The following information describes the birth process of babies born vaginally in a breech position. Breech babies commonly give their mother an early urge to push during labour, as their soft bottom may come down though her cervix before it is fully dilated. Prolonged pressure on the baby's buttocks and abdomen from the woman's birth canal often results in the baby passing a thick blob of
meconium during the pushing phase. This is a normal sign, and not evidence of the baby being distressed.
The length of time for a breech baby to be born is similar to a baby being born head first. The
Term Breech Trial research allocated time limits of half a centimetre per hour for dilation of the cervix during the 1st stage of labour, 2 hours of being fully dilated (in the 2nd stage) and 1 hour of active pushing.
Once the woman's cervix fully dilates, the baby's bottom comes down the birth canal with one hip of the baby is close to the woman's pubic bone and the other is close to the woman's sacrum (tailbone). As the baby's bottom moves onto their mother's pelvic floor and perineum, they rotate around so that their bottom emerges with their back facing their mother's front (or pubic bone).
Image 6-39shows how a baby in a breech position comes down the birth canal sideways.
Bottom born
Legs and feet born
Easing down the cord
Birth of arms
Birth of the baby's head
Bottom born. Instead of the baby's head being seen first, a soft round buttock is visible at the mother's vaginal opening - one buttock leads the way. The equivalent of the baby's head crowning is both buttocks and their genitals emerging. The caregiver may need to ease the perineum over the testes of a boy if they are not completely born, to minimise pressure on them. If the woman were to reach down in front between her thighs she would feel her baby's bottom and the baby's sacrum or lower back.
Legs and feet.