Your bags are packed and after 8 long months you’re finally ready to meet your baby. With a birth plan in place, you plan to have a natural, un-medicated birth at the location of your choosing with no interventions.
But as your due date quickly approaches, it appears that your little one has different plans.
Your baby doesn’t appear to be turning head down and the clock is ticking. Your care provider briefly mentions a c-section. With only a few weeks to go, you’re determined to have a natural birth – but what options do you have? Waiting to see if your baby turns is one option, but taking matters into your own hands is preferable. When it comes to breech babies, there are options that can make an impact on baby position and help pregnant women have the birth that they’re looking for.
Before you schedule a c-section, be sure to do some research and check out your options.
Spinning Babies
Labor and birth are simple in concept. It’s a mother’s job to dilate and a baby’s job to rotate. With some pregnant women working desk jobs, and other pregnant women on their feet for hours – there’s a bit of inconsistency in how the body prepares to birth. These inconsistencies can put baby in a poor position for what could be an ideal labor scenario, causing breech, posterior presentation, low-lying placenta or other common issues. Despite what care providers might suggest, in reality a minority of babies in breech or posterior position have to be born via surgery. Spinning babies uses gentle techniques to improve positioning. By focusing on balance, gravity and movement during labor and preparing with focused exercises like the side-lying release and other positioning exercises, you can position your baby for easier, smoother birth. Check out some of the articles that have been written on their website for pregnancy and labor.
Chiropractic Care
I personally had a patient whose care providers told her that vaginal birth was unlikely if not impossible, due to breech positioning and placenta previa. If you weren’t aware, placenta previa occurs when a baby’s placenta partially or totally covers the opening in the mother’s cervix — the lower end of the uterus that connects to the top of the vagina. The combination during delivery would require a cesarean section.
This expectant mother, rather than accepting this diagnosis, opted in to my care. Using a combination of chiropractic techniques, the baby moved into ideal position and the placenta migrated 3cm away from the cervix. The result was a vaginal birth.
While there is never a guarantee when it comes to optimal position of your baby, being proactive is far better than waiting around to get a cesarean section.
If you’re in your third trimester and your baby has not turned head down or has reversed position (or even if you just want to balance your body to prepare for labor and childbirth) it’s probably time you check out some of the resources at spinningbabies.com and see a prenatal chiropractor. At minimum, you may find relief for many third trimester symptoms and gain better positioning for your body and baby.
