A GREAT STORY WITH A POSITIVE APPROACH TO THE SUPRISING NEWS AT 38 WEEKS OF A BREECH BIRTH

 

On 29 December 2003, John and I went for our routine 37½ week obstetrician visit where we were told that our baby was still in the breech position. If nothing changed, and provided I didn’t go into labour first, we were booked in to have a caesarian 10 days later. I was devastated. I knew earlier on that it was unlikely bub’s would turn, but I really had my heart set on a vaginal delivery. I had actually been looking forward to the “panic” when my contractions started, and was also keen to see how well I would cope with the whole experience. Not only had I felt mentally prepared for the birth, thanks mostly to my Byron Bay experience, but I also felt physically prepared – I even had two separate bags packed, one for the labour ward and one for the hospital stay. I asked my doctor, whom I had utmost faith in, whether he would consider a vaginal breech delivery, but as I expected he wasn’t keen with the position bubby was in.

 

He explained the complications that are usually involved and that it would be an assisted delivery in any case, and even worse, could end up as an emergency caesar.The thought of going through hours of labour and ending up on the operating table was my greatest fear. I couldn’t help feeling disappointed though, like there was something I may have done differently.A few days later I started doing some research on the internet in relation to breech babies to see if there was possibly something I could do now to manipulate the baby. Most of the sites offered suggestions that I started to consider, until I came across an article that suddenly changed my way of thinking.This article, backed up by studies, pointed out that in most cases, there is a perfectly good reason the baby has not yet turned.For example, the placenta may be in the way, or the position of the umbilical chord is such that if the baby did turn it would wrap around his or her neck. It was then that I decided to forget about disappointment and start focusing on the positives of the situation, and let nature take its course.John and I were about to become parents to a beautiful new baby, and it really didn’t matter how the delivery was performed so long as everyone was healthy!!

 

There were lots of positives really – we now knew the exact date (8th January 2004, which we decided to keep as a complete secret) and therefore we could spend the night before doing something special together, then I could wash my hair, do my nails etc and try to get an early night ready for the “big day” ahead.And, as one of the ladies in Byron put it when telling her birth story, I would still have a “honeymoon fresh vagina”!! Of course, deep down, I was still hoping that bubby would turn at the last minute and we could cancel the surgery altogether, but I certainly wasn’t going to dwell on it.

 

Leading up to the big day I was finding it increasingly difficult to fib to everyone about when I was seeing the doctor next and whether or not the baby had turned.This was made even worse when the girls next door put together a “baby betting pool” for everyone to try and guess the birth date – I could have boxed John’s head off when he picked the 8th, he’s such a cheat!Typically though, John thought this was funny and never really intended to win on that basis, but just wanted to see everyone’s reaction after the news was out.

 

Well, he outsmarted himself this time as the day before the 8th, we were told that unfortunately the theatres were fully booked for that day and so we would have to wait till the day after!!So the new date was now Friday the 9th of January 2004 – the day my Dad had picked.This meant I had to wait yet another day and tell even more fibs!! I was finding it extremely hard to sleep leading up to the “big day”, I was so full of excitement and anticipation.John and I went to the movies on the night before and this helped to take my mind off things for a few hours at least.

 

I woke at 5am on the 9th and decided I couldn’t wait any longer to tell Mum, Dad and Mick, so I phoned them at 6 o’clock.Mum said she had suspected something was going on, I’m such a bad liar!!They were so excited and Dad decided to take a half-day so they could come and see me as soon as possible after the birth. We arrived at the hospital at 8:30am and Katrina, our lovely midwife, put a monitor on me to check bub’s heartbeat and we were taken to theatre at about 9:30.Our anaesthetist Elizabeth and her assistant Sarah were just lovely, they both made us feel relaxed and totally confident about the procedure. Once the spinal block was in we were ready for action.Dr Boyce arrived at 10:30am and pretty much started straight away.I remember feeling completely at ease and in good hands when I saw him arrive. At 10:52am our beautiful, healthy little boy was born.

 

He was a massive 4.106kg and 51.5cm long – this explained why he had little room to move inside me!! Nobody would have guessed I was having such a huge baby, as I didn’t really look that big when pregnant. The moment John and I saw our beautiful little Joseph will remain in my mind forever.John, having only daughters from a previous marriage, was quietly praying for his little boy – and now he had arrived. Dr Boyce didn’t announce the sex, he just held him up for us to see.We looked at each other and both said, “we have a son!” through many tears and smiles – the greatest moment of my life so far.

 

After Joseph was delivered, I felt lots more “tugging” going on and asked Dr Boyce what was happening. My placenta had lodged itself in the wall of my uterus and they were having all sorts of trouble removing it. At the time I was so euphoric from the birth, that I hadn’t quite comprehended this, but when Dr Boyce came to see me later he explained that even if I were able to deliver Joseph vaginally (as he knew I had really wanted), I would never had birthed the placenta that way and would have ended up in surgery anyway, possibly under general anaesthetic!! It was then that I realised Joseph had done us both an enormous favour by not turning and as I have always believed, everything happens for a reason. Mother nature is a funny thing and in most cases, we should just let it take its course rather than trying to change things to suit our own agenda. John and I are so lucky to have been blessed with a beautiful baby boy and we couldn’t be happier, I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

 

Joseph by Karen Schmitzer. 9 January 2004