Prenatal Chiropractic Helped Reposition a Transverse Baby
How the Power of the Adjustment Saved a Mom and Baby from a C-Section in Mt. Horeb, WI
Over the past almost 20 years, I have been blessed to work with many amazing midwives, OB’s, doulas, lactation consultants, prenatal massage therapists, and others in the birthing community of Mt. Horeb and the Madison, WI area. There is a lot of trust that goes into making a referral or recommendation to another provider for one of your expecting mamas. You want someone professional, highly trained, years of experience, with great results. When someone refers their prenatal clients to me for pregnancy chiropractic, I do not take it lightly.
In April 2020, I had a patient frantically call my clinic. She had been a patient for a number of years, and I had adjusted her in previous pregnancies. I had not seen her yet during this pregnancy, and with COVID being a thing, many people, especially pregnant women, were being encouraged to stay home unless a trip was “essential”.
She was 33 weeks along, was planning a homebirth, and had just found out that the baby was in a transverse position, meaning he was lying sideways across her abdomen instead of in an up and down position. This means that if the baby stays in that position, it has to be delivered by C-Section, and would eliminate her from being able to have a homebirth. In 2020, many people were also trying to avoid being in hospitals for obvious reasons. This mom and her midwife wanted to give her the best chance to get the baby into a head down position so they could deliver him naturally at home, and avoid a risky hospital stay.
Back in January, this mom had slipped on the ice. She did kind of a scissors splits, and then fell onto her right hip. Nothing seemed too off at the time. Her midwife had checked her over and didn’t find anything emergent that needed to be dealt with. As time went on, the imbalances in her pelvis, sacrum and hips kept her locked in a distorted position, and so as the baby got bigger and the uterus stretched and the ligaments tightened, there was suddenly “less space” for the baby to move in, to start getting into a head down position.
At her 33 week appointment, when her midwife examined her for the baby’s position, she realized he was stuck transverse. She knew that this would impact her homebirth option, but she also wanted to help keep her out of the hospital if possible. Her midwife said, “Call Dr. Brenda right away today and get in to see her for prenatal chiropractic.”
We started care right away, and in my exam I used the Webster Technique and analysis, and I found some postural imbalances, and a lot of misalignment in the pelvis, sacrum, hips, lumbars and pubic symphysis. I adjusted a number of areas, released some pelvic (round) and sacral ligaments, and balanced the tone in some muscles surrounding the pelvis and sacrum. She came back in 4 days and we continued to adjust and release structures.
When she came to her 3rd appointment, just 6 days after the initial visit, baby was head down! The pelvis and sacrum and other structures were more balanced and in alignment. She also noticed less low back and hip pain as well. We continued adjustments regularly until the end of pregnancy to help hold things in place. Baby stayed head down, and she delivered naturally at home at 40 weeks.
Without releasing the distortion in her pelvis and sacrum, and letting everything relax into place, that baby would have stayed transverse and she would have certainly ended up with a C-Section, and a hospital stay. Her and the midwife were extremely grateful for the power of chiropractic to help get her body into proper alignment.
I love sharing these kind of powerful stories to show how much bigger prenatal chiropractic truly is than simply helping with pain in pregnancy. To empower trust in women’s bodies and help them achieve the birth they desire, to allow for natural delivery with an easier time healing during postpartum, to avoid a major abdominal surgery and long hospital stay during a scary time (and keeping her separated from her toddler and possibly husband while there), these things are bigger than a lot of people realize.
If our prenatal chiropractic care has helped your birth journey, we would love it if you would share your story and help others!
If you are expecting, or trying to conceive, give us a call today at 437-9990 to set up your prenatal consult. If you are already a patient, use our online scheduler and get on the books!
If you know someone who is expecting, make sure to send them our way!