The Midwives Alliance conference offered two wonderful presentations on breech. First, Midwife Abby Kinne of Ohio (right, helping a student) taught a day long class emphasizing no-touch but helping midwives get hands-on skills with a wonderful womb-anikin from Australia called Sophie and her Mum.
Thanks to Candace Robinson for the pictures.
I couldn’t sit back! I so wanted to “feel” the models.
This picture could have the caption, “Each one teach one.”
Which is not to say, “caught one; taught one.”
My turn. Hands-off, remember, unless… there’s a compelling reason to go get your child.
For instance, in a class room where resolving the shoulder dystocia of a breech baby is being taught!
I nearly cried when I saw Jan’s expression
– on my face!–
I miss her so and
am deeply grateful that she yet comes to visit me during breech births,
even with a manikin.
No, you can’t get the anterior arm like this. Rotate and get the posterior arm.
You know this from Lovset. 180 then 90 degrees… unless 90 will do it without rotating the baby’s chin to the symphysis.
Now I can get the posterior arm. (of course, if the mother were on her hands and knees, this would be easier on the baby. But this is if the mother has been knocked on conscious and there’s no one to hold her on her hands and knees, I guess! )
Find the “nape” of the neck…
Lift the legs to bring the face slowly out…
And here’s the baby!
I’m laughing in amazement and surprise at how heavy “Sophie” is. She’s 7 and an half pounds and comes out feeling much like a newborn.
Don’t worry, we won’t cut her cord and she’ll pink up very soon!
(I’d love to get a “Sophie and her Mum” —as soon as I can raise several thousand dollars!! I’d love to present the shoulder dystocia training with this set up. We can rig her for hands and knees birth…
It will require a grant from somewhere…)
Next, Betty-Anne Daviss of Understanding Birth Better taught us what recent studies were out, and the news from Frankfort and Tel-Aviv and Ottawa on breech. One of the recent articles on breech is hers and Ken Johnson’s!
Rixa Freeze does a wonderful job discussing the breech articles at her blog Stand and Deliver.
There was much more fun and education at the conference. More later!
This is very interesting. Here in the UK midwife led breach birth is also hands off BUT with the mother choosing her own position which is usually on hands and knees. Then there is no need to pull the baby up as gravity does that action. Also the mother's pelvis is more open and she can wiggle.
Our expert in the UK is Mary Cronk – a very senior midwife http://www.marycronk.co.uk
her colleague Jane Evans has written an inexpensive book available from http://www.aims.org.uk
It does seem to me, watching US birth programmes that even in birth centres and at home – and reading Ina May Gaskin – there is more tendancy for giving birth lying back than out of hospital UK births. Wht do you think?