Back Pain During Labor but not d/t posterior presentation?

[LilacMama]

I had constant, excruciating bilateral flank (or thereabouts?) pain during labor. It was almost unbearable towards the end. I don't have a low pain tolerance. In fact, I walked into the hospital at 8cm handling the contractions just fine. It was the BACK PAIN that made everything so awful. It got worse and worse, and during pushing it was at it's worst. Sterile water injections were tried -- I'm not sure that they helped at all.

Baby was positioned fine. My midwife didn't really know what it was -- she called it "referred pain" and suggested a chiropractor. I'm so sad that what would have been a relatively "easy" birth was so made so relentlessly painful by this mysterious pain. I wish I just knew what it was. It NEVER stopped. It far overshadowed any other pain during the entire birth.

Any thoughts? Anyone know what this was?

[PNWmama]

:
I had this too with my DS. Awful, horrible back labor with absolutely no pain in the front. All the pain was in my back, yet my baby was not posterior. I was told it was just because of my anatomy. I'm very nervous about the prospect of back labor again with my baby due in March

[~Katie~]

Your baby definitely doesn't have to be in a true posterior position to experience back labor. My DS was ROT (back against my right side, facing my left hip) when labor started and eventually moved to an anterior positioning but I experienced mostly back labor with some pain down very low. My DS was also born with a hand by his face which probably influenced the location of the pain as well.

I will say that I was not good about getting chiropractic care with my DS because it was too costly and I really wish I had, I think it would have made a huge difference in getting my pelvis and back in better shape for birth.

[Girlprof]

I had back labor with both my births. I think my son was posterior and rotated right before we left for the hospital - probably in transition. Don't know about my daughter. I didn't feel her rotate, but I certainly had back labor. It's hard for me to understand that some (most?) women feel contractions in their stomach (?), since I never have.

In any case, yes, it happened both times and was certainly the thing that hurt. What helped the most the second time around was that a massage therapist showed up and did this rubbing/pressing thing - very hard. I thought she had some kind of machine it was such hard pressure. But, she was able to show my doula what she was doing and it definitely helped. I was getting ready to try the saline injections when it was time to push.

[Mamabeakley]

Just attended a birth with similar back pain for the mom. We are pretty sure baby was OA (one way or another) the whole labor. We don't know what caused the back pain - but it was pain as opposed to back labor I think because none of the things that usually help with back labor (counterpressure, hip squeezes, hands & knees, leaning forward onto a counter, etc.) helped at all. One idea the birth team had was that maybe the baby was pushing a knee/foot/elbow something into mom's spine or other sensitive part. Another idea is that this mom did say that she usually feels tension in her lower back, so maybe that's what was happening.

One thing that I thought was interesting was that when we transfered to the hospital (after 36 hours, and not for the back pain, but because ctx had petered out w/minimal dilation) the nurse told us that if it had been back labor the epidural would not have helped because epis don't fix back labor for many people. I had never heard that before and am curious about it, but this particular nurse seemed well-educated and knowledgable.

[leerypolyp]

i read a penny simkin presentation about how there's not actually a strong correlation between the position of the baby and the experience of back labor/back pain in labor. it was interesting.

(i can't remember if it was in the midwife archives or somewhere on spinningbabies or the like.)

[sdejje]

It may or may not happen again.

I had horrible back labor with my second child, who was not posterior.
I had NO back pain with my third child, who WAS posterior (go figure).
I didn't have back pain through labor with my fourth child, but my back was KILLING me the whole time I was pushing.
No back pain to speak of for babies # 1 and 5.

I have no idea what to expect for this one.

[Keeper at Home]

Huh, interesting post. I just had a VBAC and baby was optimally positioned, but at the very end - about when I got to the pushing stage - my back/hips started killing me. My midwife and the nurse assistant said it was due to my pelvis and muscles stretching apart as the baby descended. I believe it because the pain started high and moved lower as I pushed him down. Then I sat down on a birth stool and the pain disappeared completely.

[Novella]

I always had back labour. None of my babies were posterior.

[ATLFTM]

I experienced very similar discomfort during my first child's waterbirth and recently posted a similar question. My baby had a brow presentation, and I was told this more than likely caused the back pain. Contractions didn't hurt (didn't feel a thing in my abdomen), nor did the pushing, actual birth, but my back was KILLING me the entire time, to the the point I couldn't even communicate how bad it was. Changing positions, massage and counter pressure didn't help at all. I also had great chiro care up until the birth. Not sure if you're LO's presentation was a little off, but maybe that contributed.

[citizenfong]

Like some pp's said, I had back labor, even once my second turned anterior. Turned out it was his elbow in my spine as a result of his fist under his chin.

Maybe your baby was doing something wacky like that up until the birth?

[Veritaserum]

Sometimes if the uterus hangs far forward it will cause an anterior baby's head to press against the sacrum. Lifting the belly up and in can direct the baby's head into the pelvic opening and relieve the back pressure/pain

[Mama Poot]

I had wicked back labor with DS1, but he was posterior. I was very worried it would happen again with DS2 because I'd sustained a very serious back injury during DS1's birth, in addition to old injuries that had not yet been resolved. I saw a chiropractor several times a WEEK during DS2's pregnancy, and I did not have back labor with him. After that I continued to see a chiro, and all of my back problems were finally resolved : BUT...even though DD was not posterior, I had some mild back labor with her! So it's hard to say what makes that happen. I had no physical problem that would cause it, and she was not malpositioned, so who knows what happened there.

[jeninejessica]

Originally Posted by KatieJD

My DS was also born with a hand by his face which probably influenced the location of the pain as well.

I've seen this a few times, and definately think it's probably one of the main eof back pain- not necessarily which way the baby is facing, but how his limbs are positioned as well.

[MoonStarFalling]

Originally Posted by Veritaserum

Sometimes if the uterus hangs far forward it will cause an anterior baby's head to press against the sacrum. Lifting the belly up and in can direct the baby's head into the pelvic opening and relieve the back pressure/pain

We tried this for several hours. I guess we weren't successful. It was extremely painful to do. Whatever caused my back labor, maybe it was an elbow sticking out or something because I pushed all day and she wouldn't come. Ended in a c/s.

[MangoMommy]

I too had horrible back labor. I labored at home fairly painless and didn't show up to the hospital until I was 7cm. Transition was so hard, as was pushing. I couldn't feel the right way to push because of the intense backpain, it was on both pelvic bones in the back. SIL and DH took turns with counterpressure (tennis balls) and that helped but they had to really push so hard that they were getting exhausted. I never really thought about WHY I had such hard back labor!

I carry small, I wonder if my uterus is tipped funny or something, is that possible? Even when I was fullterm I don't look huge, I swear I carry the baby funny. Maybe the baby is somehow against my spine?

I've had bad backpain this entire pregnancy...worries me for labor!

[MGBoutique]

I posted on the other thread about this. I had severe back pain with my last baby. Not sure if he was malpositioned during labor or not. I almost couldn't make it through transition due to the agony in my back. I kept saying "it's not my stomach, or front, it's the back". Luckily really, really hard counterpressure from my husband helped. He could literally feel my tailbone moving up and down and the baby worked his way down and out.

It makes me feel better to know I am not the only one. I haven't finished my birth story because I have felt like such a "failure" for being such a wimp during my home birth. I was crying and yelling due to the pain in my back and I think my midwives didn't know what to do or think because they had never seen this before. I didn't ask to transport, but I did beg them to help me and do something for the pain, even though I knew that they couldn't really do anything, lol. I was secretly hoping someone else would say "hey, let's go to the hospital and get an epidural" or something, yet I didn't *really* want to do that.

I did turn out to have a placenta that wouldn't come out for over two hours and a HUGE blood clot that came out before the placenta did. My labor to deliver the placenta was the same agony as giving birth to the baby, until I passed that clot. Then my back was fine and the rest of the placenta birth was okay, other than taking a long time.