How do you tell baby's position when you're "fluffy"?

[gabbyraja]

Ok, I have been to spinningbabies.com with every one of my pregnancies (and with 2 , I really wasn't all that padded, either) and I can NOT for the life of me ever tell which parts are which. How the HECK do I tell when the baby is head-down? My MWs have always been able to tell, but I'm mostly UPing this time, with some backup from my GP, and I just don't know what I'm doing!

[forumyonly1]

for me i try to pay attention to her movement and feel as best i can.. but i am seeing a midwife and she confirms for me what i am feeling. try to pay attention to the movements and hiccups and that kind of thing and go from there!

[gabbyraja]

But what about the movements? Which movements tell you what? I thought maybe if I'm feeling a bunch of the fluttery/scratchy movements down low by my cervix that might mean baby is transverse with hands and feet down there. That's all I've ever been able to tell.

[forumyonly1]

are you feeling any really strong movements any where?! when i feel light scratchy movements down low my baby is usually head down or transverse.. but when she is transverse and she gets hiccups it is obvious she is transverse because i feel it on both of my sides. when she gets hiccups and is vertex or breech i will feel them up and down.. then i pay attention to the big strong movements.. latley she had been sitting with her butt down and legs off to one side btu i know her head is up because of the hiccups.. and i can feela nice round hard spot up near my ribs.. you may have to feel pretty hard.. i am very fluffy (288lbs...) and i have a harder time feeling lower down but if i lay flat and feel pretty hard i can usually tell.

[Devaskyla]

I'm pretty good at telling baby position. One of the main markers you can look for is how the body moves. You should be able to feel 2 round, hard bits (assuming baby is anterior, if it's posterior, you'll likely ony feel one). One is the head, one is the bum. You can tell them apart by how they move when you push firmly on them. You'll usually need to have one hand on each end. Press on one of the lumps. If the whole body moves, it's a bum. If it kind of bends/bobs, it's a head.

Also, hands tend to be more tickly, wheras feet tend to be much stronger.

(I'm 5' & was 220+ lbs with my babies & was always right on their position, as well as helping friends with their babies)

[gabbyraja]

Ugh, I really can't tell what part is what, yet. I'm not feeling many really strong movements, but from what I am feeling all of the movement, pretty much, is in the lower half of my belly. Mostly around my cervix. I checked out the belly mapping thing again, too, and paid attention to where the heartbeat was detected last night, so I could put that in a "quadrant" to help me out. It's JUST to the side of my belly button. Not in any quadrant, right in the middle. So that doesn't help at all, either! My babies frustrate me so badly. But I'll keep referring back to this post as I get further along. I may be able to tell more as baby and belly get bigger.