Bottom down.
The power of reframing in childbirth.
A strong mother, having her first baby, arrived at the birth center almost fully dilated. She had a sweet, joyful team, and as I helped her out of her underwear, I noticed something dark brown on her pad. “Hmmm,” I thought. I gently checked her dilated cervix and traced the perfect contours of a baby’s bottom. The baby was breech, with meconium (baby poop) to boot, which explained the pad. I gently removed my hand, let the next wave pass, and looked her deep into her eyes, “Your baby is not head down, so we will need to go together to the hospital.”
About three percent of babies don’t line up head down, but instead orient with feet, knees or butt first. When surgical birth became safer, the skill of delivering breech babies became a lost practice. If you face this situation on your journey, please know that the experience and skill of the person taking care of you in a breech birth matters. The Farm midwives and local doctors delivered many breech babies safely. You may or may not have the option to consider this type of birth; it will depend on the training of your caregivers and place you choose to deliver. For this mom, delivering by cesarean was the path forward.
She started laughing to relieve her shock and stress, and we hugged for a minute. There were some tears. I talked her through the steps and stayed with her as we received care at the hospital.
After she had her baby in her arms and we were all back together, we talked about how it unfolded and marveled at this perfect little person in our midst.
She moved me with her trust, her acceptance, her humor, and her love. This is the power of reframing. That was her beautiful birth, even in its surprise ending.