In HuffPost Birth Diaries we hear the extraordinary stories of the everyday miracle of birth. This week, Amanda Jones shares her story. If you’d like to share yours, email amy.packham@huffpost.com.
There was never any indication that my baby was going to be breech. My pregnancy was completely normal and I ended up going over by two weeks.
I went into labour – finally – while waiting to be induced at the hospital. I was so pleased it was happening naturally and things seemed to progress quickly. This was unlike my son, four years prior, who took forever to come out.
I had a sense of optimism. “I can do this!” I told myself. They broke my waters and examined me – and that’s when they (and I) found out my daughter was breech. Usually, they’d pick up this sort of thing in pregnancy and book you in for a C-section, but I never had any indication of it.
The midwife told me my daughter was bum first, so doctors could have been feeling her bottom during examinations and thinking it was her head. They scanned me to be 100% sure and confirmed it.
This was five hours into my labour.
I had a choice, then, to have a C-section or natural birth. I asked for the latter as bum first, I was told, was easier to birth than feet first. Also, the doctor on duty was a specialist in delivering breech babies so it gave me confidence. I really didn’t want a C-section, anyway – so when they said there was no reason I had to have one, I made my decision (despite my husband being worried).
I had to sign a document, basically to say I knew what I was letting myself in for. After that, labour carried on normally. I was progressing about a centimetre an hour and everyone around me was positive. That was, until she got stuck.
Quite a few hours had gone by and they were worried I’d been pushing without anything happening. Suddenly, a C-section was on the cards again. I was given an epidural and rushed into theatre, but when they started prepping me for surgery, they found out my daughter was already too far down the birth canal for a C-section.
“You’ve got to get her out right now,” they said to me – and I had to deliver her there and then, in the theatre.
From that moment, I closed my eyes and didn’t open them once. I was holding on to the rail on the bed and remember vividly hearing them tell my husband to sit down as apparently looked like he was about to pass out. I don’t even know how I did it – but I managed to summon the energy to keep pushing.
There were loads of people in the room, shouting at me to get her out. Keep pushing! You can do it! You really need to push! And, 11 hours after going into labour, my daughter was born.
Physically, the birth felt no different to my son at all, despite her coming out bum first. It just felt normal, like a totally normal birth. I guess it wasn’t really until the day after that I realised what I’d managed to achieve. A few midwives and other staff came to see us both on the ward and kept saying, “Here she is, you’re the breech delivery! We wanted to come and see you!”
It was like being a celebrity in hospital! I had so many people coming to me, telling me it was rare for someone to birth a breech baby naturally. It was then I realised what I’d done was pretty massive.
Recovery went well, but I thought about the birth a lot more when I left hospital. It had been quite traumatic. I realised I’d been in so much pain, more than I’d ever experienced, but that I managed to get through it. I thought about it a lot. But I was so glad everything went okay.
Birth advice?
You do need to try and plan what you want to do, but try not to pin all your hopes onto it. Be really open-minded and realise that anything can happen – just go with it.