by Silent Angel

Created on: December 22, 2008

It is very possible for a baby to be delivered breech, while it is a very painful process, it is possible. I know from personal experience, as my first child was born upside down and sideways. He was a month late, and after he was born, his skin was so dry that his knuckles were cracked and bleeding.

I was 16 when I got pregnant (a result of a sexual assault), and I was 17 when I gave birth to him - only 4 months shy of high school graduation. I did not know that I was pregnant for the first 6 months, and I lost about 60 lbs. According to the doctor's calculation, my son was due to be born on January 21 - from my calculation, his due date was December 21. On Thanksgiving night before he was born, I ended up in the emergency room where they told me that I was dilated 1.25 and barely floating. But in contradiction, they also told me that what I was feeling was "braxton hicks" rather than real contractions.

After over a month of feelings these false contractions, they were continually getting worse, I ended up spending at least one evening every two weeks in the hospital. By the first part of January, they admitted that there was very little fluid left around the baby and my water should be breaking soon. On January 13, I went back into the hospital and after 4 hours, they told me it still wasn't time and sent me home again. Two hours later, I went back because I could feel that something just wasn't right. After another 4 hours of observation, they decided to keep me since I was finally dilated to 4 cm.

They immediately started the epidural, and after further checking, they found out that he was breech, but since I was only 17, they were going to try to avoid the cesarean section. I was in labor for over 16 hours, and I had to ask my mother what all happened since I was in and out of consciousness. They had to break my water because it was nowhere close to breaking on it's own.

He came out breech, with his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck six times. As he came out, he tore me to the third degree - they stopped ounting the stitches after 73. I could not walk for about 15 hours, and they had to assist me in getting anywhere for about 3 hours after that. But even when I could walk on my own again, I had to be careful of how long I walked and stood because of the stitches.

He has always been fairly healthy, although he has had more ear infections than most children get. He is also shorter than most boys his age, but he was smaller when he was born, weighing in at 6 lbs. 5.8 oz.

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