Breech Birth as a Normal Childbirth experience
Normal Childbirth Experience Paper no# 526903 Breech Birth as a Normal Childbirth experience I.D: 9807110 For a woman her pregnancy is a time to make choices, choices in partnership with her midwife on how she will give birth to her baby in a way that is right for her. It can be a confusing emotional time; her own wishes beliefs and desires can often conflict with the hospital policies and their definitions of usual and normal. The opposing views of midwives, obstetricians and also the woman can mean that defining the boundaries is difficult, and then adding to this the sophisticated technologies and it becomes easy to see why the boundaries of normality move further from the original definitions (Taylor, 2001) In this discussion of “normal” childbirth I will look at breech birth as a continuation of the term “normal”, one author notes that “natural and normal” could arguably include breech presentations but exclude any type of medical intervention(Hartley, 1997). From a personal perspective I have chosen to define vaginal breech birth as a normal experience having played a role in two successful vaginal breech deliveries, and seen how given the right options and support a woman can be empowered to believe in her body’s capabilities to successfully deliver her breech baby. I will endeavour to support and discuss this view with the relevant literature available and illustrate how breech birth is perceived by some as “a major threat to the life of the fetus “ (Chin, 2001) and others as a normal presentation, just not the usual (Cronk, 1998). Also discussed will be the woman and her families experience in trying to find the support and information to safely birth her breech baby vaginally. I will also look at the opinions, assumptions, contradictions and understandings that have come to light in the woman’s experience of breech birth and conclude with the role and experience of the midwifery partnership as described by the woman. Breech presentation occurs in 3 – 4 % of singleton pregnancies at term (Manidis, 2002; Tundle-Byass & Hannah, 2003; Wolf, Schaap, & Bruinse, 1999) and this can change everything for the woman carrying a breech baby. Her own belief in her bodies ability to give birth seems to be compromised as she is confronted with the contrasting perceptions, policies, opinions and practices in regards to birthing a breech baby. ... In one study 14% of consultants stated that they aim to deliver all women with a breech presentation at term by elective caesarean section, and a further 13% aim to deliver all primiparous women with a breech presentation at term by elective caesarean section (Burr, Johanson, & Watt, 1999). Many women see their control of birth experience disappear with only the medicalised options presented to them i. ... Referral criteria cover the broad areas of a woman’s physical experience without acknowledging her baby’s birth as also being a social, emotional, spiritual and sensual experience. ... One study has had enormous influence on the vaginal breech birth rates, the Term Breech Trial which is a large international multicentre randomised trial that concluded that a policy of planned caesarean section at term achieves the best perinatal outcomes (Hannah et al., 2000), another study reinforced this with a survey of 956 (74%) RANZCOG obstetricians in Australia and New Zealand that revealed that prior to their awareness of the Hannah trial 72% of the obstetricians that replied to the survey would recommend an attempt at vaginal breech birth, once becoming aware of the trials results this figure dramatically reduced to only 20% continuing to recommend an attempt at a vaginal breech birth (Phipps et al. ... These decreasing numbers can be supported with data reported from New South Wales in Australia that demonstrates a 66% decline in vaginal breech birth from 1999 to 2001(Roberts, Nassar, Raynes-Greenow, & Peat, 2003) the impact of this trial seems to be that due to its recommendations that caesarean section for a breech presentation is the only safe option, those woman who carry a diagnosed breech baby at term no longer have fully informed choice about how their baby may be born (Reed, 2003).