Breech homeBirth Story Of hattie leigh

Our surprise baby had been breech almost the entire pregnancy. It wasn’t a wild surprise to us, as I had been born breech (via cesarean) just like so many of my family members also had. Because of my family history, we had even discussed this as a very real possibility for our birth early in the pregnancy.

We still wanted to lower the risk by helping our sweet baby flip into a typical head down position. Riley (my husband) and I did all the things to attempt to turn our little one. Emily attempted to turn the baby several times. I did inversions upside down on the stairs, we burnt moxibustion sticks by my pinky toe, I got acupuncture, and even saw chiropractors several times a week. Lucky for us, Riley’s dad and several family members are chiropractors and each one happily jumped in to help. I did all of the Spinning Babies tricks…. to no avail...

Our baby knew best. She wanted to come frank breech.

Luckily Emily attends breech births at home regularly. However, she has a selection criteria to do her best to ensure that it is as low risk as possible - in an already statistically higher risk birth. Emily palpated my abdomen and felt confident that our baby was large enough to safely come down. There were plenty of other things as well, including us understanding the serious risks and potential benefits to a vaginal breech home birth. She sent us excellent resources to research. We read so many statistics, studies, and watched so many breech birth videos. After deciding that we felt peace moving forward with our plans for a homebirth, we told Emily our decision. She also felt peace. We met all of the requirements to move forward with our plans.

So together we did.

Fast Forward to Labor: Around 3PM on Thursday, May 19th while at work, my water began lightly leaking. I spent that night and most of the next day experiencing irregular contractions and some more minor leaks. I was practicing good infection prevention while also trying things to naturally induce labor. I finally went into early labor at 11PM on Friday, May 20th. I had 2 strong contractions accompanied by some meconium. This solidified that it was time. The meconium was somewhat expected because our baby was breech (and there was soooo much more to come! lol).

After notifying Emily, and her reassuring me that the birth team was on stand by, I tried my best to get some rest. I sent Riley back to bed. I chose to stay in the living room most of the night, sleeping through all of the contractions that I could. I was also being mindful to time them when I felt like they picked up, to keep Emily informed of my progress. She texted back and forth with me all night, giving me pointers and reassurance. About 4AM, I woke Riley up and asked him to just come be present in the living room with me. I felt most comfortable in my rocking chair, rocking softly through each contraction while focusing on my breathing. Once Emily confirmed I was surely in active labor, she and the team began heading to our home. I remember making jokes with Riley; smiling, laughing and keeping the mood light while she was on her way. Everyone arrived around 8AM and began unpacking everything needed for the birth. The contractions were intense, but nothing I knew I couldn’t handle.

While the team set up our bedroom for the birth, I labored in the living room with Riley. I remember the emotions of the home birth overcoming me. I cried, mostly happy tears, that this was all unfolding how we had planned, that we would meet our baby so soon and that this was going to be a hard feat for me to overcome. Emily entered the room as I was crying and came right up to me to offer gentle words of wisdom. She confirmed this was going to be one of the hardest, yet most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. She told me that it was okay for me to release all of my emotions however I felt I needed to; to not hold back. I will never forget her telling me this with her hand on my shoulder. It was absolutely what I needed in that moment.

Our bedroom was now all set up and Emily checked me, confirming that I was 6 centimeters dilated. Our baby’s heart tones sounded awesome. She was coming into my pelvis Right Sacrum Transverse. Emily asked me to move and be upright through this next phase of labor. I was given so many options from a walk outside to stair climbing, anything that felt right to me. We decided to take Emily upstairs to show her the nursery we had poured our love into throughout the pregnancy. I labored in there for a short bit. The toilet was definitely the “dilation station” for me, so I chose to sit and breathe through some contractions in the upstairs bathroom as well. I did this between walks up and down the stairs. I then moved back to the rocking chair downstairs, squatted with my arms resting on the exercise ball and spent more time just roaming our house. It was so freeing to be able to labor however and wherever I wanted to in each moment. Emily came to me regularly to listen to our baby, ensuring that she was also tolerating labor well.

After getting checked again and making beautiful progress to 8 centimeters, I asked to get into the pool. It was already hot and ready. Although I was informed during pregnancy that I should not deliver in the pool (because the baby was breech), I was encouraged to labor in it, if I so chose. The water felt so good!

This next part (transition) was the hardest part of labor for me, mentally. As I progressed to 10 centimeters in the water, I requested multiple checks so I knew what was happening with my body. Before I could push, I needed every bit of cervix softened and opened due to baby not being head down (the baby’s head typically applies evenly on the cervix and softens the rest, but a baby’s bottom comes down unevenly. *Make sure to look at the pics of the bruise on her right hip). I was also informed during pregnancy that I should not push until I was completely dilated because of baby’s breech positioning. We needed to lower risks. Waiting until I was completely dilated was really tough to overcome both physically and mentally. Being in the water helped during this phase so much. I asked for Riley to keep his hand on my shoulder through every contraction. After multiple positions laboring in the warm water, it was confirmed that I was complete and could begin pushing if I wanted to. I got out of the water and onto my hands and knees on the floor (how I was advised weeks prior to deliver my breech baby).

It felt like it was time, but labor took a turn here. It was about 2PM and although our baby’s heart tones were sounding great, I hadn’t figured out how to push quite yet, and I was starting to become extremely fatigued. The next couple of hours are fuzzy and I don’t recall much, but I woke up in my bed on my side, resting through contractions, with one midwife massaging my back and Emily in front of me. Emily had suggested that I rest since our baby’s heart rate continued to stay healthy and strong. Once awake, Emily told me that she was concerned for the extreme fatigue that I was experiencing. She told me that I needed to eat something and drink some electrolytes. I would soon need to have enough energy to push properly. She told me that I had done so well and that she didn’t want me to become so fatigued that I couldn’t safely do this at home (I knew that meant a hospital birth and a c-section).

Riley and I like to call this next part the “Puke and Rally” (lol!) because I ate and drank the things, explosively puked, and then I was ready! My entire mood shifted and I was determined it was time to meet our baby!

At approximately 4:30PM, I got back down on my hands and knees and did some pushing there. I moved back and forth from this position to the toilet a couple times before coming back to our room. I was only getting 2-3 strong pushes per contraction, but they were effective and the birth team kept cheering me on for pushing properly and making big progress! The midwives were continually assessing fetal heart tones and our baby was doing so well through all of this. I truly feel that my body knew it was time for our baby to arrive, because on the final contraction, I was able to muster up 6 strong pushes to deliver our sweet girl at 5:26PM. It was only a little over a minute from rumping to her head being completely out!

When she arrived, Emily quickly assessed her for the potential need of resuscitation, but she immediately grabbed Emily’s hand tightly. We were quickly assured by her words, “She’s fine!” Emily handed our baby to me through my legs. I was able to sit back on my feet and hold her. The birth team helped gently clear her airway and offered her some stimulation as we all welcomed her earthside. While holding her here, I found out she was a girl! Riley already knew because he stayed behind me to watch the entire birth. I remember him crying and coming in front of me while we spent time loving on her, talking about how much hair she had and simply admiring her. Those moments were priceless.

After delivering the placenta in this position as well, I actually began bleeding quite a bit and Riley went with our new baby up to our bed to have some skin-to-skin time while I was checked and cared for. When I was taken care of, I was helped up into our bed to snuggle with and breastfeed our new and perfect baby.

We were all cared for beyond measure at this time. Some of the birth team was cleaning up the space and Emily was assessing me and baby. I am still in shock at the team and how they transformed our bedroom from a delivery room, back to its spotless nature. They washed and folded every towel, put things back where we had gotten them from, cleaned the bathroom and so much more. Once the team ate some dinner that we had roasting all day, they individually went on their way, but not without coming in our room to tell me how amazing I did and congratulating me. I truly couldn’t have asked for a sweeter birth team. Emily then took my vitals, performed the newborn exam on Hattie, and gladly welcomed my mom into our room, later followed by my father in law to give her her first chiropractic adjustment. Hattie, Riley and myself were tended to until later at night before Emily left us to settle in and sleep.

This experience would not have had the outcome it did if it weren’t for Emily. When our baby was proving to stay put in the breech position, she gave us data, risks, benefits, and words of wisdom. She sent us to Breech Without Borders to make our own decision, and happily supported us either way. When we decided we were staying home for a breech birth, we felt supported beyond measure. Although we had to overcome many people’s fear mongering and fearful/negative opinions, we trusted that the Lord would provide and that this was the correct decision for us. We followed where we felt peace.

You can deliver your baby how you imagine and safely! It is possible with the correct provider, knowledge and support. Have faith in your ability and you will be amazed! Your body is incredibly wise and capable 🤍

Hattie Leigh Huffer

5/21/22 at 5:26PM

9lb 2oz, 22.5in

Breech and Beautiful!