CASE STUDY : Another week 38 breech

Introduction

If your baby is lying bottom-down in your uterus (womb), this is called the breech position. It’s common for a baby to be in a breech position before 35 to 36 weeks of pregnancy.

Most babies turn to a head-down position before the last month of pregnancy. About 3 in every 100 babies are lying in a breech position at the end of pregnancy.

I believe it’s best to address breech around week 34.

Presentation

A client came to see me at 38 weeks as her baby was in breech - it had been transverse from 34 weeks. She also presented with a sore lower back and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). She had been very busy looking after a toddler and working full time as a scientist. Her Kidney, Spleen and Pericardium pulses felt weak.

I believe her Kidney pulse was weak due to overwork and fear around her previous childbirth (which was traumatic as her baby was in distress, and it ended in a c- section), her pericardium pulse was tight due to anxieties around the previous birth and her weak Spleen pulse correlates to her IBS.

Treatment

I gave her an acupuncture treatment to boost Kidney, Spleen and Pericardium and sent her home with ten days worth of Moxa sticks and a handout on what to do with Moxa to encourage baby to turn.

She came to see me 4 days later and reported that on the second day of applying the moxa over the special baby turning acupuncture point-her baby was very active. Her midwife the following day said the baby had turned. As the baby was now in a better position, her back pain had cleared. I continued to see her now and help ripen the cervix, encourage contractions, and calm her spirit (by boosting Pericardium) in preparation for a natural birth. In Chinese medicine, Breech is often related to a deficiency of the Kidneys, so the baby doesn't have the Qi to turn.

It is amazing to see a baby turn so late in the pregnancy!