I am a nurse Anesthetist here at Asante and was recently scheduled in an OB/GYN surgery room. Our second case of the day was supposed to be a version, one where a baby starts out breach and is turned to be head down so the mother can have a normal vaginal delivery. If they are unsuccessful, the mother usually goes through a c-section and then subsequent c-sections for other deliveries.

On this particular day, we were told our version had cancelled but were not given any explanation. When I took our first patient back to labor and delivery, I asked how the version had been cancelled and was told the baby had turned. As I talked more with the nurses and specifically Danielle, she told me she had been doing stretches and exercises with this mother and her breach baby all morning and had finally accomplished getting the baby to turn head down.

Not only did this allow this mother to give birth naturally, but it prevented her from having a cesarean section and the pain and risks that go along with those. And it wasn’t just this delivery she avoided a c-section with, it was any other subsequent children the woman would need to deliver. It was a huge deal and took a lot of studying and practice and patience for Danielle to be able to implement this for this patient and to have it be successful. And she didn’t do it to get credit and accolades for doing it, but because it’s what was best for the patient and her newborn baby.