Season 4 Episode 7: Vaginal Breech Birth: New Insights with Rixa Freeze, PhD

InCast

Rixa Freeze has a PhD from the University of Iowa and is a researcher, professor, and mother of four children. Her current research specialization is vaginal breech birth. She is the president of Breech Without Borders, a 501(c)3 nonprofit and teaches at a private liberal arts college. She blogs at Stand and Deliver.

Listen and Learn:

• A lack of research may impede the view of breech birth as a normal life event
• Training for delivering singleton breech babies is not very common in US medical schools
• Research on breech birth outcomes is more available in other countries and some is now happening in the US also
• Many of the studies present conflicting information
• Not everyone with a breech baby is a good candidate for a breech vaginal birth
• Those that are good candidates may be able to avoid a cesarean with the right healthcare provider
• More breech vaginal births would likely be done if more healthcare providers were knowledgeable in the techniques, risks, and safety considerations.
• Breech Without Boarders is doing grassroots training for practitioners to relearn the skills here in the US and abroad

Resources & Mentions:

• Breech Without Borders
• Vaginal breech workshops
• Reteach Breech fundraiser
• Stand and Deliver Blog
• Breech Without Borders Vimeo page
• Instructional breech birth videos (showing the normal mechanisms of breech)

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