What do you think?
Rate this book
Breech Birth Woman-Wise
Detailed descriptions on how to manage a breech birth, with clear photographs and researched background information. The best practical manual for midwives.
109 pages
First published January 1, 1998
3 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 29, 2008
Banks is a registered midwife in New Zealand and has worked in a home birth practice since 1989. She saw many breech births, vaginal and cesarean, during her student midwife days and while she worked as a hospital-based midwife. The vaginal births she saw, though, left much to be desired. Even if a woman was able to avoid the routine epidural, lithotomy, episiotomy, and forceps usually required for a vaginal breech delivery, the births were usually highly managed and babies were actively pulled, manipulated, and maneuvered out of the mother’s body.
The first breech birth she attended at home was a surprise—and was surprisingly straightforward. This led Banks to reflect on her experience and training with breech births:
"However stunned I was at the time with an unexpected breech presentation, a similar thought came to me as it had many years ago with vertex presentation. I wondered how many of the problems associated with breech birth are created rather than inherent to breech birth. The answer has led me to support women, who make an informed decision, to birth at home with their breech babies."
Banks notes that midwives have largely lost their knowledge of physiological breech birth, since they often have only seen highly medicalized vaginal or cesarean deliveries for breech presentation. Her book seeks to categorize that knowledge so that women can continue to choose to give birth to their breech babies, rather than be delivered either vaginally or via cesarean. Her books is aimed towards midwives and expectant mothers, especially those facing a persistent breech presentation.
Many of the chapters cover fairly non-controversial topics: types of and reasons for breech presentations, methods of diagnosing a breech presentation, risks associated with breech presentation, evidence for and against medicalized breech birth, and how to encourage a breech baby to turn. Another chapter discusses factors in planning a breech birth, some of which are specific to New Zealand’s maternity care system. Another chapter discusses how to evaluate the newborn breech baby for hip dislocations, which are more common with babies who have been in a breech position for a prolonged period of time.
The last part of the book is the most fascinating and probably the most controversial. Banks outlines a midwifery-based physiological approach to attending breech births, including ideal positions for labor and birth, giving birth actively using upright and mother-directed positions, and techniques for assisting breech births when certain complications or unusual situations arise. The chapter on giving birth has some astounding series of photographs documenting several spontaneous, hands-off breech births. The women are kneeling or standing, and the baby emerges with no assistance or manipulation by the attendants. Int fact, Anne Frye’s textbook series borrowed these photographs for her illustrations of breech births.
The first breech birth she attended at home was a surprise—and was surprisingly straightforward. This led Banks to reflect on her experience and training with breech births:
"However stunned I was at the time with an unexpected breech presentation, a similar thought came to me as it had many years ago with vertex presentation. I wondered how many of the problems associated with breech birth are created rather than inherent to breech birth. The answer has led me to support women, who make an informed decision, to birth at home with their breech babies."
Banks notes that midwives have largely lost their knowledge of physiological breech birth, since they often have only seen highly medicalized vaginal or cesarean deliveries for breech presentation. Her book seeks to categorize that knowledge so that women can continue to choose to give birth to their breech babies, rather than be delivered either vaginally or via cesarean. Her books is aimed towards midwives and expectant mothers, especially those facing a persistent breech presentation.
Many of the chapters cover fairly non-controversial topics: types of and reasons for breech presentations, methods of diagnosing a breech presentation, risks associated with breech presentation, evidence for and against medicalized breech birth, and how to encourage a breech baby to turn. Another chapter discusses factors in planning a breech birth, some of which are specific to New Zealand’s maternity care system. Another chapter discusses how to evaluate the newborn breech baby for hip dislocations, which are more common with babies who have been in a breech position for a prolonged period of time.
The last part of the book is the most fascinating and probably the most controversial. Banks outlines a midwifery-based physiological approach to attending breech births, including ideal positions for labor and birth, giving birth actively using upright and mother-directed positions, and techniques for assisting breech births when certain complications or unusual situations arise. The chapter on giving birth has some astounding series of photographs documenting several spontaneous, hands-off breech births. The women are kneeling or standing, and the baby emerges with no assistance or manipulation by the attendants. Int fact, Anne Frye’s textbook series borrowed these photographs for her illustrations of breech births.
Displaying 1 of 1 review