5 answers

Anyone Else Had a Footling Breech?

My son was born an unexpected footling breech. He was head down around 28 weeks. Two weeks prior to birth, he was head down and engaged. At my last prenatal appt, I was told he was still head down but not as engaged as he had been but everything was okay. The morning I went into labor, I could feel a large hard knot close to my hipbone which I later decided had to be his head. Everything about my labor was standard - until my water broke and his little foot popped out. He was born vaginally, feet first. I've heard theories about why babies turn - misshapen uterus, awkwardly placed placenta - but I wonder why my baby waited until the last possible minute. Has this happened to anyone else?

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More Answers

This sounds like the first of many times you son will not behave as you want him to. Welcome to motherhood!

Perhaps he wanted to hit the ground running!!!!!! He will probably be an exceptional child, as he had an exceptional birth!! God Bless!!!

I am a Certified Professional Midwife. I had one client who had a footling breech. It was because the cord was around his neck tightly, three times. it would have strangled him if he had come head first! As it was, he was born naturally at home in a birth tub at 36.5 wks. (God does have it all under control!) I have helped with several other breech babies, too, but most of the time the "breech tilt" exercise, or a Chiropractic adjustment, called the "Websters Technique" usually gets them turned in plenty of time. I had one actually turn from breech to head down in the middle of her 3 hr long labor! That was a pleasant surprise!
M.

You are very, very blessed to have had a footling baby vaginally. Were you at home?

My third son turned sideways soon before his birth but the doctor gave me some exercises to do to get him back into position. The explanation for him was that, after two other babies, he had a lot of room to play in there! Is this little guy your first? I agree with the midwife. God knows what He's doing, and I'm glad everything turned out all right. (My husband was born knees first, at home in a rural area with no phone or even good roads.)

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