Places to Give Birth: Aurora Sinai [Special Breech Edition]

Mel Haley

Aug 10

6 min read

A series in which I share my own experience of birth places around the Chicagoland area plus the data that we have available. There is no one right place to give birth. The right place for you is the place where you feel safest. In this article I'm going to share my doula review of Aurora Sinai in Milwaukee, WI as a safe option for vaginal breech delivery.

Part 1: Birth Center of Chicago; closed Jun 2026

Part 2: Illinois Masonic

Part 3: Northwestern Prentice

Part 4: Evanston Hospital

Part 5: OMG Midwives at Hinsdale

Part 6: Burr Ridge Birth Center ; closed April 2026

Part 7: Swedish Hospital

Part 8: Birth Roots Midwifery

Part 9: Aurora Sinai [vaginal breech] - (you are here!)

So your baby is breech?

Breech is the term we use to talk about babies that are head up instead of head down in the uterus. If you baby is breech, you have some options before you go straight to scheduling a cesarean (no shade on cesareans, I just work with a lot of clients who are looking to avoid surgery). To try and turn your baby:

If it is early, say before 32-33 weeks, you can try this at home work out from Body Ready Method. Often, baby is rolling around with a lot of extra space, until their head gets big and head and brings them head down. If you are between 20-30 weeks, you can do some gentle encouraging.
As you approach the final two months, it is time to get more serious. Download the Spinning Babies Breech Packet and do their 6 day program. This program works best if you can do it every day and preferably with another person. It is a time commitment, but one that does have good success.
1. In the packet, they offer ideas in addition to movements, including talking to your baby and putting ice near their head (babies don't like cold and will often "swim" away).
Go see all of the bodyworkers. I know a midwife who says acupuncture works best. I personally feel that many of my clients have good success with chiropractic work. Best case scenario? You see both.
1. If you already have these people in your life, you need to reevaluate them and make sure that they are experts specifically in breech babies. I usually send people to Dr. Maj because a client found her by calling 10 chiropractors and asking, "How do you feel about breech babies?" Dr. Maj responded, "I love them!" You want someone who is excited to help you. And also, she's queer.
2. Do not feel guility about trying out new people. You are on a limited timeline and need to prioritize your resources and interventions.
You want to be doing ALL of the above for at least a week before you try an Encephalic Version (ECV). This is a procedure done in a hospital in which an OBGYN attempts to manually turn your baby from the outside. Dr. Saleh at NSAGO is the best of the best.

If your baby is persistently breech...

Some families try all of the above and find that their baby is still breech. One of my clients shared with me that all her grandmother's babies and all of her mother's babies where breech. Her lineage just grows breech babies! There are 3 main types of breech, and two of them are safe for vaginal delivery. A baby that is complete breech or frank breech can be born safely through the vagina. A footling breech baby needs to be born via surgery. Although transverse is technically not breech, it is another variation that requires an operative delivery as there is no presenting part: we need a bum or a head to come first and dilate the cervix.

In Chicago, you will get sent straight to the operating room regardless of what type of breech baby you are carrying. For some families, that can be freeing - to be done with all the trying to change baby's position. For other families, it is heartbreaking. Thankfully, there is one more option!

Why aren't any Chicago hospitals catching breech babies?

The short answer, is that the providers lack the skill and the liability insurance lacks the understanding. The longer answer is that in 2000 a study called the Term Breech Trial was published comparing vaginal breech birth and cesarean breech birth. That study found that complications for the birther were about the same, but complications for the fetus where higher in a vaginal breech birth. Like any research study, there are critiques. One major one is that of the roughly 40% of people who were assigned to have a vaginal birth actually ended up with cesareans, but there data was still put into the "vaginal birth" category. Another one that is problematic for me is that most of the vaginal births where conducted with people on their backs and in breech birth specifically, being upright is of the utmost importance to speed along the delivery of the fetal head. If you want to dig in more, I recommend starting here.

The result was that vaginal breech birth stopped immediately, and a quarter of a century later, many breech skills have been lost. Thank goodness for Breech Without Borders, an organization that is single-handedly keeping breech skills alive through trainings, research, and resources for everyone. Which brings me to our hospital of choice today - where everyone is trained in vaginal breech birth.

Aurora Sinai, Milwaukee

Many people find it daunting to drive up to Milwaukee to give birth. Here's what I can tell you: you likely will only need to drive up once in order to establish care and determine your eligibility. After that, you will be able to get your week by week care at an hospital here in Chicago.

A client who decided to go to Aurora Sinai ended up at the hospital in early labor. Not an ideal time to be hooked up to monitors and observed. While it would have made sense to go home if we were closer, they were worried about doing the 1.5 to 2 hour drive again in more active labor. The doctors were very understanding and let my client rest during the day until labor picked back up. They understand that Chicagoans who drove all that way are a special category of patients!

Stats and Information

All of these numbers are estimates, pulled LeapFrog.

OB and midwifery-led care
2,800 births per year
Cesarean Rate: 19.7%
- The WHO recommends a 10-15% rate maximum
- U.S. National average was 32.4% in 2023, and has increased every year for 4 years
Birth tubs: available, but small
Perinatal Level III: highest level of care, the only one in Milwaukee
Visitors: 2 support people and 1 doula for labor
Eating and drinking is restricted to clear fluids and foods only (broth, jello, etc.)

Services and Amenities

Parking is free at any of the hospital lots and we arrived in the middle of the night so I entered through the Emergency Room. They do have a metal detector so I had the pleasure of overwhelming the security guard who had to go through my doula bag. They have a very fancy waterbirth suite but if you are there for a breech birth, you won't be in that room. I found the rooms overall to be adequate: a regular hospital bed, a couch for partner to sleep on, and a standard bathroom with a small tub. There is a cafeteria and there are several vending machines. Doulas and partners do not have access to the nourishment room with water and juice (always a pet peeve of mine, but our nurses were really kind about grabbing stuff for us).

Next Steps

If you are planning a vaginal breech birth in Chicago, I highly recommend that you work with a doula who has experience in vaginal breech birth who can help you navigate the landscape. We are few and far between, but we exist! You will also want to reach out to Aurora Healthcare. I have experience with Dr. Elizabeth Corey and have also heard good things about Dr. Forgie.

Full Series