My Baby is Breech: Will Happens Next?

As a woman gets to the end of her pregnancy and turns 36 weeks she will often feel relieved to have made it this far and excited about her upcoming arrival. However some women may find themselves visiting their doctor and finding out there baby is breech or instead of being head down, bottom down. In these cases they may find themselves wondering what their options are and if a natural delivery is still an option. Here is a look at what to expect if you find out your baby is breech.

If the baby is found to be breech around 35 or 36 weeks most doctors will opt to have the mom wait it out a couple of more weeks to see if the baby will turn on its own. There are a surprising number of cases where babies will decide to turn at the very last minute and get into position for birth. Some women will try some at home methods of trying to get the baby to turn on its own or even visit their chiropractor to see if there is anything they can do. There are a few cases where the baby will turn into position but many babies will often flip back into breech position during the last few weeks.

If the baby however does not get into the head down position the doctor may decide to try an aversion. An aversion is where the doctor will have the mom to be come into the hospital and manually try to turn the baby into position. This procedure will require the mom stay in the hospital for a couple of hours so they are able to monitor the baby because in some cases the baby's heartbeat can decrease causing the need for an emergency c-section. The procedure can be uncomfortable so pain medication is often given to the mom to help. While the aversion is successful in some cases, there are other cases where it does not work and often the doctors and moms to be will discuss further options.

After a pregnant woman has turned 36 weeks she will start to see her doctor or midwife on a weekly basis and in this case the doctor will check each time to see if the baby has gotten into the correct position. If they have found the baby will not turn into the head down position they will then likely schedule a c-section, generally around the 39th week of pregnancy once they know the baby had developed fully. If the mom goes into labor beforehand they will just perform the c-section at the hospital once she comes in.

Source Cited: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/pregnancy/labor/310.html