Episode 331 Lauren's 2VBACs + A Frank Breech Vaginal Delivery

The VBAC Link

In this episode of “The VBAC Link Podcast,” Meagan is joined by Lauren from Alabama. Lauren’s first birth was a Cesarean due to breech presentation where she really wasn’t given any alternative options. Her second was a VBAC with a head-down baby, and her third was a breech VBAC with a provider who was not only supportive but advocated on her behalf!

Though each of her births had twists and turns including PROM, the urge to push before complete, frequent contractions early on, and NICU time, Lauren is a great example of the power that comes from being an active decision maker in birth. She evaluated pros and cons and assumed the risks she was comfortable with.

Thank you, Lauren, for your courage and vulnerability in sharing not only your birth stories with us but also your incredible birth video!

Lauren's YouTube Channel

Cleveland Clinic Breech Article

The VBAC Link Blog: ECV Explained

Needed Website

How to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for Parents

Full Transcript under Episode Details

Meagan: Hello, Women of Strength. If you have ever wondered if a breech vaginal birth or a breech VBAC is possible, let me just tell you right now, the answer is yes and our friend Lauren today is going to share her story to confirm that it is 100% possible. Obviously, we do have some breech VBAC stories on the podcast but they are few and far between.

I mean, Lauren, when you were going through it, did you hear a lot of breech births in general let alone VBAC? Did you hear a lot of people having those?

Lauren: No. I had heard a few on The VBAC Link but that was really it.

I did a lot of research.

Meagan: Yes and it’s so unfortunate. This story is a double VBAC story but also a breech VBAC which we know a lot of people seek the stories for this because as she just said, there is not a lot of support out there when it comes to breech birth in general. We have a client right now who was just told that her baby was breech and they’ve already said, “We’re going to try to flip this baby but if not, it’s a C-section.” They didn’t even talk about breech vaginal birth being an option and it makes me so sad.

I’m really, really excited to get into your episode. You are in Alabama. Is that correct?

Lauren: I am.

Meagan: Awesome. So any Alabama mamas, listen up especially if you have a breech VBAC but VBAC in general. If someone is willing to support a breech VBAC, I’m going to guess that they are pretty supportive of VBAC in general.

We do have a Review of the Week so we will get into that. This is by sarahinalaska. It says, “HBA2C attempt”. It says, “Thank you, thank you. Your podcast came to me at such an amazing time. You ladies are doing something amazing here. I’m planning on (I’m going to) have an HBAC after two C-sections in February. I look forward to listening to your podcast on repeat to fuel my confidence, ability, and knowledge.”

Sarahinalaska, this has been just a minute so if you had your VBAC or just in general, if you are still listening, let us know how things went and congratulations. Late congratulations because this was a couple of years ago.

Meagan: Okay, everybody. Lauren, thank you again for being here.

Lauren: Thank you for having me.

Meagan: Yes, so okay. Obviously, every VBAC journey starts with a C-section so if you want to start right there.

Lauren: Yeah. So my first son was about 7 years ago. He was born by C-section. He was also breech.

Meagan: Oh, interesting. Okay.

Lauren: He was breech through the entire pregnancy. We had talked to my doctor about doing the version but at 36 weeks, my water broke.

Meagan: Okay.

Lauren: So once your water breaks, you can’t attempt a version. I went to the hospital and they said that it would have to be a C-section at that point. I really didn’t have the knowledge that I do now and basically, it was worded as “I don’t have an option” and that’s just it.

So that’s what we did.

Meagan: Yeah. It’s so common. Even with non-breech, there are so many times when we come into our birth experience and we are left feeling like we don’t have an option.

Lauren: Yeah.

Meagan: It’s just so hard to know. Obviously, that’s why we created this podcast so you know all of your options. And then talking about flipping a baby and doing an ECV after your water broke, that is something I’ve only seen one time in 10 years of practicing so most providers will be like, “Nope. I won’t even attempt it.” I was actually floored when my client was actually offered that.

Obviously, it’s a more difficult experience and it can be stressful on the baby as well so there’s that to consider. She ended up trying it. He tried it twice and it didn’t happen and then they ended up going into the OR.

So okay. Baby was breech. Do you know why baby was breech? Did they say anything about your uterus or any abnormalities there?

Lauren: No. They said sometimes it just happens. They knew how badly I wanted to have a vaginal birth and they said, “You are an excellent candidate for a VBAC.” So I was like, “Okay, great.”

Meagan: Awesome.

Lauren: That’s when I really took a deep dive into birth in general because the stuff that they were saying just didn’t sound right to me.

Meagan: They said you were a candidate. So where did your VBAC journey start as you were diving in? How did that begin? Did you do that before pregnancy or after you fell pregnant?

Lauren: Before pregnancy. Probably before the time I came home from the hospital with my son, I was already researching.

Meagan: Baby was a couple of days old and you’re like, “And let’s figure this out.” Listen, I get that. That’s exactly how I was too with becoming a doula. It was literally two days after I had my C-section. I signed up to become a doula.

Okay. You started diving in and what did you find?

Lauren: It was very shocking to me how most providers don’t practice evidence-based. I found out the difference between evidence-based versus the standard of care. I was shocked about that too. I was just like, How can you do that as a doctor when you’ve got all this evidence here? But another doctor is practicing this way so it’s okay for you to do that.

Meagan: Right. It becomes the norm or it has become the norm. Yeah. Okay. So you get pregnant and you know VBAC is possible. Tell us that VBAC story.

Lauren: So that was just a wonderful experience but part of my research, I joined ICAN and I wanted the most VBAC-supportive provider out there. I did switch providers and I switched even before I was pregnant. Right when we were trying, I was like, I need to get in with a provider who is supportive. I found a wonderful provider.

The pregnancy was great. I did all the things. I sat on the birth ball instead of on the couches. I made sure to take walks every day. I kept up with my chiropractic care. All of that were just tips that I had seen so I did that.

She was head down by 20 weeks so I was super excited about that and she waited until 40+3 which was also a big thing for me because with my first son, they took him to the NICU so I did not want the NICU. The NICU was a horrible experience. I was like, Please, please, please hold on until 37 weeks. 40 would be great.

She did. She held on until 40. It was funny too. It was like a switch flipped at that point and I was like, okay. Now I want to get her out. I was eating the spicy food and everything to try to get labor started.

But 40+3, my water broke with her as well before labor started. I panicked a little bit because I didn’t want to be on a clock. Although I felt that I was with a good provider, I still hadn’t birthed with her yet and I’ve heard stories about people having this doctor who tells them everything they want to hear and then they get in the birth room and it’s completely different.

Meagan: The bait-and-switch, yeah. It’s so hard because they talk about how we have to have this proven pelvis to be considered the best candidate or to have full faith in our ability, but at the same time, I feel like sometimes from us at a patient’s standpoint, they need to prove to us. They need to prove to us that they are supportive throughout.

Lauren: Yes. For sure. So pretty quickly after my water broke, I started pumping and while I was pumping, the contractions started so I felt so much better. I was like, Okay, good. Now we’ve got contractions going. I had a doula at that point as well because I felt like having a doula was going to be extremely important for a VBAC. I called her and let her know. She came over and she just hung out a little bit. We did a henna on my belly and we just talked and talked through some fears and excitement and stuff like that.

Then she said, “Well, I’m going to go get my stuff. Why don’t you lay down and take a nap and see if once things pick up, we can go to the hospital?” I said, “That sounds great.” This was my first time experiencing labor because with my son, even though my water broke, I never had contractions. They just went straight to the C-section. I went upstairs and I laid down on my left side.

Within a minute, I was just like, Whoa, these feel totally different. This is crazy. Probably within 30 minutes or so, I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes.

Meagan: Whoa!

Lauren: Yeah. I was just like, This just picked up really fast. I think I was supposed to already go in by now.

Meagan: Were they intense as well on top of being close or were they not as intense but just close?

Lauren: In hindsight, they were not intense but it was my first time having labor and they were more intense than the beginning contractions. “Okay, they are more intense. They are close together. I’ve got to go now.” I was panicking.

We made it to the hospital. They checked me and I was 2 centimeters.

Meagan: Okay.

Lauren: I was like, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Meagan: Yes. That’s the hardest thing because we are so focused on the time. We are told if they are this close together, it’s time to come in but we sometimes forget about the other factors of intensity and length and what’s the word I’m looking for? I was going to say continuous but they are that pattern always. They are sticking to that pattern. They are consistent. They are consistent, yeah. Okay, so you’re 2 centimeters which is great by the way. It’s still great.

Lauren: Yes. Oh, and I forgot to mention too that another that was like, Okay, I probably am with a good provider, I did call her after my water broke and she said, “What are your plans?” I just said, “I’d like to stay home as long as possible and contractions haven’t started yet but I’m going to try to start pumping and get them started.” I said, “I’d like to wait until tomorrow morning to come in if nothing has started.” She was like, “Okay. Sounds like a good plan. Just let me know what you need.”

I was like, Wow. She let me go past 24 hours.

Meagan: Yeah. I just love that she started out, “What’s your plan?”

Lauren: Yes.

Meagan: Versus, “This is what you have to do now.”

Lauren: Yes. Exactly. She is wonderful and you’ll see through the story how amazing she is too. But anyway, we get to the hospital and I actually started out with a wonderful nurse. The hospital policy is continuous monitoring.

Meagan: Yeah, very common.

Lauren: But I did not want that. I was so lucky because the nurse who started, she was about to leave. Her shift was about to end but she let me start on intermittent monitoring so I was able to get up, walk around, get on the birth ball just to help things moving.

Shortly after that, she left and the next nurse was not so nice about it. She told me, “It’s our policy. Yada yada.” I said, “Look. I’ve been doing the intermittent. I’m fine with the intermittent. That’s what I’m going to stick with.” She said, “You’re going to have to sign a form.” I said, “Bring it on.”

Meagan: Yeah.

Lauren: I signed the form and I was just like, “That’s fine. I have no problem signing a form to say this is my choice.” Then we labored in the hospital room for several hours and my doula suggested I got in the shower at one point and that was amazing. It was euphoric. It felt so good to get in the hot shower and I was progressing slightly more than a centimeter an hour which I know is what they look for so things just progressed pretty slowly and then that night at around– oh, well actually once I hit 6 centimeters, my body started pushing.

Meagan: Oh, yes. That can happen.

Lauren: I was terrified when I found out I was only 6 centimeters because they kept saying, “You need to stop pushing or you’re going to the OR.” I was like, “You don’t understand. I’m not pushing. My body is doing it.” It was several hours of working with my doula to try to stop my body from pushing. Every time I had a contraction, and they were still going every 2 minutes–

Meagan: Did they give you any tips on how to cope with that or how to avoid pushing like horse lips or things like that?

Lauren: The thing that worked best for me was opening my mouth and saying, “Ahhhh.” So that helped a lot but I would still say that 50% of the time I could not stop the pushes. I still remember that nurse saying which was not helpful at all, “Are you pushing? That’s the quickest way to the OR.”

Meagan: Ugh. Not very kind. You’re like, “I’m trying not to. Can you see what I’m doing here?”

Lauren: Yes. Then my doctor came in around 11:00 that night to check me and she said, “Oh, you’re complete.” I just remember being like, “Thank God.” I said, “Does that mean I can push now?” They’re like, “Yes.” That was the best thing I had heard because that was all I wanted to do was push. I was already in the bed because they had me on the monitor at that point. I was on my back so they just leaned the bed back.

I didn’t really want to push on my back but at that point, I was like, “I’m not moving. I’m just going to push how I am.”

I pushed. It took about 20 minutes and she just slowly came out. It was– oh, I’m going to get emotional. It was wonderful. My doula was also my birth photographer and she got some pictures. She got a picture of my husband. It’s really sweet. I hope he’s okay with me telling this but she got a picture of him crying. It was when she was almost out. I asked him about it and he said, “I just knew at that point you were going to do it. I knew how important it was to you.” Sorry.

Meagan: I’m sure he had that overwhelming flood of emotions like, “I know this is important and I can see it. She’s there. She’s going to do this.”

Lauren: Yes. It was wonderful too and then I got to hold her on my chest for a while but they weren’t too thrilled with her breathing so they never took her out of the room but they did take her over to the table and they were suctioning her and stuff like that. I started feeling a little panicky because with my son, what happened was after my C-section, they showed him to me. I got to kiss him and touch him and all that but then they started leaving the room with him. I was like, “Whoa, where are you going?” They were like, “Oh, we’ve got to take him to the NICU because he’s having trouble breathing,” but nobody told me anything. They just started leaving with him.

I was panicking thinking that was going to happen with my daughter. I was like, “Please, please, please just give her to me. All she needs is me. She’s going to be fine. Just give her to me.” The nurse was like, “No. She needs suction. We need to do our job,” but my doctor was so wonderful. She came over and said, “What they’re doing right now is suctioning her because they are not happy with her oxygen level.” She sat there and she told me, “Okay, now she’s at 94.1%. Now she’s at 94.2%. Now she’s at 94.3%.”

Every time that thing went up, she would tell me. She was just so calm and it was like she got me. She understood.

Meagan: She understood what you needed in that moment.

Lauren: Yes. Yes. Another thing too which I thought was really interesting is that first off, she did ask before she did anything. We got half of my daughter’s head out but she got a little stuck so the doctor was like, “You know, we really want to get her out.” She said, “I think the vacuum might help or are you okay with me manually helping you?” I said, “What do you mean by that?”

She said, “I could just insert my fingers and tilt her chin. I think that will get her out.” I said, “Yeah. Let’s do that one.” So she did. She went in and popped her little chin and then she came out.

Meagan: Awesome.

Lauren: But it was nice to be asked instead of told what needed to be done.

Meagan: Well not even told and just have it done.

Lauren: Yeah, just do it. I’ve heard that a lot and it was crazy because that actually was going to happen with my first son. Before my nurses knew I was breech, they came in and they started. They were about to put medicine in my IV and I said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?” She’s like, “Oh, this is Pitocin. We need to get your contractions started.” I was like, “No, I don’t want Pitocin.” She’s like, “We need to birth him within 24 hours or he’s going to be a C-section.”

So it was just crazy the difference in being told what was going to happen and being asked for not only my opinion but my consent.

Meagan: Yeah, absolutely. That’s so important. Women of Strength, if you are listening to this, please, please, please I beg of you to help you know. I don’t know how we can let you know even more but you guys have the power to say no and consent is so important. Your consent is so important with anything, even just getting Pitocin drips. If anything is happening to your body, you have the right to say no and you always can question. You can pause and say, “Tell me all of the risks here” or whatever. You don’t just have to have it be done to you. You do not have to.

Lauren: Yes.

Meagan: It’s hard to say no in that moment.

Lauren: It is. It is.

Meagan: It’s hard to say no especially when they are coming in and making it sound like something you need. Whether it’s something you need or not, you still deserve to have consent.

Lauren: Yes, exactly. Then they throw that at you where it’s like, “Oh, the baby will be in danger.” You’re like, if you’re not knowledgable then you’ll be like, “Okay, then. I don’t want my baby in danger.”

Meagan: Exactly. Of course, we don’t. Duh. Of course, we do not want our baby in danger but most of the time rarely is our baby in danger if we are not starting Pitocin right away. Yeah. Awesome. So you had this beautiful vaginal birth with support. It was a way different experience with good, true informed consent even into the postpartum period which should keep continuing anytime you are under care with anyone like this no matter in hospital or out of hospital. This kind of consent should continue.

Lauren: Yes, for sure.

Meagan: Awesome. Awesome.

And then baby number three. Cute little baby. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say his name so I won’t.

Lauren: Oh, yeah. You’re fine. Ollie, yeah.

Meagan: I was going to say I got to see on the recording just before we got started that he was another breechie.

Lauren: Yes, he was. I was just like, Oh my goodness. His pregnancy was so similar to my first son. It was a little freaky. I had a lot of anxiety to work through because of that. I was like, This can’t happen again. He was breech the entire time and basically stayed in the same position. He moved his little head around and that was about it.

This time, I was I guess a little more– I don’t know if cocky is the right word but confident that everything would be fine. I was a little more lazy. I didn’t do as many walks as I should have. I sat on the couch a little more than the birth ball and things like that. I was like, Oh, he’ll be fine. So at about 20 weeks when he was still breech, I was like, Maybe it won’t be fine. Maybe I need to get this going.

I started trying to do a little more of that stuff. Also, my doula had moved out of state so I was like, Oh no.

Meagan: Dang it yeah.

Lauren: I know it’s so important and having a doula was definitely important for me. I started the search for a new doula which ended up turning out great. I loved both doulas so I was very pleased but I was very nervous. But yeah. I found my doula while I was pregnant and then I just had so much anxiety about my first son’s birth that I needed a plan ahead of time basically.

I talked to my doctor about it and I went in there just nervous to even bring it up. I said, “So he’s still breech. I know that he’s got plenty of time to turn but I am nervous because I have a history of this with my first son. He was breech and I had to have a C-section.” I said, “What are your thoughts on a breech vaginal?” She goes, “Well, I don’t see why we couldn’t.” I was like, “What?”

Meagan: You’re like, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Lauren: She’s like, “You’ve already had a VBAC. You did fine. He can’t be sideways. He’s got to be to where he could actually come out breech. It’s just something that we’ll talk about.” She did mention an ECV as well and she was like, “We’ve got a long way away but I don’t have a problem doing a breech VBAC with you.” I immediately just felt so much relief.

Meagan: I bet.

Lauren: Yes. So we went along the pregnancy like that and then at 37+3 at 5:00 in the morning, my water broke.

Meagan: 3 for 3 water breaking, you and I. They say 10% but when you’re 3 for 3, you’re like, “Hmm.”

Lauren: That’s what I was thinking and the breech stuff is only 3-4% are breech and I had it twice. It’s like, How is this possible? But yeah, my water broke around 5:00 AM and me running to the bathroom, I woke my son up and he came in. It was really sweet. He got in bed with me and we just cuddled for about an hour and I talked to him about how his baby brother was going to come today. It was just a really nice moment to cuddle with him.

Meagan: Oh yeah. Those moments are so precious because you’re like, these are the last moments of just us as a family of 4 and now we’re adding a 5th and these are the last little moments together without little siblings. I’ll always remember that.

So we did that. We cuddled for about an hour and then the contractions actually started without me having to pump. This time, I was going to wait a little bit longer before pumping because I wondered if the contractions every 2 hours with my daughter for the whole labor was maybe because of the pumping. Having contractions that close made things really difficult.

Meagan: Oh yeah. Not a lot of a break. Every 2 minutes, there’s not a ton of a break especially when they were a minute long. Not a lot there.

Lauren: No. So I was like, Maybe that will change. I knew I could handle it but I was like, If I don’t have to, that would be great. They started pretty slow about 6 minutes apart or so really gently.

At around 6:00, I went ahead and woke my husband up and let him know. I called my parents. I had texted my doula but I went ahead and called her just to let her know. I called my doctor. She again just asked me, “What are your plans?” I just said, “Stay here to let things pick up and then head to the hospital.” She was like, “Okay, that sounds good.”

I just labored at home. My parents live 2 hours away but they were coming to get our older two kids. I was going to try to pack the hospital bag because I had not done that yet.

Meagan: Well, at 37 weeks.

Lauren: That was the plan for that weekend. I kept having to sit down because of the contractions. My husband said, “Let me do it. Tell me what you need.” I would just give him the instructions as I just bounced on the birth ball. We got that done and my parents showed up. They brought me a big smoothie because I was like, “I want to eat but I don’t want to chew so get me a smoothie.” That was really nice just to have something in my stomach and give me some energy and stuff.

They got here at around 9:30 and at around almost 11:00, I was like, “These contractions are starting to feel real.” I had a first birth reference at that point.

Meagan: Yeah, like more intense and frequent and strong.

Lauren: Exactly. Oh, but I will say by 7:30 again, at 7:30 that morning, I was back at 2 minutes apart.

Meagan: Oh man. It’s just something your body does.

Lauren: That’s just me, yeah. But they weren’t intense and this time, I knew. I was like, Okay. I know this is not intense. I’m still able to talk through them. I’m able to recover very well, but then right around 11:00, I was like, “Things are getting really intense now so I think we need to go.”

We left for the hospital and let my doula know. I called my doctor as well and it was really wonderful talking to her too because she said, “You know, when you go in there, make sure you are confident. Tell them this is the plan. You are going to do a breech VBAC. We have already discussed this.” I think she was worried too.

The hospital, I will say, I do not feel was supportive. I think it was mainly that they were scared. I think she knew that too, but having her in my corner was what I needed.

Meagan: Yeah, very huge.

Lauren: We got to the hospital and she had gone ahead and called them to directly admit me so I didn’t have to do triage and all that. That made it so much quicker. We got there probably around 11:40 or so and we were already in our room and the doctor was coming in by 12:00.

She came in and she checked me. She was like, “All right. You’re already at about a 5 or a 6 so you’re doing great.” She’s like, “I’ll be in the hospital for a while so they’ll just call me when you need me. Just do your thing. I was like, “All right. Here we go.”

I did get in the bed for a little while so they could do the IVs and stuff like that. I told them I wanted the wireless monitor. They were having trouble working it but they still never made me do any monitors because I told them I can’t do continuous unless it is wireless because I need to be able to move. They didn’t argue with that so that was nice.

Once they got all that done, I got on the birth ball. We played some music that I had preplanned and my doula and my husband both helped me work through the contractions then it was 12:58 which was less than an hour when my body started pushing again. I’m like, You’ve got to be kidding me. I can’t do this.

They called the nurse in because I was like–

Meagan: Last time this happened at 6 centimeters. Please don’t tell me.

Lauren: They came to check and she was like, “Oh my gosh, she’s complete and he’s right there.” I was like, “What?”

Meagan: Yay!

Lauren: Yes. They called my doctor. I was panicking a little bit but she wasn’t there. She was in the hospital but because she wasn’t in my room and I went from a 5 to complete in less than an hour, I’m like, “Is this baby just going to shoot out of me?” I was like, “I need her to be here.” Anyway, she got there very quickly and this time, I knew I didn’t want to be on my back so they had me just try some different positions but I really liked when the bed was sat up and I was facing the back and leaned over it so I was upright. Then I was able to move my pelvis around and just find a comfortable position. I really liked that.

I started pushing because I could. He just very, very slowly came out and my doula was recording because I wanted a recording of my last birth but I was just too out of it to even ask for it so I had let my husband and doula ahead of time that I wanted it so my doula took care of that. She was there recording it.

Meagan: Awesome.

Lauren: Yeah. I was pushing I remember this one hurt a lot more than my daughter. I think they stretch you differently. I remember panicking to my husband, “Oh my gosh. This hurts.” He was just slowly coming out but I couldn’t see what was going on. With my daughter, they rolled out a mirror so I could see what was going on.

I felt like I was pushing wine. I didn’t ask him to but my husband stepped in and he was like, “Okay, I see a leg now. Oh, there goes the other leg.” He started just telling me body parts and I was able to get a visual which was so helpful to be able to know how much was coming out.

When it got to his chest, it felt like my body was just like, Okay, we’re done. The contractions just stopped and I was like, “What’s going on? They were coming so fast and now they’re just chilling out or whatever.” They were like, “It’s fine. We’ll just wait until the next contraction.”

They did start coming back but it didn’t feel as strong and it felt slower. I don’t know what that was about. It could have just been my perception too.

He came all the way out up to his neck and then he wasn’t really coming much further after he got to his neck. The doctor was turning him because he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. He just didn’t seem to be moving like he was supposed to.

She said, “I need to check and see if his head is flexed,” and it was not. She had to put both hands inside to flex his head so that it was in the correct position and she had turned him over to try and get some of the cord off as well.

It got a little intense there for a minute. She said, “Okay. I need you to get on your hands and knees,” so I did that and that wasn’t working. She said, “Okay, mom. I want to get you to flip over. I just need a different angle to get him out.”

I flipped over on my back which I was completely fine with at that point. I wasn’t panicked. I had a little bit of anxiety and fear but I wasn’t really scared because my doctor seemed so confident in that she’s got this. We just need to do something a little different to get him out.

We flipped on my back and she got his head exactly where it needed to be. I did two more pushes and he came out. He had gotten stuck longer than they wanted him to so she said, “We’re going to go ahead and cut the cord and get him to the nursery team who was coming in” because they needed to resuscitate him just from the time it took.

Meagan: He was shocked

Lauren: She said too, “He’s going to be okay. He’s trying to cry but he needs help.” I said, “Okay.” I felt good at that point. I knew that if he was trying to cry that he was still conscious. The NICU team– it was charted wrong how long he was stuck. I think they panicked a little bit because they just went and they intubated him immediately and they said, “Okay, we need to get him to the NICU.”

I hadn’t even touched him at that point. I said, “Can I touch him or kiss him or talk to him before you take him?” I asked my doctor that and she said, “Can you bring him over here so she can give him a little pat before you take him?” The nurse looked over and she goes, “She can see him from where she’s at,” and they left with him.

Meagan: Oh. Oh. Oh boy.

Lauren: To me, it did feel like a punishment for doing a breech. They went back and looked and they charted that he was stuck for 5 minutes. We had a video and he was stuck for a minute and 40 seconds. Huge difference.

Meagan: Very big, yeah.

Lauren: They went immediately to what they would do with a baby who had been stuck for 5 minutes. They charted his APGAR as 0 but my doctor said, “It can’t be because he whimpered when he got out so he’s got to have at least something.” It was all just a big overreaction at that point.

They were supposed to monitor him for 4 hours to make a decision and they immediately just made the decision to admit him to the NICU which meant he was stuck in NICU for at least 3 days.

Then within– when I went to go see him, it was within 2 hours. They had already extubated him. He was already breathing on his own with no problems whatsoever.

Meagan: He was fine.

Lauren: Yeah, he was fine.

The next morning, my doctor went and talked to the doctors–

Meagan: The pediatricians?

Lauren: Yeah. Yeah at the NICU and just let them know, “This is wrong in the chart. This is wrong in the chart,” educating them about breech VBAC. She also did talk to them about the behavior of the nurse and she said, “It was unacceptable.” They talked about that.

Oh, because that same nurse, when I finally got up to the NICU to see him, she had her back turned and she didn’t see me coming and I heard her talk. She goes, “Well, you know, he came out the wrong way.” Then she realized that I was behind her and she walked away. I never saw her after that.

Meagan: She probably was avoiding you.

Lauren: I was like, Oh my goodness. I can’t believe that just happened.

Meagan: Seriously. Obviously, she’s got a chip on her shoulder toward people who are doing things that are actually normal, just a different variation.

Lauren: After my doctor talked to them that morning, as soon as she left, they called me and they weren’t going to let me breastfeed or hold him or anything like that because he had a central line in his umbilical cord and they said, “It’s too risky. It could fall out.” As soon as she left, they were like, “We’re going to actually let you try to latch and hold him. We’ll just have to be really careful.”

Meagan: Good for your doctor for advocating for you guys.

Lauren: That was one of my things that I just really love about her. That’s not something that she had to do. She took the time out to review everything that night. I had him on a Saturday so she reviewed everything that night, got up early the next morning, went to the NICU, advocated for me, and I’ll just never forget her for that. She’s my angel.

Meagan: Yeah. That’s how it should be. That’s really how it should be. Are you willing to share her name for anyone looking for VBAC support and especially for breech?

Lauren: Yeah. Her name is Dr. Robinson and she’s at Alabama Women’s Wellness Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Meagan: Awesome.

Lauren: Yes. It’s really hard to find a VBAC-supportive provider in Alabama but breech VBAC? That’s hard anywhere.

Meagan: I have Alabama Women’s Wellness Center because we have our supportive provider list that we are working on right now to perfect so everybody can get access to that in a better way and we don’t have her on there so I’ll make sure to add her.

Lauren: Yes. Thank you. Yeah. She’s amazing. That’s probably an understatement.

Meagan: She sounds absolutely incredible. I’m just so happy for you. I’m so glad that you had that advocate through a provider and it sounds like the second time, it was a little bit more of that informed consent, truly wanting to incorporate you into this experience with a little less of that the second time, but holy cow. Amazing. A minute and 40 seconds, that might feel like an eternity to someone watching, but really, that’s actually pretty quick and your provider knew, “Okay, let’s change positions. Let’s move. Let’s get this going,” and baby’s out. It can be common for babies to come out a little stunned breech or not breech. Sometimes they come out a little stunned and you also had a really fast transition so you went from a 5 to a 10 really fast.

There are a lot of things to take into consideration there for sure.

Lauren: Yeah. I think she said that they charted from the time his butt came out is what they told her and with a breech, you’re supposed to chart once the shoulders are out.

Meagan: Yeah, the shoulders and the neck. That makes sense that they got that mixed up. Well, I wanted to go over the different types of breech. You already said this earlier that it’s kind of crazy that 3-4% of people will have a full-term breech and I know baby number one was 36 weeks but pretty much right there right around the corner of full-term. But 3-4% and you’ve had two so it’s pretty low but we know that breech is happening. It’s just not being supported. I wanted to talk about a couple of different things.

There are different types of breech and that is something that I think is important to know. We’ve got frank breech and that’s where the baby’s butt is down into the vaginal canal or down and the legs are sticking right up where the baby’s feet are in front. Do you know if your baby was frank breech?

Lauren: Yeah, they were both frank.

Meagan: Yeah. That’s typically where a provider, if they are supportive, will allow a vaginal birth, and then complete breech is where the butt is down and both the hips and knees are flexed. Footling is where one or sometimes both– it’s like they are either standing inside or where they are being a flamingo and doing a one-foot thing facing down. Or we know that there is transverse where the baby is sideways.

Footling and transverse– I mean, transverse for sure cannot come out vaginally. Footling has some more concerns so most providers will not support that. Anyway, overall, my suggestion is if you have a breech, one, know the options to try to help rotate a baby. If you so choose, there are also risks to ECVs.

We have a blog around ECV and we want to make sure it’s in the show notes. We are going to link some more about breech babies as well but know that you have options. You do have options. It’s not like Lauren’s first where she walked in and was felt that she was stripped away of all the options.

If you’re looking for a VBAC-supportive provider, something that I always tell my clients and I need to suggest this more on the podcast is while you are asking questions like, “How do you support VBAC?” and all of these questions talk about, one of those questions is “What if my baby’s breech? What does that look like?” I think that’s a really great question to add in there because then you can know, “Okay, not only is this provider VBAC-supportive, but they are even breech-supportive.”

We never know. Sometimes babies just flip and sometimes they flip in the very end. It’s very rare but it happens so it’s just really important to know. Add that to your list of questions as you are going through and asking for support for VBAC how they are for breech.

Do you have any other things that you would suggest for someone maybe going to have or deciding to have a breech birth in general?

Lauren: Just try to be as knowledgeable as you can about it because that gave me a lot of peace just knowing all the facts and just the knowledge. It made me feel a lot more comfortable with it all.

Meagan: Absolutely. It sounds like you did. You just told me a stat just barely so it sounds like you are very confident and you know about breech. I would suggest the same thing. Know the pros and the cons of all three– ECV, breech vaginal, and Cesarean. Let’s learn all of them. Well, thank you so much for being here with me today and sharing all of your beautiful birth stories and letting me meet your sweet Ollie via Zoom and sharing these stories to empower other Women of Strength to make the best choice for them.

Lauren: Yes. I really appreciate it. I was very excited when you asked me to come on.

Meagan: Oh my gosh. We are so happy to have you.

Lauren: Thank you.

Closing

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