Broken Tailbone

[b'earth angel]

Has anyone ever had a client w/a tailbone injury?

I'm wondering how to go about counter pressure, hip squeeze, etc. Can these be safely done w/tailbone injury about that will be about 8-9 months old by the EDD?

[UtahDoula]

I would think hip squeeze would be fine, as it doesn't affect the connection between the sacrum & tailbone. (Obviously, if she says it hurts, stop)

With counterpressure, you're putting pressure right on the sacrum, and if you do it low enough, you could affect the tailbone. I've had some moms who wanted lots of pressure very low, and something like that after an injury would worry me. But again, I would go by how mom feels. 8-9 months is a pretty good amount of time for healing, and if she hasn't had any issues with pain in a few months, I think it woud be fine to try and just be cautious (stay high, stop if she reports any pain)

And avoid the "stranded beetle" position for pushing like the plague!

[AMotz]

My last client broke her tailbone during the breech birth of her son 2.5 years prior to this one. She had no problems with it this time and pushed her daughter out in little more than 5 minutes in a sitting position with knees bent.

Labor was really too fast for me to try the comfort measures you listed, but I did try counterpressure for a moment and she said she didn't like it. I don't know why, but I don't think it had anything to do with her prior injury.

[NewMoonDoula]

I recently attended a mama who had broken her tailbone while giving birth to her first... her second was almost 4 years later, but she had no problem pushing out babe squatting in the water. She did want alot of counter pressure toward the end, and I had spoken with a few mw's prior to this birth , none of whom thought it would present a problem. I would go with her mama~instinct and give her pressure when and where she wants it. Once that bone is broken, it's broken. You can't break it twice.

[celebratelife!]

I broke my tailbone with my first birth (during a forceps delivery). I gave birth to my second a mere 13 months after, with no problems at all (2 pushes and she was out- woohoo!) I loved counterpressure and pushed in a sitting squat.

[UtahDoula]

Not quite true, Brooke, I've broken mine 3 times. It tends to calcify into a set position, and can be broken loose again. Broke mine for the first time when I was 10, again during the birth of my 1st child, and the most recent time was in a fall 2 years ago. All three times were "officially" diganosed by a doctor as tailbone fractures. And all three times had similar pain and recovery times.

[NewMoonDoula]

^ hmmm... I'm wondering then if that's just what the mw told this mama to ease her mind because she was having alot of anxiety about the pushing stage, after such a long and painful recovery from the first.
Thanks for sharing!