Birthing Spirit

I’ve been a bit slow to post on this one, despite it’s relevance to many of my lovely clients, but here it is…

As an acpuncturist I see my fair share of women with breech babies who are frantically trying to do everything they can to get their babies to turn and avoid a caesarean. While I give them treatment and teach them how to do the moxa themselves,  I also do my best to let them know that they do have options. Unfortunately they don’t have many and if their baby doesn’t turn head down most go ahead and have a c-section. If you live in Sydney and would like a vaginal breech birth the options are basically:

1) go to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle

2) hire a privately practicing midwife and birth at home

In Canada, things are changing and hopefully (although at the moment Maternity care in Australia seems to be going backwards, not forwards) Australia will catch on? We can but dream.

In June the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada released new recommendations that vaginal breech birth be offered to women.

From an article in the Globe and Mail:

Physicians should no longer automatically opt to perform a cesarean section in the case of a breech birth, according to new guidelines by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.

The new approach was prompted by a reassessment of earlier trials. It now appears that there is no difference in complication rates between vaginal and cesarean section deliveries in the case of breech births….

For more info you can read the full article and see these great blog posts from Stand and Deliver (Canadian) and Lisa Barrett (Australian).