VBAC Breech in SWFL? Looks like anything is possible. Welcome baby Luis!

Today's birth announcement comes from our fantastic doula, Tara. Take a look at her latest, announcing the birth of baby

Luis David:

Baby Luis David Homez Hoover made an exciting entrance into the world on July, 26th, 2018. He weighed 5lbs 3oz and a little over 19 inches long.

Jamie was very passionate about achieving a natural birth after having a cesarean with her daughter. Her warrior had been awakened and she followed every recommendation to attain her VBAC. When told baby was breech she started the Spinning Babies protocol to flip that baby. We were all excited when her midwives told her baby had flipped head down several weeks later.

Jamie contacted me early in the week stating she was feeling crampy but had no real consistent contractions. She was only 39 weeks, but with the full moon looming I was pretty confident we would have a new baby by the end of the week.

Thursday morning at 5:30am, Jamie texted saying she was have regular contractions that were about 9 minutes apart. She was able to talk through them, so we decided she could continue to rest until her family woke up. Around 6:30am, her water broke. Since her house was closer than the hospital I decided to go straight to her home.

We spoke in the car and her contractions were intensifying but she was handling them well. Her husband, Juan, was getting the car loaded when I arrived and we left quickly. In the car Jamie’s contractions came on faster. Juan did a great job of calmly and quickly driving us to the hospital. When we arrived at the hospital, she was ready to push!

Jamie handled all this amazingly well. She was very vocal and kept chanting “open, open, and release”.

Once in a room, the doctor realized Jamie’s baby was still breech. Baby was coming bottom first and there was no time for a cesarean. The Hospitalist (that's a doctor who is on call 24/7 who is trained to handle any emergency situation that comes through the door) was called in immediately. Since Jamie’s contractions had slowed down but baby’s head was last to deliver, he calmly assisted Jamie in quickly delivering her very special baby!

Jamie had achieved not only a VBAC but a natural breech VBAC! A true birth warrior.

And if you know anything about the birth culture in SWFL, you know that even just a short number of years ago, access to VBAC was extremely limited. While it is more common now than it was then, many families still face an uphill battle in securing a truly supportive doctor to agree to deliver a planned VBAC. Jamie found a practice of midwives at the hospital to support her VBAC pregnancy and her plans turned on a dime when she arrived at the hospital so far along in her dilation. She coped with being given the on-call doctor, then the Hospitalist, and then a room full of medical support once they realized her baby was breech. I'd like to think it was in part due to her integrating Birthing From Within practices during her pregnancy, to not only cope with the unknowns but to embrace them. She stayed in her zone, kept her mind calm, and did what needed to be done. Yes!

Please join me in welcoming baby Luis and congratulating proud parents, Jamie and Juan!

In doula love,