Tag Archives: all fours

New RCOG guideline published today!

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The new RCOG Management of Breech Presentation guideline has been published today. This guideline substantially revises recommendations in the previous version, published in 2006. If followed, it will undoubtedly improve women’s access to and experience of breech care. Below I will highlight two of the new guideline’s game-changing recommendations, and then raise two key questions concerning areas of on-going exploration.

Reference: Impey LWM, Murphy DJ, Griffiths M, Penna LK on behalf of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Management of Breech Presentation. BJOG 2017; DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.14465.

Victoria and Kirin Owal celebrate the healthy birth of their twins (#2 breech) with their NHS Team.

Counselling (Section 4.1)

The guideline offers specific recommendations around counselling, following the summary presented by lead author Mr Lawrence Impey at the RCOG Breech Conference in 2014. When discussing perinatal mortality, rather than focusing on the dichotomy between elective caesarean section at 39 weeks (0.5/1000) and planned breech birth (2.0/1000), the guidelines also recommend women consider these figures in light of those for planned cephalic birth (1.0/1000).

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This is important. If we follow the logic that has dominated breech care for the last 17 years – elective CS for all because it reduces perinatal mortality – we would need to apply this to planned cephalic births as well. The truth is always somewhere in between. All childbirth options carry benefits as well as risks, and women should be supported to apply their own values to decision-making, rather than feel obligated to adopt uniform recommendations arising from contemporary risk-focused discourse. This new guideline is much clearer about the obligation of health care professionals to present women with genuine breech childbirth options.

Maternal birth position (Section 6.7)

The guideline has changed from recommending lithotomy birth position to the following: “Either a semi-recumbent or an all-fours position may be adopted for delivery and should depend on maternal preference and the experience of the attendant.” This will be joyously welcomed by midwives and obstetricians who have been gradually incorporating upright breech methods into clinical skills training for some time, and the women who have been insisting on the freedom to choose their own birthing position.

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But as the explanatory notes indicate, “The principle difficulty with an all-fours position is when manoeuvres are required. Most obstetricians are more familiar with performing these in a difficult breech birth with the woman in the dorsal position.” This begs the question of how we will overcome the difficulty resulting from lack of obstetric familiarity with performing manoeuvres when women are in upright, particularly kneeling positions. Our recently published evaluation of the Breech Birth Network Physiological Breech Birth training days reported that one of the greatest concerns expressed by participants in the workshops was lack of involvement and collaboration from obstetric colleagues, whom they had difficulty convincing to attend the training in order to learn effective manoeuvres. Hopefully changes in our national guideline will prompt more interest.

Question #1: What does it mean to be ‘skilled’ in breech birth birth?

The word ‘skilled’ recurs 15 times in the new RCOG breech guideline. Variations include: ‘skilled intrapartum care,’ ‘skilled birth attendant(s),’ ‘skilled supervision,’ ‘skilled attendant(s),’ ‘operator skilled in vaginal breech delivery,’ ‘skilled support,’ ‘skilled personnel.’ Each reference suggests skill is a key ingredient of safe vaginal birth.

What does it mean to be ‘skilled’ in vaginal breech birth? Is it a quality possessed by individuals, or institutions, or both? How is skill assessed? How is it maintained?

The danger with lack of definition regarding breech skill is that by default it will be judged in retrospect. A good outcome occurs = the attendants were skilled. A bad outcome occurs = the attendants lacked skill and were overconfident in assessment of their own competence. A health professional attends four spontaneous breech births which do not require intervention = they are now perceived as ‘skilled.’

The guideline points to evidence from the PREMODA study, in which good outcomes were achieved in a study with senior obstetrician presence in 92.3% of cases. Association is not causation, but we need to take seriously the value the PREMODA researchers placed on this as a key to their success. In a UK context, or elsewhere, does that mean we can (or should?) reasonably expect all senior obstetricians to be ‘skilled’ at vaginal breech birth? What if the senior obstetrician does not feel ‘skilled’ her/himself? What if a midwife is the most experience person available to attend a breech birth?

The new RCOG guideline further recommends: “Units with limited access to skilled personnel should inform women that vaginal breech birth is likely to be associated with greater risk and offer antenatal referral to a unit where skill levels and experience are greater.” And: “All maternity units must be able to provide skilled supervision for vaginal breech births where a woman is admitted in advanced labour and protocols for this eventuality should be developed.” How will all maternity units be able to provide skilled supervision for undiagnosed breech births, if some of them will also need to be up front about their lack of skill to support planned breech births?

The new guideline recommends that “simulation equipment should be used to rehearse the skills that are needed during vaginal breech birth by all doctors and midwives.” The extent to which such simulation training will result in skill development in settings where skills have become depleted over the last 20-30 years is unclear. Our recent systematic review highlights the lack of evidence regarding the ability of standard training programmes to improve outcomes, and suggests that teaching vaginal breech birth as part of an obstetric emergencies course may actually reduce the chances that providers will actually attend breech births (Walker, Breslin, Scamell and Parker, 2017).

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The development of professional competence to facilitate breech births is a complex matter to which institutions may like to pay closer attention as they develop the ‘routine vaginal breech delivery service’ envisioned by the new guideline. Some of this complexity is explored in these two papers involving research with experienced practitioners: Standards for maternity care professionals attending planned upright breech births and Principles of physiological breech birth practice.

Question #2: What is a footling presentation?

Despite the acknowledged paucity of evidence regarding factors that increase the risks of vaginal breech birth, ‘footling presentation’ remains a clinical indication for advising women that the risks associated with vaginal breech birth are likely to be independently increased. Unfortunately, neither the guideline nor generally available breech literature provides a clear definition of what this means, nor is it likely that a similar definition has been used among disparate studies looking at outcomes associated with variations of breech presentation.

The danger with this lack of definition is that in many complete and incomplete breech presentations, where one or both legs are flexed, one or more feet will be palpable on vaginal examination. This is especially the case at advanced dilatation, when legs will often slip further down due to the increased space in the sacral cavity, into which the breech has also descended. And of course in advanced labour, the dangers of performing a caesarean section for a dubious indication are increased. It has never made sense to me to perform a caesarean section at advanced dilatation because one might need to perform a caesarean section! Where skill levels are minimal and practitioners are not taught to locate the sacrum as the denominator, many complete and/or incomplete breech presentations will be labelled ‘footling.’

Dr Susanne Albrechtsen teaching breech skills

In my practice, I follow the nomenclature suggested by Susanne Albrechtsen (unfortunately only available in Norwegian): a footling breech is one in which both feet present first, and the fetal pelvis is disengaged, above the pelvic brim. A fetus whose pelvis is engaged with one or more feet palpable alongside is a flexed breech (complete/incomplete).

We will await more professional debate and actual evidence concerning the definition of ‘footling breech’ and its association with fetal outcomes. Perhaps now that the new RCOG is more supportive of vaginal breech birth, more professionals will feel experienced enough to engage in discussions which will move our knowledge base forward and further increase the safety of breech birth.

Shawn

Turning breech upside down

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February 2015

Yesterday, approximately 50 midwives and obstetricians shared some love for breech babies in Preston by hosting a Physiological Breech Study day!

prayer handsThe day was organised by inspirational Consultant Midwife Tracey Cooper, with the help of midwives Emma Ashton and Emma Gornall, and we felt so welcome! Collaborating with their obstetric colleagues, these midwives have led changes in Preston, where guidelines now advise midwives to use hands and knees maternal positioning for all undiagnosed breech births occurring outside the obstetric unit, including the MLBU and home births. In these settings, obstetric beds are not usually available. Adverse outcomes have occurred across the UK because midwives who have only been trained in lithotomy manoeuvres, following guidelines mandating the lithotomy position, have instructed women to lie on the floor, either to perform a hasty and unnecessary vaginal examination, or to ‘manage’ the birth in the way that feels most familiar. As a result, women have then abandoned the most physiologically advantageous forward kneeling position in order to accommodate health professionals. When a woman is supine on a flat surface, the baby’s body cannot hang the way it does in true lithotomy position, and this may cause difficulties with the birth and/or delivery of the head.

Learning to negotiate nuchal arms when women are upright

Learning to negotiate nuchal arms when women are upright

I have been encouraging midwifery leaders to address this problem for some time, after becoming aware of such troubling events occurring not infrequently. In addition, I performed an audit covering a 20-month period in my previous practice setting, and the results indicated that 80% of the breech presentations diagnosed for the first time in labour occurred among otherwise low-risk women under midwifery-led care. This population does not routinely receive a third trimester scan in the UK, and the research does not necessarily indicate that doing routine scans would improve outcomes. However, it does suggest that each midwifery-led setting should have a plan in place to ensure all midwives have setting-appropriate training for managing unanticipated breech births, and that women have access to skilled and supportive counselling and care when this occurs. As more births are occurring in midwifery-led settings following the recommendations of the 2014 NICE Intrapartum Care guidelines, this forward planning will be more and more important, to promote safe physical and psychological outcomes for women and babies.

If you would like to read more about undiagnosed breech or antenatal detection of breech presentation, click on the links.

Emma Ashton, Gerhard Bogner, Olivia Armshaw, Tracey Cooper & Shawn Walker

Emma Ashton, Gerhard Bogner, Olivia Armshaw, Tracey Cooper & Shawn Walker

We were privileged to be joined by Dr Gerhard Bogner of Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. Bogner shared his experience of trailblazing for breech in Austria by introducing the practice of all fours (im Vierfüßer) breech births, which he has been studying in singletons and twins, with good outcomes. We look forward to the publication of Bogner’s twin data, later in the year. (Read more about Bogner’s work on ResearchGate or Pubmed.)

Breech101These international gatherings always prompt discussions about differences in practices. Some audience members were surprised to find that midwives in Austria perform a vaginal examination every hour! Therefore, the evaluation of ‘second stage’ is determined by dilatation. In contrast, visitors from Sheffield – Midwife Helen Dresner-Barnes and Consultant Obstetrician Julia Bodle – explained how in Sheffield, vaginal examinations are not routinely performed during breech labours. Progress is evaluated by observing the woman’s spontaneous expulsive effort, and if she is bearing down for some time without any noticeable descent, this would be considered an arrest in the second stage of labour necessitating a caesarean section. Such differences raise interesting discussions around why we do what we do – for safety? for measurement? for documentation? for protection in case of litigation? And what effects such seemingly neutral interventions may have – interfering with physiology? lowering the threshold for CS with or without benefit? reassuring or undermining the woman and her health professionals? We may not have all the answers, but at least we are beginning to ask the questions.

Thanks also to Lisa Walton of Blackpool and Oli Armshaw of the University of Western England for helping make the day a success.

Shawn

Resources and a plug

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Posterior arm born, anterior arm high, shoulders in A-P diameter - help is required!

Posterior arm born, anterior arm high, shoulders in A-P diameter – help is required!

In July, Gerhard Bogner of Salzburg presented data at a Breech Birth Network study day.  Although the series is small, the data indicate that when the mother is in all fours position to birth a breech baby, approximately 70% of those births will occur completely spontaneously, eg. without the need to perform assisting manoeuvres at all. Use of upright positioning also reduced the rate of maternal perineal damage from 58.5% to 14.6%, which is actually better than cephalic births!

The reduced need for manoeuvres potentially reduces iatrogenic damage to babies associated with interference at the time of birth, such as birth injuries and inhaled meconium. That’s great for that 70%, but what about the other 30%? The babies born with upright positioning in Bogner’s study had a slightly higher rate of low cord blood gases, indicating hypoxia, although no consequences for the infants or differences in 5 minute Apgar scores were observed.

If a woman is birthing her baby in an upright position, how do we assist the birth confidently and safely when delay is identified? How do upright manoeuvres differ from those performed when the woman is supine? To address a growing need for more practical training in upright breech birth, City University are offering Physiological Breech Birth Workshops in London and taster days around the country. The next one is on 2nd of December at the Whittington in Central London. Lots of hands-on training with a small group of doctors and midwives committed to extending breech skills. We also post conferences and workshops provided by others when we can.

Several people have been in touch to ask about the How and When to Help handout. I disabled the link because it is constantly being updated! Please feel free to download this one and use it in your practice area. But keep in mind understanding in this area is constantly expanding, and this is just one midwife’s current approach. I’m working on research to understand others’ approaches as well, but it will be some time until this is finished.

Look out for two articles appearing this month. In The Practising Midwife, I present a summary of current evidence related to ECV (external cephalic version), with some excellent photos provided by Dr Helen Simpson and Midwife Emma Williams of South Tees Foundation Hospital. In Essentially MIDIRS, Mariamni Plested and I talk about issues in providing innovative care for higher risk birth choices.

Finally, shameless plug: Today (30/9/14) is the last day to vote for my, um, remarkable cousin Jake in the NRS National Model Search. Read all about him here, and then click on the link at the bottom of the article to VOTE FOR JAKE!

Favourite quote from the article: “The funny thing is, some bulls are just like big dogs. They come up to you, put their butt in your face and say, ‘Scratch my butt.’ But as soon as they get that flank rope on them, it’s like, ‘Game on. I’ve got something to do now.'”

Awww. Gotta love a bit of passion, of finding your niche and loving it … We love you, Jake! (Just what every 18 year old boy always wanted, a plug on a breech birth information site. We clearly share a common love of butts.)

Update: He won! Go Jake!

Shawn

Bogner, G., Strobl, M., Schausberger, C., Fischer, T., et al. (2014) Breech delivery in the all fours position: a prospective observational comparative study with classic assistance. Journal of perinatal medicine. [Online] Available from: doi:10.1515/jpm-2014-0048

Shoulder Press and Buttock/Gluteal Lift

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Helping the aftercoming head to flex in upright breech births

When women are in upright positions, many breech births will proceed completely spontaneously because the birth canal follows the flow of gravity. However, the attending clinician may need to assist, either because maternal effort no longer results in steady progress, or because the baby appears compromised and assistance will result in a quicker delivery.  In this blog, I describe one manoeuvre to help in upright breech births.

The shoulder press is very effective in the following circumstances:

Deflexed head in mid-pelvis
Deflexed head in mid-pelvis
When baby's head has descended into the pelvis, the pubic bones are directly behind the occiput
When baby’s head has descended into the pelvis, the pubic bones are directly behind the occiput
  • The aftercoming head has descended through the pelvic inlet and is either on the perineum (chin visible) or mid-pelvis (chin not visible, but easily reached in the sacral space); and the occiput is anterior
  • The mother is in an upright, forward-leaning position (e.g. all fours or kneeling)
  • The clinician facilitating the birth is behind the mother, and the baby is directly facing the clinician (‘tum to bum’ with mother), with head and body in alignment

In this scenario, the maternal pubic arch is directly behind the baby’s occiput. When pressure is applied to the baby’s torso along the clavicular ridge, guiding the baby’s body straight back through the mother’s legs, the pubic arch will push the occiput up and forward. This causes the aftercoming head to flex and descend, following the curve of the birth canal. The sternocleidomastoid muscles (SCM), responsible for head flexion, attach to the superior aspect of the clavicle and keep the head in alignment throughout this process.

Buttock/Gluteal Lift – If descents stops with the perineum tight on the baby’s forehead (bregma), and the shoulder press alone has no further effect, an assistant can augment the manoeuvre by lifting the woman’s buttocks up and out. This lifts the perineum over the bregma as the primary attendant performs the shoulder press, moving the baby in the opposite direction. This assisted manoeuvre is especially helpful when the woman is obese, or the perineum is especially tight and intact.

The feeling and effectiveness of this manoeuvre is very easy to replicate using an obstetric model, turned upside down, as in the video below.

Potential benefits

Preserving an intact perineum. An intact perineum helps to maintain beneficial fetal flexion, and routine episiotomy should be avoided for this reason. However, when the aftercoming head has descended onto the perineum, reaching the maxillary or malar bones to perform a modified Mariceau-Smellie-Veit (MSV) can be difficult. Therefore, many clinicians will cut an episiotomy early in order to avoid cutting one while the baby’s face is on the perineum. However, this is not necessary. When the chin is visible, pressure on the maxillary bones through an intact perineum is possible, in combination with upward pressure on the occiput behind the pubic arch, enabling descent to continue. However, the shoulder press is more effective.

The path of the head must follow the arc of the pelvic cavity
The path of the head must follow the arc of the pelvic cavity

Clinicians who are inexperienced or untrained in manoeuvres specific to upright birth will be tempted to pull down on the baby’s torso to deliver the head. However, this does not follow the direction of the birth canal in the same way as the shoulder press as described. Pulling rather than pushing is potentially more likely to result in severe perineal damage, and may also cause cervical nerve damage in the baby due to increased resistance from the intact perineum.

Potential risks

Fractured clavicle. When applying pressure on the clavicle, fracture is an obvious potential risk, although neither I nor those I have learned from have reported fractured clavicles resulting from the use of this manoeuvre. This potential risk can be minimised by spreading the fingers to apply even pressure along the entire ridge, or by applying pressure with fingers or thumbs at the distal aspect, near the glenohumeral joint. The pressure exerted is firm but is not significantly different to that applied when delivering an anterior shoulder in a supine cephalic delivery, and therefore no more likely to result in trauma. The shoulder press minimises the amount of force needed to achieve delivery by promoting maximum head flexion and descent in the direction of the birth canal.

Limitations

The shoulder press as described, on its own, may not resolve a dystocia caused by a deflexed or hyperextended aftercoming head. A very high chin, pointing upwards, identifies a hyperextended head; only the bottom jawbone (resembling a ‘bird beak’) is felt at the very top of the maternal sacrum. If the deflexed head has impacted at the pelvic inlet, the baby’s whole body may need to be lifted in order to flex and/or rotate the head to oblique so that it can enter the pelvis before the shoulder press is useful. Additionally, suprapubic pressure performed by an assistant may help flex the head enough to pass through the pelvic inlet.

Uses

The practice of supporting breech births with the mother in an upright position is somewhat controversial, as minimal research evidence regarding effectiveness exists. Although breech experience is generally at a very low level, most clinicians are only trained to perform lithotomy manoeuvres, and therefore the RCOG recommend lithotomy as the preferred maternal position (RCOG 2006). However, increasingly women are requesting freedom of movement and their own preference to be upright, which is potentially a more satisfying birthing position (Thies-Lagergren L et al 2013). In the absence of evidence that such an approach increases risks, introducing upright manoeuvres into mandatory training will enable this option.

In addition, through discussions with other midwives and participation in the risk management process for various Trusts, I have been informed of several cases of undiagnosed breech births where women were instructed to get onto their backs on their floor following the diagnosis of a breech in labour, due to lack of an obstetric bed in that setting. In some cases, this has been associated with severe delay in delivering the aftercoming head. In true lithotomy, head flexion is promoted by allowing the baby to hang off the end of the bed, where the maternal pubic arch again is responsible for lifting the occiput as gravity gently pulls the baby through the birth canal. This cannot occur on the floor, and the head becomes deflexed. In these cases, the midwives were only trained to perform lithotomy manoeuvres, and instructed that guidelines required them to manage breech births in this way, but the births occurred in settings with no obstetric bed. Providing mandatory training in upright breech to those working in midwifery-led settings will potentially improve outcomes in emergency cases in the short term, and increase maternal choice in the long term.

Sources

I first learned about this mechanism from Dr Anke Reitter, FRCOG, of Frankfurt, Germany, and Jane Evans, an experienced UK Independent Midwife. At the University Hospital Frankfurt a similar technique is called ‘Frank’s Nudge’ after the lead obstetrician, Prof Frank Louwen, who introduced the upright management of breech birth to their unit. I do not refer to the manoeuvre as ‘Frank’s Nudge’ because research indicates eponyms cause confusion and lead to inaccurate documentation. Some have described the mechanism as a reflex action, but my hands have experienced it as purely mechanical, and much more effective than Mariceau-Smellie-Veit when women are upright. Others have described a similar experience in my qualitative studies of how people learn vaginal breech birth skills.

References

RCOG (2006) The Management of Breech Presentation. RCOG Green-top Guidelines, No. 20b. London, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Thies-Lagergren L et al (2013) Who decides the position for birth? A follow-up study of a randomised controlled trial.” Women and Birth 26(4): e99-e104.

Emerging evidence for upright breech birth

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When I talk about ‘upright breech birth,’ I mean a birth where the woman is encouraged to be upright and active throughout her labour and able to assume the position of her choice for the birth. This is in contrast to the classic lithotomy position, in which the woman is flat on her back, usually with legs in stirrups. Upright includes all fours, kneeling, standing, sitting on a birth stool, lying on her side if her body (and not her attendant) tells her to, etc. Birth position is not a static concept. The defining feature of upright breech birth is the woman’s ability to follow her birthing instincts, to move spontaneously in order to assist the birth. However, many providers have developed preferences, having observed women birth successfully in a variety of positions.

Many advantages have been claimed for upright positioning. But if supporting this ideal is to become a reality, we need two things. Firstly, we need evidence regarding the outcomes for breech births managed in non-lithotomy positions. And we need skills in managing complications which occur when women are in non-lithotomy positions.

A step forward for the evidence occurred this week with the publication of research covering 11 years of experience at a large metropolitan teaching hospital in Australia (Foster et al 2014). This retrospective study, which used an intention-to-treat analysis, found much lower rates of complications than the Term Breech Trial, in line with those achieved by the PREMODA group, concluding that in experienced centres, vaginal breech birth is a reasonable option. For me, the take home message coming from the increasing number of studies which show the same comparatively better results is less about the inherent safety of breech birth, and more about how fundamental the local experience level and organised team approach is to achieving optimal safety levels.

Although the article does not discuss birthing position, the correspondence author, Dr Andrew Bisits, is well known for supporting upright breech births using a birthing stool, and in many of the births in this series, the women would have remained upright and active (see also Kathleen Fahy’s description of spontaneous breech birth). Some evidence indicates that use of a birthing stool may shorten duration of labour (Swedish birth seat trial), and this would certainly be an advantage for a breech birth.

Another advantage to using a birthing stool is that health professionals who are comfortable with lithotomy manoeuvres do not have to make any major adjustments to their practice, aside from a willingness to get closer to the floor. The baby emerges facing the same way, the same signs of descent are observed, very similar manoeuvres are used to resolve a delay in progress. An obstetric bed can also be adjusted to mimic a birthing stool, but women have more ability to stand up and move spontaneously when their feet are planted on the ground.

Active Birth Labour Support Stool

Active Birth Labour Support Stool

A number of birthing stools are available in the UK. Active Birth Pools supply a model which is very similar to the Birthrite seat. A birthing stool is a good investment for a Trust. As one of my former obstetric colleagues put it, “If they are good for breech, they are probably pretty good for cephalic babies as well!” Indeed.

Midwives have long supported women to birth in upright positions (for example, Maggie Banks, Jane Evans and Mary Cronk are well-known midwifery authors about breech), but as the RCOG guidelines (2006) recommend lithotomy, supporting this in hospital settings has been difficult. However, around the world, obstetric departments are increasingly discovering the benefits of enabling women to be upright, especially in all fours, kneeling and standing positions. These include teams in Frankfurt (some statistics, some background), Salzburg, Ecuador (Parto podalico), Brazil (parto natural hospitalar pélvico, Parto Pélvico Existe Sim!, and of course various parts of the UK.

Facilitating this type of breech birth requires a change in perspective and an understanding of new manoeuvres to assist in the event of complications or delay. The sooner these alternatives are incorporated into national skills/drills training, the more women with breech babies will be able to follow their instincts to assist with securing the safest possible delivery for their babies.

Shawn

Breech birth team work

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Introducing more support for planned breech birth in your hospital setting? This post is for you.

The management of breech presentation is undergoing an important transition. In the past twenty years, we’ve gone from:

  1. Management according to the preferences of individual consultants and/or units, tending increasingly toward caesarean section
  2. Blanket caesarean section policy following the publication of the Term Breech Trial
  3. A recognition in more recent guidelines that vaginal breech birth should remain an option for women
  4. Increasing demand from women for more choice and involvement in decision-making around how they birth their breech babies

As a result, health care providers are needing to re-skill in the facilitation of breech birth, and in a way which matches women’s expectations. This requires introducing entirely new skills to manage breech births when the mother is upright and active, as women who choose to birth vaginally usually expect to be.

But transitions can be de-stabilising. Doing things ‘as they are always done’ provides some protection because team members are familiar with their roles. Each professional knows her/his place on the team. They are familiar with the range of events that might happen in this scenario, and they know by repetitive practice exactly how they will need to communicate and respond. The emergency caesarean section for the undiagnosed breech discovered at 9 cm – the team has been here before many times, and swings comfortably into action.

In contrast, a planned breech birth is novel territory. This is even more the case if the woman has planned to be upright and active, as many teams will have rehearsed emergency breech drills with the mannequin in a lithotomy position (legs in stirrups). Therefore, teams supporting this choice will need to employ different strategies to ensure effective teamwork around the time of birth.

Identify your breech birth dream team

(These suggestions apply to a planned breech birth which occurs in a hospital setting, particularly one where a planned breech service is being introduced.)Breech Dream Team

Ideally, the entire second stage and the birth of this breech baby will be primarily supported by three people. These three should be familiar with and aligned with the woman’s birth plan and each other, as any task or relational conflict will compromise decision-making ability (de Wit et al 2013, Puck & Pregernig 2014). They should each have a clear understanding of what their role in the team will be, and they should have rehearsed together the management of some common emergencies. They should have clear eye contact with each other throughout the birth, in order to confirm in an unobtrusive way the on-going evaluation that the birth is going well, or to prepare each other for the possibility that it might not be.

Each team member has a different primary responsibility:

1)   Management – This person is primarily responsible for facilitating the birth, and may be an experienced midwife or an obstetrician. Ideally, this person will be known to the woman and have experience with breech birth in general (and the type of birth the woman has requested). The birth facilitator will be intimately familiar with the woman and her wishes, as well as the mechanics of breech birth, how to anticipate possible problems, and how to assist when required. They are responsible for co-ordinating care and preparing the rest of the team to assist when required.

2)   Support – This person, usually a senior midwife, is responsible for taking over monitoring of the woman’s and baby’s well-being throughout the second stage, frequently relaying this information to the rest of the team and reassuring the woman. Positioned beside the woman, they are an important communication bridge, especially when the woman is in a kneeling position, facing away from the person managing the birth. In this position, the support professional is also placed to assist with applying suprapubic pressure and/or change of maternal position.

3)   Perspective – This person is responsible for documenting the birth and providing a second evaluation of progress. This role requires breech experience because in order to document appropriately and accurately, the person needs to understand what they are seeing. Similarly, in order to assist with the evaluation of progress, this person needs to be familiar with normal progress in a breech birth. Because of their perspective, this person is also an important communication bridge with the rest of the team outside the door (eg calling for further help, alerting paediatricians to possible complications, etc.), and may alert the managing professional to potential problems. Therefore, this role is often taken by the most experienced person in the room, such as the obstetrician or the experienced midwife who is supporting another midwife to develop her skills.

The triangle: nature’s most powerful structure

Most normal births are attended by two midwives, and this is more than adequate. But a breech birth is not an everyday occurrence. Documentation will need to be of a gold star standard. Yet in most hospitals, each person in the room will still be developing their skills with breech and will therefore need to concentrate on the task at hand, making attendance to paperwork tricky. It is also easy to become enthralled with the beauty of an unfolding breech birth.Team Triangle

Therefore, supporting breech births with a primary team of three strengthens a situation made vulnerable by its novelty. A triangle is one of nature’s strongest structures; this mini-team is strengthened, given a base by the addition of perspective. Given the importance of documentation in any higher-risk birth, triangulation of data (eg strengthening the accuracy by using different sources) also makes practical sense. The triangulated team increases everyone’s safety in a novel situation.

Interestingly, many women instinctively form their own triangles, involving two supporters. The third person in this triangle also provides additional support, strength and perspective for both her and her partner.

Continuity: the way forward

Continuity of carer – ensuring a woman knows the professional who will be facilitating her birth, and ideally the entire team – has known, evidenced benefits. Fewer interventions, greater satisfaction. Knowing who else will be in the room, and what their role will be, will also help the woman to feel more relaxed and reassured about the upcoming birth.

Continuity has benefits for providers as well, especially when it comes to facilitating non-standard care. A number of sources have suggested on-call teams for breech births as the way forward (Kotaska 2009, Daviss et al 2010) and on-call midwives are a middle ground. Especially when experience is minimal, preparation is key. Where an on-call team is not available, the entire team who will be attending the birth should be identified when the woman is admitted to hospital, and again at handover if appropriate. This team should have a thorough discussion about roles and responsibilities, and a run-through of the ‘fire drill’ if things do not go as planned, well before second stage requires the additional team members to attend.

The team should meet afterwards to review the birth and identify if any group work issues have been identified that can be improved for future births. This review should involve the obstetric labour lead, a midwifery manager and/or risk management midwife if the breech service is new to the maternity team. A reflective approach in the early stages will pay off in increased safety and a more confident, united team in the long run.

Further information and inspiration for your dream team

Teamwork is crucial to the safety of breech births. Michael West has written extensively about the characteristics of ‘real teams,’ as opposed to ‘pseudo teams.’ Real teams have clear, shared team objectives; role interdependence and role clarity; and they meet regularly to review and improve performance (West, 2014). If we are to successfully change the culture of breech birth, and support women as safely as possible as we develop our skills and experience, we must function as real teams.

West, M.A., & Lyubovnikova, J. (2013). Illusions of Team Working in Health Care. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 27(1), 134-142. (more from West)

You may also be interested in this article: Plested M, Walker S. Building confident ways of working around higher risk birth choices. Essentially MIDIRS 5(9)13-16.

How have you prepared your teams to support planned breech births?

Shawn

Loving breech babies in Ayrshire

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with Dr Susanne Albrechtsen (left)

with Dr Albrechtsen (left)

The Dutch in Old Amsterdam do it .. not to mention the Finns .. The folks in Bergen, Norway, do it .. They’re not even second twins …

This Valentine’s Day over 100 obstetricians, midwives, student doctors and student midwives assembled at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock to show some love to breech babies.

explaining the way 'prayer hands' help maintain alignment of the fetal head

explaining the way ‘prayer hands’ help maintain alignment of the fetal head

We were privileged to be joined by Dr Susanne Albrechtsen, Head of Obstetrics at Haukland Hospital in Bergen, Norway, home of Jørgen Løvset. She has written extensively about the practical management of breech presentation and authored several epidemiological articles. Dr Albrechtsen is responsible for the Norwegian breech guidelines, and shares her expert knowledge of breech and operative vaginal deliveries through practical training throughout Scandinavia and beyond (details available through the Norwegian Medical Society). Her hospital in Bergen, which currently enjoys a CS rate of 13%, is a mecca for trainees hoping to improve their hands-on skills. Haukland, with an annual birth rate of 5000, sees 150-200 breech deliveries per year and Dr Albrechtsen herself has attended over 500 breech deliveries. IMG_0173

How do they do it? Dr Albrechtsen tells us: “You just have to decide that it is good for babies to be born vaginally, unless there is clearly a problem, and commit yourself to developing the skills to enable that to happen.” As she explained, a normal vaginal birth is an important programming event with life-long consequences. Evidence is growing about the links between caesarean section and future disease in the child, such as Type 1 diabetes, asthma, allergies, gastroenteritis and obesity (see Ulander et al, 2004). Dr Albrechtsen also presented her epidemiological data, demonstrating the way CS rates and rates of vaginal birth have changed over the last 40 years in Scandinavia. Particularly interesting were the way the Finns have been able to make a dramatic change within a few years, simply by making the decision to do so.

Dr Michele Mohajer, Royal Shrewsbury

Dr Michele Mohajer
Royal Shrewsbury

Dr Michele Mohajer, whose unit in Shropshire currently enjoys a 14.3% CS rate, shared with us the work of her breech clinic and her extensive experience with ECV, having performed over 1500 procedures herself, in addition to attending hundreds of breech deliveries in her career. It is reassuring to know that these skills are being maintained by expert practitioners.

Feedback from the day suggested that those attending had concerns about managing an undiagnosed breech birth, and interest in developing skills had been driven by recent experiences. This is a real concern. Approximately 3-4% of babies present breech at term, and 25-30% remain undiagnosed until labour. Consequently, an undiagnosed breech presents in labour approximately 1:100 of all births. It is in everyone’s interests that we do our best to support all women wishing to make the informed choice to labour with their breech babies, putting plans in place so that skills can be developed for when women cannot make a measured decision.

working it out together

working it out together

In my view, organising small on-call teams for breech, involving both doctors and midwives, is the best way to accomplish the re-introduction of breech skills. Some research and professional opinion supports this view (Kotaska 2009, Maier et al 2011). Neither all doctors nor all midwives will be confident and keen to attend a breech birth. Ideally all staff involved will be both, but at least one well-prepared and experienced person at every breech birth is essential, for both safety and the reassurance of the woman involved. At the conference, we also reviewed the mechanisms of breech birth, counselling for informed choice, and how to help in a complicated breech birth, particularly when the woman births in an upright position. I’ve noticed more doctors attending these study days each time we do it. One young obstetrician said to me, “I needed you here about a week ago, when I got hauled over the coals for supporting a woman to [successfully] have her breech baby vaginally.” This threatening cultural atmosphere needs to change. We need obstetricians and midwives who are willing to develop the skills to facilitate breech birth in the safest possible way.

Let’s do it .. Let’s fall in love … with breech babies

This study day  was organised by Geraldine Butcher, Consultant Midwife for Ayrshire and Arran, and a passionate advocate for the rights of women to make informed decisions about how to have their babies. Feedback from the study day:

“It has been a very fruitful day for me and I will use the presentations and practice to update my own. I will feel more confident in supporting upright breech birth.”

“It gives me more confidence to promote breech delivery and services surrounding breech as an option.”

“Video scenarios were very helpful. Recent undiagnosed breech presentations have encouraged us to review / update knowledge.”

Shawn

 

Bottoms Down Under

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‘Into the Breech’ Workshops in Perth and Melbourne, December 2013

IMG_0088

Anke Reitter, Danielle Freeth, Rhonda Tombros, Andrew Bisits

This month has seen a small series of Australian workshops, hoping to increase confidence among those already working to modernise breech birth in Australia. The ‘Into the Breech’ conferences were instigated by Dr Rhonda Tombros, an academic lawyer with an interest in human rights and the mother of a breech born baby, and organised by Barbara Glare. The conferences coincided with a six month research fellowship visit by Dr Anke Reitter (FRCOG) of the Frankfurt team, whose MRI research will soon be published, concerning changes in pelvic diameters with maternal position changes.

The Perth workshop, on 3 December, was held in the Perth Zoo and was opened by midwife Danielle Freeth, also the mother of two breech babies. As for obstetricians, it was quality rather than quantity on this occasion. One of the participants, Dr Liza Fower, Head of Obs and Gynea at the Armadale Hospital, gained significant experience facilitating breech birth in South Africa and has been able to continue to offer support. She also contributed to one of our practical workshops with some useful tips.

IMG_0078

Anke Reitter frisking Andrew Bisits .. while demonstrating how to release stuck nuchal arms.

Dr Andrew Bisits (FRANZCOG) presented in Perth, on pathways for women and complications. Bisits is one of the Directors of the ALSO (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics) course in Australia, which will be updated to include emergency manoeuvres when a woman is in an upright position. He and his team, including Midwifery Professor Caroline Homer, have launched an intensive course for professionals in Australia, the BABE (Become a Breech Expert) course. I am very much hoping to bring this course to the UK at some point in the future, and in the meantime will be ensuring that the information presented at the Breech Birth Network study days is in line with the systematic approach they are developing.

Melbourne attracted more consultant obstetricians, GP obstetricians and a lively group of midwives. Many conversations occurred during the break, suggesting a critical mass in this location, likely to move on with a more organised and collaborative approach to supporting women with breech presenting babies. This may require more working together across traditional boundaries if women are to have adequate support for viable choices, especially as breech services are reintroduced among teams with minimal recent experience.

Dr Rhonda Tombros

Dr Rhonda Tombros

A highlight of both days was Dr Rhonda Tombros’ presentation on the legal aspects of informed consent and negligence focusing specifically on issues around breech birth. We all hope she writes this up for publication in the near future.

Although I present at these conferences (in this case, on the evidence base and ‘normal for breech’), I find them invaluable to developing my own practice. The two messages I found most interesting with this visit concerned timings and episiotomy.

Timings: Bisits and Reitter gave increased focus to achieving a prompt delivery, suggesting that 3 minutes from the birth of the umbilicus to the birth of the aftercoming head is ideal. “Three minutes is ideal, you are probably okay with five, but after that most babies will experience some sort of compromise.” This aspect has not been previously emphasised at the conferences I have attended, but the intense dialogue which has developed between midwives and obstetricians supporting breech has revealed differences. It seems that timings are almost taken for granted in obstetric training for breech, whereas midwives have a much higher tolerance for a ‘wait and see’ approach, emphasising the ‘hands off the breech’ philosophy. In reviewing the anecdotal experiences where breech is being reintroduced, the current consensus among our small collective of professionals is that, while a ‘wait and see’ approach will often result in a spontaneous resolution, it will also more often result in a severely compromised baby when that spontaneous resolution does not occur. Therefore, following the birth of the umbilicus, if the birth does not continue to progress promptly or you are not confident of the condition of the baby, intervening to facilitate the birth is recommended, using the systematic approach we are advocating:

  • Exif_JPEG_PICTURETry to sweep down the arms in front of the face
  • If not possible, rotate in the direction of the nuchal arm (modified Lovesets)
  • Ensure the head is aligned with the body and the mother’s birth canal
  • Deliver the head using classic or modern techniques to achieve flexion

The skill of an experienced practitioner is in holding back from intervening when the birth is progressing normally, balanced with effective intervention when it is not, and developing this judgement is a key aspect of breech training days.

Michelle Underwood, Anke Reitter, Shawn Walker, Barbara Glare

Michelle Underwood, Anke Reitter, Shawn Walker, Barbara Glare

Episiotomy: In Melbourse, Consultant Midwive Michelle Underwood presented data from the Westmead Clinic which she runs with Dr Andrew Pesce in Sydney. While all of their statistics were fascinating – especially demonstrating a reduction in CS for breech from 90% to 63% in the first year of the clinic – I was intrigued by their stats on perineal damage. It seems that, compared to all births, the breech births have the highest rate of episiotomy AND the highest rate of intact perineum. This suggests to me that the majority of perineal damage from vaginal breech births may be iatrogenic, which is not surprising given that cutting a timely episiotomy is an over-emphasised part of some obstetric training for breech (Deering et al 2006), as is the use of forceps.

But is it necessary, or helpful (in most cases)? In his own practise, Bisits avoids episiotomy because he feels the perineum has an active role in encouraging breech babies to remain well flexed throughout the birth. Reitter also discussed her own personal stats – three (3) episiotomies cut in the last 10 years, a period which has included management of over 300 breech births and countless cephalic complications. The episiotomy rate in her unit in Frankfurt is exceptionally low overall. Change was accomplished when the Lead Obstetrician (Prof Frank Louwen) insisted that episiotomies would not be cut unless absolutely necessary, and that each episiotomy would need to be justified personally to him. That’s what leadership can do.

Shawn

Breech updating

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(Another post in response to discussion on the Coalition for Breech Birth Facebook Page.)

Breech births are few and far between, and there are very few ‘experts’ in the world to learn from, so staying updated is a real challenge. Especially if you do not live and work near others who are supporting breech births regularly.

Updating has two purposes: keeping up to date with current evidence and best practice; and reminding yourself how to use skills you use infrequently. Many breech babies, especially those whose mothers are active and upright (e.g. knees/elbows), can be born spontaneously. But those who cannot need calm, considered help in a timely manner. The same applies to external cephalic version – ECV. Both practices benefit from regular performance and knowledge sharing among those who are practicing.

Here are my suggestions on keeping your practice as safe and supportive as possible:

  1. Attend study days. Many individuals offer study days to develop breech skills. Breech Birth Network days concentrate on lots of practical skills, but also have an emphasis on care pathway planning in the UK, aiming to encourage more Trusts to adopt an organised, committed approach to breech.
  2. Share your work. If you are doing research or working with breech and would like to share your experiences, get in touch and present at one of the study days. I am not an expert, but an experienced and passionate believer in the idea that the more we share, the more we talk about it, the more normal it becomes. The best study days have a wide variety of speakers and reflect a wide community dedicated to developing and sharing skills.
  3. Share your experiences. If you learned something at a breech birth you attended that might help us to make our practice safer, share it! Publish it if appropriate, but if you need to share anonymously to protect your client’s and your confidentiality, I can give you space on this blog. It is wonderful and encouraging to hear stories of triumphant breech births where the baby just fell out singing. But we need to hear the stories of doubt and sadness as well, and often these are the ones you learn the most from.
  4. Create your own network. It’s been so valuable to me to have colleagues who I can phone up to debrief the breech births I’ve attended. I learn so much more by doing this. And so valuable to hear their stories, how they have approached certain complications, how they support women, their thoughts on what makes breech birth safe. Keep a record of these sessions and document them; they are part of your professional updating. Write an article about what you have learned together, so that others can respond to it. We need more voices talking about breech skills.
  5. Organise your own study day. Bring the conversation to you. Empower those local to you to share their skills by asking them to present. Inspire your local community to think more about breech.

If you don’t have anyone local to ask questions or debrief with, my number is 07947819122 (in the UK) and I’m always happy to listen. I’m sure most of us are. Good luck!

Cord prolapse: what do midwives do?

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This post was originally written as a Letter to the Editor, but when I went to submit it, I discovered the on-line journal does not accept any unsolicited writing. All of the articles are ‘commissioned by the Editors from specialists in their field,’ so I guess we should read them as more of a pronouncement than the opening of a dialogue?

I have some concerns about an intervention for cord prolapse described in a recent article on Abnormal Labour (Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine, Volume 23, Issue 4, Pages 121-125, April 2013): “Filling the urinary bladder (with 500-750 ml normal saline) helps to elevate the presenting part off the cord – this technique is particularly more suitable to the homebirth or standalone midwifery unit setting where prolonged manual elevation during transfer to an obstetric unit is difficult to maintain. In the hospital setting, filling the urinary bladder offers no increase in survival or improvement in fetal umbilical cord gases over manual elevation alone, although may be a useful adjunct if there is no theatre immediately available.”

As I said, I have some concerns. The authors suggest filling the urinary bladder as a method of preventing cord compression following cord prolapse. They say this technique has not been shown to improve outcomes in a hospital setting, but is ‘particularly more suitable to the homebirth or standalone midwifery unit.’ There are no references provided for the evidence related to use of this technique in either setting. As a midwife who has worked in two countries and the complete range of midwifery-led settings, I have never encountered this technique, nor anyone carrying appropriate equipment to enact it. I am concerned that an unproven, potentially harmful intervention not in widespread use is being presented as best practice, for use by midwives.

I am also concerned that, although the case scenario ended in a vaginal birth, the discussion presents caesarean section as the preferred method of delivery when a cord prolapse is seen, without discussing the importance of determining whether or not delivery is imminent before intervening. Cord prolapse is a common occurrence preceding the birth of a second twin, and during the births of babies with complete (knees flexed) and footling breech presentations. A prolapsed cord at full dilatation may precede a healthy vaginal birth with a delivery interval significantly less than a caesarean section (Gannard-Pechin et al 2012, Huang et al 2012), and when accompanying non-frank breech and twin births is associated with fetal compromise less often than for cephalic singletons (Kouam & Miller 1980, Broche et al 2005). Therefore, giving the impression that the best course of action upon seeing a cord in every situation is to elevate the presenting part manually, effectively preventing descent and spontaneous delivery in preference of a crash section, in many instances will cause more harm than good. This may seem like a matter of course to experienced practitioners, but it won’t be for the inexperienced.

Judging which instances require such emergency measures, and which would benefit from cautious expectant management, is a matter of skill and experience (in theory and practice), to which articles like the one linked above could usefully contribute. Factors to consider include cervical dilatation, type of presentation, signs of fetal distress, and descent with expulsive effort. Additionally, management of breech deliveries with the woman in an all fours position may reduce cord compression (as the cord is above the fetal body rather than below), and can easily be converted to a knees-chest position for more active intervention if delivery does not progress as quickly as expected. This is a strategy midwives are actually using in the community.

Update (December 2014): Those of you who are interested in this topic should read this report from the Netherlands:

M Smit et al, Umbilical cord prolapse in primary care settings in the Netherlands; a case series, Part 2, The Practising Midwife 17 (7); 34-38.

When considering what is recommended and best practice for midwives working in primary care settings, evidence needs to come from those settings. In this study, 2/8 UCP’s were managed with retrograde bladder filling, and these two instances were associated with the poorest Apgars, and the only death reported. While the numbers are small, they suggest that bladder filling in primary care settings may not offer benefits over manual elevation of the presenting part. Additionally, because it is time consuming, especially for a single midwife on her own at home, it may lead to unnecessary delays, compared to outcomes which were conducted in settings where assistance from other staff was immediately available.

What do you think? Are you carrying equipment to inflate women’s bladders if you detect a cord prolapse at home?

Broche, D. E., Riethmuller, D., Vidal, C., Sautiere, J. L., Schaal, J. P., & Maillet, R. (2005). [Obstetric and perinatal outcomes of a disreputable presentation: the nonfrank breech]. J Gynecol Obstet Biol Reprod (Paris), 34(8), 781-788.

Gannard-Pechin, E., Ramanah, R., Cossa, S., Mulin, B., Maillet, R., & Riethmuller, D. (2012). [Umbilical cord prolapse: a case study over 23 years]. J Gynecol Obstet Biol Reprod (Paris), 41(6), 574-583. doi: 10.1016/j.jgyn.2012.06.001

Huang, J. P., Chen, C. P., Chen, C. P., Wang, K. G., & Wang, K. L. (2012). Term pregnancy with umbilical cord prolapse. Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol, 51(3), 375-380. doi: 10.1016/j.tjog.2012.07.010

Kouam, L., & Miller, E. C. (1980). [Prolapse of umbilical cord – new aspects]. Zentralbl Gynakol, 102(13), 724-733.