Delivery Thoughts

My little baby a was in a frank breech position at my 30 week appt.
Baby b was transverse.

This is my seventh pregnancy and my last two babies have been around 9 1/2 pounds (boys).
I have never delivered a baby under 8 pounds and all my births have been vaginal. Also- I have never pushed for longer than 20 minutes- usually 10 or 15 minutes.

I know it is still too early to know what position they will be in as I am closer to full term...

but from the beginning- I have known that I could have a vertex baby a and a breech baby b.
I also could have breech/breech. Etc.

My OB said she was willing to deliver breech/breech if the babies were born around 35 weeks and therefore small.
She said no matter what she was willing to deliver vertex/breech- as long as baby b was okay and she could get her feet, etc.

I realize I am going to be in a postion to have to decide what I want to do if they are both not vertex at delivery time.

I am wondering what other moms have done and what you think. I obviously have a "proven" pelvis. These are babies seven and eight for our family. They are girls.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Rebecca

 

I am a lover of the c-section, personally, but I love love your question and framing of it - I wish you the best wishes for your delivery! I only preface with the c-section info (I've had three) because I cannot offer any useful information ...

 

Mine were vetex (A) and transverse (B) when I went into labour. I was fully prepared to deliver a breech baby B as she had been breech for most of my pregnancy. I had also previously delivered an 8lb 6oz baby boy with little difficulty. Since the babies were girls and would be smaller than my son my team was supportive of a vaginal delivery in all the situations you described (as lone as A wasn't transverse). I delivered A vertex and when she was out B flipped vertex too. There was NO pushing for A (she feel out on the floor in he bathroom) and 2-3 pushes for B.

I think as long as you are prepared and your team is supportive it is your call on how you want to birth your babies. There is a doctor in German who has been doing research on positioning for breech deliveries and has found that the babies are delivered much easier when the mom is on all 4's. I had the OK from my team to deliver in this position if either baby was breech. Could be worth looking into (can't remember his name, maybe someone else knows it). GL!!!!!!

 

Our twins were number 4 and 5. The older three were born vaginally and DS3 was a 10lb breech. So like you I have a 'proven pelvis'. We delivered baby A headfirst and baby B breech. Baby B turned breech on the morning of our induction. (He was head down the night before). They were induced at 37w 4d. I had a very experienced OB team and they were happy to deliver as they were. Due to us having larger babies I was worried about having two 10lb babies and they told me that it would be fairly unlikely that that would happen and that they would just monitor it. They were 6lb 13oz and 7lb at birth so I hate to think how big they would have been at full term. We had a wonderful birthing experience. I was told that if baby A was in a difficult position then it would be a c/s otherwise birthing should be ok. My twins flipped positions all the way up to the birth so I just tried to mentally prepare myself for either outcome.

 

I had a breech A and transverse B which = a C -section (birth math!) in my neck of the woods. If I were in your shoes I would totally go for the vaginal birth. You clearly are experienced at it, a C-section, no matter how well it goes IS surgery with associated risks and vaginal births are better, generally, for babies. I would also add that a C-section changes your body irrevocably and I was not prepared for that (they cut muscle).

Kudos to you for such big, healthy babies in the past- that gift of growing them large will serve you well with these babies.

 

I feel as long as you and your OB are comfortable with the safety of your baby B, go for it. Mine were early, therefore smaller but my baby B was breech and I delivered vaginally just fine. He was monitored via U/S after A was born and they were 20 mins apart, mainly because baby B stretched out and decided to hang out a bit and enjoy the space. You obviously know what you're doing, that was the plus with me and mine. The trust relationship between you and your doc is a key factor, you have that, I think you're good to go!

 

I have no advise being that our twins were my first babies and being both breech I had to have a C-Section, I want to wish you good luck to have the vaginal birth that you want, I hope you can make it. I just wanted to add my experience regarding C-Sections. The C-Section wasn't a bad experience for me, they didn't cut any muscle, they just cut the skin and pulled the muscles apart, like you would open a courtain so to speak. Yeah, you can see the surgery line - just like you can see my gall bladder surgery also, but it's a 4 inch line that is not visible under any type of underwear.

Good luck!

 

Is your OB okay with delivering Baby A breech? I wouldn't worry about Baby B. However some Drs will not delier vaginally unless both are vertex :mellow: For me, Baby A was vertex, Baby B flipped from breech to transverse alot. She was transverse when I went into labor but flipped vertex on her own when Baby A was out.

 

Unless both are were vertex I would go for the c section. As a matter of a fact I had a c section with my twins because A was breech and B transverse but I have had 3 vaginal deliveries and if this singleton is not vertex I will opt for a c section. I have an older son that has some challenging issues due to a difficult birth and I do not want to chance that again.

 

My twins were babies 4 & 5 for me, my other three were all big babies (9 lbs & over) & delivered vaginally. I delivered L&L at 38 weeks, so full term. Lila was delivered vertex, no problem at 7 lbs 9 oz. Luke was delivered by breech extraction at 7 lbs 13 oz. The doctor did have to use forceps to deliver his head in the end, but all went fairly well & he was born only 6 minutes after his sister.

I think it really depends on what you & your doctor are comfortable with. My doctor would not have let me deliver vaginally if Baby A was presenting breech, but was fine with doing the breech extraction for Baby B & I agreed.

Good luck with your decision!

 

I had baby A vertex and baby B breech. I had no choice in delivery as I got to the hospital and had both babies in 30 min, with no time for epidural or an IV (until I had baby A) I was hoping for a vaginal delivery... and got one, but it was fast and furious with baby A coming while the DR only had 1 glove on! I never thought I could do a breech delivery (my singletons all 4 of them were vaginal vertex) but I did it and so can you! Good luck!