Danielle’s Breech Home Birth
It really all started when I was 37 weeks pregnant and found out that Clay turned BREECH.
I wasn’t worried. I have helped encourage countless breech babies to turn in my chiropractic practice. It really is quite rare that breech positioned babies don’t go head down after mama starts getting Webster chiropractic care.
I did all of the Spinning Babies® exercises, got adjusted daily, and baby was still breech. Yes, the chiropractor who helps spin babies for a living, can’t get her own baby to go head down. (I don’t physically turn babies with chiropractic care. I create more space in the pelvis l to allow for baby to move the in the proper birthing position.)
At this time, I had been preparing my mind and body for a natural, unmediated, home birth. A breech baby didn’t really fit the plan.
I researched and read countless articles about birthing a breech baby. I surrounded myself with only the best and most highly educated midwives. With the support of Beau, I decided to
•Trust in God
•Trust my body and
•Trust my baby
When the midwives came over to check on myself and the baby at my 38 week appointment, he was transverse. My midwife said, she can deliver a baby head down, or even butt down, but she can’t deliver a baby that is transverse. Yes, the baby can turn during labor, but she would feel more comfortable if the baby was one way or the other when I went into labor. She also knew that having a c-section wasn’t an option in my mind. She recommended we consider doing an EVC with a doctor she felt very comfortable with.
With my two previous kids, I delivered a little early. I had Riley 7 days early and Blake 10 days early. Because of this history, my midwife recommended we do the EVC sooner rather than later, in case I went into labor early. I scheduled the EVC for a Friday. On that Friday, I would have been 38 weeks and 6 days.
I kept telling Beau, this doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to do the EVC. I’m not even full term. The baby has time to flip. What if there is a reason he isn’t flipping? Why would I force him into a position he wasn’t ready to be in, or that he didn’t want to be in.
I asked the midwife if she could check the position of the baby before the scheduled EVC. My plan was, if the baby moved into any position from transverse, I wouldn’t go through with it. But if the baby was still transverse, I would still consider it.
The midwives came to my office on Friday morning. In between patients, they checked the baby’s position. He had moved back into the vertex position. Head was still up, but at least he wasn’t transverse. The midwife said the fluid around the baby was low. She said if I went in for the EVC, the OBGYN wouldn’t want to try to turn the baby and he would want to do a c-section that evening because of the low fluid levels. I called an canceled the EVC appointment because that was not what I wanted.
The weekend went by, and I was sure I would have had the baby by then. I was showing no signs of labor.
It was Wednesday, July 6th and I had been hoping the baby would come soon. I had an appointment with the midwives that morning. That evening, I coached Riley’s lacrosse team. It was so hot outside, I was exhausted when I got home. We had dinner and I laid down to sleep around 9:30.
For the first time since finding out our baby was breach, I started to feel fear. I did lots of research on breech births, I had conversations with my midwives about birth plans, and talked with Beau about us having a breach birth at home. During all of this, I was very confident in our decision. But at this moment, I wasn’t. I think it was because we discussed with our midwives that morning what we would do if there was a cord prolapse. That was the only thing that made me a little nervous.
As I’m laying there, I asked Beau questions. He is a paramedic, and I wanted to know what the protocol for care in the ambulance would be if there was a cord prolapse. I wanted to know if he felt confident in his skills to be the one to care for me if it happened. He explained everything, and said that if that did happen, he knew what to do. He assured me that it wouldn’t and that we have made the right decision. He dozed off, and I was still wired.
From there, I just started praying. I prayed that God would take this doubt away from me. I prayed he would give me the confidence to birth my baby, however he decided to come out. I prayed that no harm would come to my baby or myself. I prayed he would help me fall asleep because I was so tired, but my mind wouldn’t let me rest.
Well God answered my prayers. He said, you don’t have time to worry or second guess yourself, because you are having a baby tonight.
I started having contractions around 12:00am on Thursday, July 7th. I was 39 weeks and 6 days.
At 12:30am, I called my head midwife just after a couple of rounds of contractions. I told her, I wasn’t sure what was happening. The contractions were around 8-10 minutes apart and mild. But I have had fast births before, and she lived 45 minutes away. She told me to give her a call if the next two cycles of contractions were less than 8 minutes apart, and she would head my way to check out the situation, before calling the two other midwives.
I also called my mom at this time to come over and help with the girls if they woke up. Once my mom arrived, my sister, Deanne came upstairs to take pictures and videos of my labor and our little one’s birth.
It was 1:56am when our midwife, Jessica, arrived and my water was breaking as she walked in the door.
Jessica checked the baby’s heartbeat and confirmed that he was safe. My birthing space was in on open room in our house that we were transitioning from a living room to a dining room. There wasn’t anything in there at this point, so we put the birthing pool in there and a couch.
I, then, got in the birthing pool and tried to relax during the contractions. I made humming noises, raspberries with my lips, and used a comb to get through the contractions.
The two other midwives, Carmen and Jennifer, arrived. I barely even noticed them coming into the room.
I was struggling relaxing my shoulders and back because the pool was not a firm enough surface for me to rest my arms on. I also started feeling a deep pressure in my pelvis. I decided to get out of the pool because I felt that baby might be coming soon.
Within the next couple of contractions, Jessica said she could feel a foot. She had me reach down and feel his foot.
From there, I knew I had to be close to coming face to face with my baby. That was the only thing that kept me going through the pain. I pushed as hard as my body could. It took what felt like forever for him to come out. I was on my hands and knees, leaning up against a birthing stool. First his right foot, then left foot, slowly his legs and butt made their way out. My midwife told me to let him guild himself out and not to pull on him. So I kept pushing. Finally, she said all I had to do was one more big push to get his head out. I gave it all I had and he came out. Beau caught him and brought him up to my chest. From foot to head, the midwife said it took about 4 minutes for him to make his way out. He was born at 2:43am. My placenta delivered with him. His cord was pretty short and once he was out, the placenta fell with him.
Since it was so early in the morning, Riley (10 years old) was sleeping when I started labor. When I was pushing him out, she heard the screaming and came out to check on me. I heard her voice when I was pushing and heard Beau tell her to go back into her room. Blake (2 years old) was sleeping downstairs with my mom.
I was on my knees holding him skin to skin on my chest. I sat there for a few minutes to take in what just happened. Then, Beau and the midwives helped me move to the couch. I laid there for a little over an hour just holding him and putting him to breast.
The midwives took his APGAR score, listened to his heart and lungs, took my blood pressure, and then gave the three of us privacy.
I laid with him on my chest for over an hour on our couch. Riley, my oldest daughter, 10 years old, came to meet him. We did not have a name for him yet. She was begging to know what his name was.
I wanted to move to our bed so that Beau could lay with the baby and I. The midwives were also ready to do an exam on him and weigh him. We all moved to our bedroom. At this time, we called in my mom and my youngest daughter, Blake, 2 years old.
Everyone watch the midwives do the exam. The girls loved watching him get weighed. He was 7lbs 8oz and 20 inches.
The girls got to hold him and we enjoyed spending time as a family, snuggling in bed and cuddling our new little boy.
After the midwives left and the girls went back to bed, Beau and I decided on a name. Clayton Tucker Vernon Fishel.
We struggled with choosing between the names Clayton and Tucker. Vernon was a family name from Beau’s mom’s dad. While laying in the couch together with Clay, we couldn’t decide which we liked better. So we decided to give him all three names.
The name Clayton comes from the fire department that Beau currently works at.
Check out the SPINNING BABIES HOME PAGE to learn more about the movement’s Danielle used to try to turn Clay!