The Power of the Adjustment for Mom and Baby

Over the past 20 years, I have been blessed to work with many amazing midwives, OBs, doulas, lactation consultants, prenatal massage therapists, and others in the birthing community around Madison, Wisconsin. There is a lot of trust that goes into making a referral or recommendation to another provider for one of your expecting mamas. You want someone professional, highly trained, years of experience, with great results. When someone refers their prenatal clients to me for pregnancy chiropractic, I do not take it lightly.

In April 2020, I had a patient frantically call my clinic. Connie had been a patient of mine for several years, and I had adjusted her in previous pregnancies. I had not seen her yet during this pregnancy, and with COVID being a thing, many people, especially pregnant women, were being encouraged to stay home unless a trip was “essential.”

Connie was 33 weeks along, planning a second homebirth, and had just found out that the baby was in a transverse position, meaning he was lying sideways across her abdomen instead of in an up and down position. This meant that if the baby stayed in that position, it would have to be delivered by C-Section, and would eliminate her from having a homebirth. In 2020, many people were also trying to avoid being in hospitals for obvious reasons. She and her midwife wanted her to have the best chance to get the baby into a head down position so they could deliver him naturally at home, and avoid a risky hospital stay.

Back in January, Connie had slipped on the ice. She did a scissors splits and then fell onto her right hip. Nothing seemed too off at the time. Her midwife had checked her over and didn’t find anything emergent that needed to be dealt with. As time went on, the imbalances in her pelvis, sacrum, and hips kept her locked in a distorted position, and so as the baby got bigger and the uterus stretched and the ligaments tightened, there was suddenly “less space” for the baby to move in, to start getting into a head down position.

At her 33-week appointment, her midwife examined her for the baby’s position, and she realized he was stuck transverse. She knew that this would impact Connie’s homebirth option, but she also wanted to help keep her out of the hospital and avoid surgery if possible. Her midwife said, “Call Dr. Brenda right away today and get in to see her for prenatal chiropractic.”

We started care, and in my exam, I used the Webster Technique and analysis, and I found some postural imbalances, and several misalignments in the pelvis, sacrum, hips, lumbar vertebrae, and pubic symphysis. I adjusted these areas, released some pelvic (round) and sacral ligaments, and balanced the tone in the muscles surrounding the pelvis and sacrum. Connie returned four days later, and we continued to adjust the spine, sacrum, and pelvis, and release muscle and ligament tension.

When she came for her third appointment, just six days after the initial visit, baby was head down! The pelvis and sacrum and other structures were more balanced and aligned. She also noticed less low back and hip pain. We continued chiropractic adjustments regularly until the end of pregnancy to help hold things in place and maintain alignment. Baby stayed head down, and Connie delivered naturally at home at 40 weeks.

Without releasing the distortion in her pelvis and sacrum, and letting everything relax into place, it would have been harder for her baby to move from the transverse position. She and the midwife were extremely grateful for the power of chiropractic to help get her body into proper alignment, avoiding the likelihood of a C-section.

I love sharing these kinds of powerful stories to show how much bigger prenatal chiropractic truly is than simply helping with pain in pregnancy. To empower trust in women’s bodies and help them achieve the birth they desire, to allow for natural delivery with an easier time healing during postpartum, to avoid a major abdominal surgery and long hospital stay during a scary time (which would have kept her separated from her toddler and possibly husband while there), these things are bigger than a lot of people realize.

In my 20 years of practice, I still get excited when a new pregnant patient calls to schedule for care. It’s an honor to be a part of the birth team and be welcomed on that journey. But I know deep down that prenatal chiropractic can help so much for mom and baby, and not always in obvious ways that can be measured. My hope is that every mama-to-be has access to a Webster Certified chiropractor near them and chooses the power of prenatal chiropractic.