Breech delivery is known to be the most common kind of abnormality. Usually it happens in case of births that occur around the 20th week. When the baby gets born on term the chances for this abnormality to appear are of about 4%.
Contributing factors of breech delivery
This kind of abnormality could appear in case the mother has a uterus abnormality regarding the shape of the organ, anatomical malformation of the little one, functional abnormality of the little one or too much amniotic fluid.
Presentation of leg first delivery
There are several ways in which this abnormality could present, including one leg first, both legs first or buttocks first. The buttocks first abnormality is also known as Frank breech. In this case the legs are drawn to the chest of the baby. This is the safest case.
The breech delivery could also happen with one foot or both feet. The position is also known as incomplete breech.
In case of the complete breech the buttocks is first presented, but the feet can be found under the legs, close to the buttocks. It is possible for the complete breech to turn to an incomplete one during delivery.
Risks of breech labor
This position represents some kind of risk in case of vaginal birth, but things get more complicated in case of the footling breech. The two main risks include the fact that the head or the arm could get trapped or an umbilical cord prolapse could occur.
The leg first labor presents the risk of umbilical cord prolapse because the legs don’t fit that well into the lower part of the uterus and they cannot block the way of the umbilical cord as well as the head could. The complete breech also presents this risk.
Entrapment could occur in case of breech delivery if the cervix isn’t fully dilated and the smaller part of the body fits through, but the head doesn’t. In this case the umbilical cord could also present some dangers. Usually this is a risk in case of the premature babies, since their heads are bigger in proportion with the rest of their body.
In case of the delivery leg first the risks are bigger if women opt for vaginal childbirth. C-section comes with smaller risks. This is why the majority of the doctors opt for C-sections. Others attempt vaginal delivery if he or she has some experience with the situation.
Risk factors of childbirth leg first
There are some factors taken into consideration in this case including the size of the baby and of the pelvis of the mother, whether this is the first pregnancy of the mother, and whether this is the first time she encounters the problem.
Some other factors regarding labor involving breech could be gestational age, presentation, and the position of the head of the baby. Being faced with breech delivery isn’t something that women desire, but in the end it is possible that everything will turn out just fine if you have a good doctor.
