Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Birth video: 'hands off' approach to twins and breech

Here's another amazing birth video in which the woman is having twins - the second is a breech birth (bottom first). Again, the birth attendants intervene only minimally.

I was interested that for the breech birth, the midwives/doctors kept the woman on her back instead of getting her up on her knees to allow the baby to 'hang' and descend. Nevertheless, note how there is minimal medical paraphernalia likes drips and monitors.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcAu8tW8aEY

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG what country do you know - and when?
Rae

Sarah Stewart said...

I think the language is french but thats all I know. If you go back to the video in YouTube, you may pick up more information.

Amie said...

Hey Sarah, thanks for sharing that! Love it!

Sarah Stewart said...

Have a look on YouTube, Amy, there's lot of amazing videos there.

Carolyn said...

What a great video.
As twin pregnancy is considered to be 'higher risk' in New Zealand midwives are required to recommend obstetric involvement in the care of the pregnancy and birth. So twin birth and or breech birth are not usually midwifery led. The choice still remains with the woman herself. I wonder how many of our obstetric staff would be willing to support a woman in a birth such as this. What a shame more women and babies do not experience this type of birth.
It all looks so simple and non threatening, so do-able.
What a fantastic resource youtube is.

Carolyn said...

One more thing. I believe that access to resources and images such as this will be a key element in putting the 'normal' back into birth.

Sarah Stewart said...

Sounds like an interesting research project, Carolyn.

randiepdx said...

Thank you for sharing!!!!!! How amazing.

Sarah Stewart said...

My pleasure, although the thanks really goes to the mother in this film for allowing this to be broadcast on the Internet.

Anonymous said...

good point Sarah. I think this type of footage is really important especially given that many midwives are submerged in medical contexts which really blurs our vision of birth - in ways we don't even see. This is an eye opener - thank you.

Sarah Stewart said...

I have enjoyed hunting out these videos because it reminds me of the joys of birth and why I became a midwife all those years ago.

Anonymous said...

yeah made me reflect on whether I am happy not doing any practice. I really miss it and at times resent that my role as a lecturer leaves me limited options in terms of practicing...
rae

Sarah Stewart said...

I absolutely agree. But I am just not sure how to go about getting back into practice again. Financially, it is not 'worth' being a LMC for just a couple of women. And doing a stint as a core midwife isn't necessarily going to give me the experiences I need. Being a rural locum will be too scary considering that I have been out of practice for 2 years. So am not really sure what else to do - any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

not really ... on one hand would love to nurture myself as a midwife - by practicing - on the other hand I am already spread ridiculously thin. Do women need or deserve a midwife who is spread so thin? hmm.