This is the story of Dr. Frederic Loomis, a Californian doctor anxious about his patient, an emotionally-fragile young woman who was expecting her first baby and doing her best to prepare for motherhood.
The death rate of breech babies is comparatively high because of the difficulty in delivering the after-coming head, and the imperative need of delivering it rather quickly after the body is born. At that moment, the cord becomes compressed between the baby's hard little head and the mother's bony pelvis. When no oxygen reaches the baby's bloodstream, it inevitably dies in a few short minutes.
The hardest thing for the attending doctor to do with any breech delivery (feet first) is to keep his hands away from it until the natural forces of expulsion have thoroughly dilated the firm maternal structures that delay its progress. On one particular occasion, I waited as patiently as I could, sending frequent messages to the excited family in the corridor outside.
