Johanna L.

I found out I was pregnant with my second child around April of 2013, and my due date was October 25, 2013. I also found out my baby was severely breeched at 36 weeks. He was literally head up – in the vertical position: not lopsided, not sideways…totally vertical, head up. There was almost no chance of him turning on his own as I was too late in my pregnancy, and he would have to basically do an 180 on his own. My Ob/Gyn told me that my only options for delivering this baby (if he didn’t turn on his own, which can happen as well) was C-section or inversion procedure at the hospital at 38 weeks. The inversion would involve having my Ob/Gyn try to manually turn the baby with the image of baby on ultrasound while I would be hooked up to an IV with uterus relaxing drugs. The chance of this working is 50/50, and if they break the sac during the procedure and if my baby was not yet turned, I’d have to deliver my baby at 38 weeks with a C-section, so the result would be the same. I was also not comfortable possibly delivering my baby at 38 weeks, as I am well aware that it’s best to carry your baby to at least the 40 week mark. And to top it all off, I was told the inversion procedure can be very painful as pain medicine cannot be administered during this procedure. It just didn’t sound good, and it was not how I imagined I would be having this baby.

My husband and I are very much against C-sections. It is our personal belief that C-sections are only reserved for extreme emergencies. Only if my life or the life of my son was in danger would we then consider a C-section. Anything outside of that, I wanted to deliver my baby vaginally (with copious amounts of epidural of course). When I found out that my baby was breeched, I began to search for alternative ways of turning my baby. I began to contact midwives and doulas in my area to see what they recommended. One of the doulas I contacted suggested that I see Dr. Elliot Berlin, as this was his area of specialty. I immediately booked an appointment for myself and had an initial consult with Dr. Berlin, at which time he laid out his plan for me. I was very comfortable with the plan. He also told me that in about 30% of the cases, the baby won’t budge, which was consistent with all of the literature I read, and several midwives and doulas have told me the same. With that in mind, I went ahead with the sessions, which were a combination of uterine massage and chiropractic adjustments of my neck down to my pelvic region. Besides the purpose of turning my baby, it was also a massage I badly needed. I felt better immediately afterwards. I felt relaxed, happier and able to sleep properly for the first time in months (it was also a very uncomfortable pregnancy). My baby turned to the correct position after the third session – around the 40 week mark, so the chances of him turning back were slight (though I heard not impossible), as there’s no room and fluid for him to do so. I went to Dr. Berlin for the fourth session simply to relax and open my pelvic region so that I would be able to deliver my baby easier. My baby was overdue and was born on October 29, 2013. My labor took around 10 hours, but since I was hooked on an epidural the whole time, it didn’t bother me at all. When it came time to push, he came in less than 5 minutes. It was the easiest delivery ever. My recovery was excellent, with none of the pain and discomfort I experienced with my first child. Three days after I had my baby, I went back to Dr. Berlin for a post-partum back adjustment, in case I threw anything out during my labor. This assisted in my post-labor recovery as well.

This was to be my last pregnancy, and I am so happy that it ended on a happy note. It would have been near impossible to take care of a 2 year old and a newborn on my own had I had a C-section.