Being a Prenatal Yoga Teacher is an unique and beautiful job. I love being around strong amazing yoginis, teaching women about their bodies and doing what I can to ease their minds about labor is very fulfilling. I get to share in their joys as they go through their pregnancies and celebrate the birth of their children. It's a job that reminds me of the beauty of life.
Every class I ask the ladies how they are feeling, if they are having a girl or a boy, how far into their pregnancy they are, and if they have any concerns. I get typical answers about aches and pains but today I had a woman tell me that she was scared because she had a breech baby at 39 weeks. Every mother in the room felt her pain and frustration.
The best position for delivery, is a baby who is in the occipital anterior position. That means the head is down, and the face of the baby is against the mother's spine.
When a baby is breech, it means the baby is not in the occipital anterior position. It can be:
Frank Breech- is a baby who is sitting in the pelvis. Bottom down, feet towards the head.
Complete Breech- is a baby who is sitting cross legged. Head up and legs and bottom down.
Footling Breech- is the same as a complete breech with the exception that one foot is hanging lower than the other.
Transverse babies- is a baby laying sideways.
In some cases, an emergency C-Section is needed to deliver the baby.
So I gave her a website that I really love: www.spinningbabies.com
I asked her to share the site with her doctor and ask if it would be o.k. to try different methods of naturally turning the baby with gravity and movement.
One way you can turn your baby with yoga is to follow these steps:
1. Do a forward leaning inversion. This looks exactly like a downward facing dog but more dramatic. Bend your knees slightly. You can do this with your feet on the couch. Placing your hands or arms/elbows onto the ground. You can also use the stairs. You want to hold this position for about 30 seconds. Then do step 2: The Breech Tilt.
2. The Breech Tilt: moving into Bridge position with support under the hips and legs up the wall. You can put a cold pack at the top of your chest to get the baby to turn away from the cold.
Other things I asked her to try out, with her doctor's permission was:
1. Place cold items at the top of your belly, to encourage the baby to move his/her head down towards the pelvis.
2. You can have your partner talk to the bottom of your belly. Babies recognize the voice of their parents. Try recording your voice or your partner's voice and play the recording at the bottom of your pelvis.
3. The outside of the pinkie toe is a pressure point that is said to stimulate babies to turn from breech to head down position. It is best to ask a certified acupuncturist to stimulate this point.
Class ended well and we all sent happy thoughts to our friend in the hopes that she would have a good delivery next week. Looking forward to checking in with her and seeing if any of those tricks worked for her.
Best case scenario, one of those methods worked for her. In the least, I think she felt supported by all the beautiful women in the class who were wishing her a healthy and happy baby and stayed late to give her a hug.
Have you heard back from her yet? Did the baby turn? Now you've got me curious!
ReplyDeleteGot an e-mail today and the mom is doing well. She went into labor on the day that she got my suggestions on how to turn the baby. Sadly she wasn't able to try any of the techniques. The baby is healthy and they are both doing well.
DeleteSent her an e-mail and I am hoping that it worked for her. Keeping my fingers crossed that she will answer.
ReplyDelete