to reason with.

Wow, I have missed you all so much. I forgot how wonderful and supportive you all are. Thank you so much for being there for me. it was a long intense summer, not because I am pregnant, lots of other difficult things going on. It was hard to look outside myself for a while. Thanks. Hugs to everyone!

Sami :D :D :D :D :D

[Sharon in Colorado]

Black Cohosh extract induced labor on my third, which was right "on time" but late for me since the first two were 2 weeks early.

Plus he was giant, I gained like 60 pounds and his head was always grinding in my pelvis, so it was an extremely uncomfortable pregnancy.

Please keep us updated. Would love to see photos!

[Guppy]

Sami, good luck with the birth! I hope the baby will turn, but if not, do not despair. I had a premie who happened to be transverse breech, and an emergency c-section was the only way to go. It was not so bad at all. You just need a bit longer to recover. Having a healthy baby and mommy are the most important thing.

Good thoughts coming your way!
emily

[Angelic Light]

Pulsatilla homoeopathic remedy is meant to be helpful in turning breech babies.