6 Comments

  • Susan B.

    Beautiful baby and positive outcome!
    I must admit, I would have been pretty nervous to birth a breech that long past her date. My babies were all so very large, up to 12 and a half pounds that I just couldn’t have waited. They were all within two days of estimate due date, too.
    Your preparations truly worked for you. You’re a smart mama! 🙂

  • Susan Courtney

    Congratulations Mama on listening to your instincts and protecting yourself and your baby girl.

    Your story reinforces my dissatisfaction with mainstream medical practitioners. I can’t believe that they weren’t going to ‘let you’ leave the hospital at the 38 week mark unless you signed the paperwork for a C-section. Recent scientific evidence has shown that it is safer for a breech baby to be born vaginally than via C-section for both mother and baby (other health issues notwithstanding of course).

    If the medicos had their way, your beautiful baby girl would have been born 3.5 weeks before her true birthday – this means that she would have been far more likely to have been more with respiratory issues than being born when she was truly ready.

    The other comment in your story that really irks me is:
    ‘When I reached 42 weeks I decided to go to hospital for a scan and CTG monitoring to make sure everything was ok. The doctors said baby was doing really well and couldn’t find anything at all wrong but would be happier if I’d have a c-section the next day.’

    Medical practitioners are supposed to ‘first do no harm’ and many of them would do well to be reminded of this fact on a daily basis particularly in the Maternity Ward. They agreed that your baby was doing perfectly well, but were still willing to perform major stomach surgery on you and rip her from your body before she was ready. I hear this sort of thing all the time, but it never ceases to stun and anger me.

    I had an ob/gyn recommend an elective caesarean to avoid another perineal tear (last time I had a 3rd degree tear as a result of a non-consentual and unnecessary episiotomy which became infected as a result of a practitioner who had questionable sterile technique) for my daughter’s birth last July. Needless to say, I did the same as you and hired an Independent Midwife and my healthy daughter was born at home in our spa in 6 hours last July – I had only a minor perineal tear that didn’t require stitches and healed beautifully in only a week. My girl was born 10 days past her estimated due date, but having an Independent Midwife meant that I had no pressure for an induction which meant the latter stage of my pregnancy was stress-free and enjoyable.

    Congratulations again strong Mama and I hope that one day, sooner rather than later, women will be respected and supported by all medical practitioners in their pregnancy/birth/post partum journeys 🙂

  • Kristi

    I love your story!!! My firstborn was breech and at 42 weeks my midwives did not feel confident continuing with the homebirth plan so I was left with no choice but to have a c-section. I felt abandoned and devastated. I had no idea what my body was capable of since I hadn’t had a contraction. Fortunately, I had a successful VBAC with my second son. Thank you for sharing!

  • Maree

    Your story has brought back so many memories for me. This was my first pregnancy and i found myself in the exact same situation. Having been told i couldn’t have children many years ago this pregnancy was so very precious to us (as I’m sure every pregnancy is!). So, i naively followed everything the consultants told me. They tried to turn our little girl but she wouldn’t budge so a c-section was booked for 39 weeks. We’re very privileged to have a wonderful, healthy baby girl. But next time round i would say no and look for alternative ways….. and your story has really inspired me!

  • anita atkinson

    Well done, Ruth…beautiful story about a beautiful baby and her mam! But then I AM biased….but still a very proud mother and grandmother.xx

  • Rachana Shivam

    Thank you for your wonderful, inspiring story. Let’s spread it as far as possible. The pictures are stunning. Women have a right to expect to birth as you have and to be disappointed when they don’t get the care that gives them the opportunity to do so. The DVD the ‘Lotus Birth if the Malcolm Twins’
    is another testament to the wonder and glory of birth. The second twin is breech. Love and blessings to you.

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