Episode 4: Breech Baby, Understand Your Options with Midwife Sasha Hopkins

Sasha Hopkins | Barefoot Vibes | Endorsed Midwife, Birth Educator and Podcast Host

Sasha Hopkins (barefootvibes.com.au) is an endorsed midwife, birth educator and host of The Breech Birth Podcast, based in south east Queensland. She is one of a small but growing number of practitioners in Australia actively working to bring vaginal breech birth back into the conversation.

When I found out my son was breech at 38 weeks, Sasha was the first person my doula Kylie told me to call. I had just been told by the hospital in Canberra that I would not be supported there. Sasha was wholeheartedly supportive from the very first conversation. She had a lot of faith in me, and I had never spoken to her before. She also connected me to Breech Without Borders, an organisation founded in 2018 by Dr Rixa Freeze, which became one of the most important resources in my birth preparation.

In this conversation we cover what breech actually means, why vaginal breech birth disappeared from Australian hospitals, what your options are if your baby is breech, and the single most important question to ask your care provider.

SHOW NOTES

• What drew Sasha to breech birth: hearing about a breech birth as a student midwife and not being allowed in the room [03:00]

• The different types of breech presentation explained: frank, incomplete, kneeling and footling [07:00]

• Why the ultrasound you had at 36 weeks doesn't tell you what will present at birth: a baby's presenting part can change up to every ten minutes [10:00]

• Babies have an innate wisdom on how to move down and can actively participate in their own birth [12:00]

• What ECV (external cephalic version) is, success rates, and why Sasha recommends osteopathic care beforehand to create more space in the pelvic area [20:00]

• Spinning babies, inversions and moxibustion: what each involves and what to know [25:00]

• The difference between head entrapment and head deflection, and why they are often conflated [30:00]

• Why vaginal breech birth disappeared from Australian hospitals: the Term Breech Trial, what it found, and why it has since been redacted and should no longer be cited [35:00]

• The Promoter Study and what more recent research says about outcomes when trained practitioners are involved [40:00]

• Is vaginal breech birth safe? What the evidence actually says [42:00]

• Why breech babies may have lower one-minute Apgar scores but no significant difference at five minutes [44:00]

• Meconium in breech birth: why it is more common and what it means [46:00]

• The most important question to ask your care provider: ask for the literature behind their recommendation, not the policy [52:00]

• How to find a practitioner who will support you: what to look for and what to ask [54:00]

• What physical preparation looks like for a breech birth compared to a cephalic birth [56:00]

• Sasha's Reclaiming Breech Birth workshop and Season 5 of The Breech Birth Podcast [58:00]

  
  

CONNECT WITH SASHA

barefootvibes.com.au

The Breech Birth Podcast: available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Instagram: @sasha_barefoot_vibes and @breechbirthpodcast

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Breech Without Borders: breechwithoutborders.org. Founded in 2018 by Dr Rixa Freeze

• The Term Breech Trial: landmark study that changed global clinical practice, since redacted

• The Promoter Study: more recent research showing better outcomes with trained practitioners

• Betty Ann Davis: YouTube video demonstrating fundal pressure technique

• Westmead Hospital Breech Clinic: Sydney

• Reclaiming Breech Birth workshop: ACM CPD endorsed, delivered across Australia