Elevate Your Health Colorado Breech Birth: Pregnancy’s compromising position

New mother Milissa Mills knows every successful pregnancy depends on a few essentials: a healthy mom, dad, and baby, a foolproof delivery plan, and a committed Ob/Gyn. When she delivered her son last October, every element was working in her favor.

But to get to that point, Milissa depended greatly on the relationship she shared with Kaiser Permanente Colorado Ob/Gyn, Sharman Reed, MD. For more than seven years, Dr. Reed has cared for Milissa’s health. “It’s been nice caring for Milissa through a lot of different stages in her life,” Dr. Reed says.

Not only has Dr. Reed helped her through some common gynecologic health issues, she also coached Milissa through a very literal turn of events late in her pregnancy.

At her routine 36-week ultrasound, Dr. Reed discovered Milissa’s baby was in the breech position, with his backside facing the birth canal instead of his head facing down. About 4 out of 100 births are breech, and although it isn’t technically considered a high-risk pregnancy, the situation requires some extra decision-making by the parents and physician.

“Finding out my baby was breech wasn’t the best news, but I’d been a patient of Dr. Reed’s for about seven years, so I trusted her advice,” Milissa, 33, says. “She was encouraging from the start, never hesitating to answer any of my questions or concerns.”

Expert advice

Milissa and her husband met with Dr. Reed to discuss three common options for repositioning breech babies, including exercises to encourage the baby to turn naturally, undergoing external cephalic version where doctors manually turn the baby, and trying alternative medicine, such as acupuncture and moxibustion. Milissa opted for the latter, but her baby continued to have his own plans.

“We had a conversation with Dr. Reed about the risks and benefits of each process, and what would be best for me and the baby,” Milissa says. “I completely trust her, which made everything easier.”

A team of support

When a follow-up ultrasound at 37 weeks confirmed Milissa’s baby boy hadn’t naturally turned to the head-down position, she and Dr. Reed scheduled a C-section for two weeks later. Two days after her 38-week visit, Milissa’s baby decided to come early.  That’s when Kaiser Permanente’s electronic medical records system continued to help put Milissa’s mind at ease. Using the EMR system, doctors could access her medical history, which put her care team on the same page, so they would know how to proceed if problems arose.

“When I arrived at the hospital, Dr. Reed already had the plan for my labor and delivery in place and documented, so I was able to focus on staying relaxed and calm,” Milissa recalls.

On October 1, 2010, the Mills family welcomed their 6-pound, 14-ounce son, Parker, into their lives. View his photo slideshow here.  “The relationship I have with Dr. Reed is really one built on trust,” Milissa says. “I know any advice she gives me is for my best interest. She has always been my biggest cheerleader.”

Watch Milissa share her joys and challenges with pregnancy.

Learn how the breech position and other pregnancy complications are handled at kp.org.