Help me to clear my fear and think straight please mamas

[corban's mum]

having a tough time clearing my fear of posterior presentation

DS was posterior (posterior placenta though) and ended up in a cs after a drug fuelled pitocin haze in hospital and fetal distress kicked in

this time im planning to HBAC possibly UBAC and this sweet baby girl is always hanging out hugging her anterior placenta, in LOP position, and is bound to be around 9lbs (family history and scan prediction)

i can't really put my finger on what it is that's bothering me about this so much, im doing hypnobirthing and yet it isnt helping to shift this last fear

i soooo desperately want to be able to birth this baby vaginally, at home surrounded by her mama, papa and big bro.

i crawl, i use a birthing ball, i do inversions, i sidewalk upstairs, i never recline or lay on my back, i swim three times a week, i lunge i wiggle i rebozo sift but STILL she hangs out LOP sometimes LOT/LOA for about 10 mins then shuffles back....

im getting obsessed i swear!! lol

i guess i need to hear that it's no big deal, that i need to get over it cuz baby will come out just fine because XYZ... i don't know really. im just getting really bothered as the guess date edges closer and closer. im getting the most INSANE braxton hicks, my belly drops and goes SQUARE it's so weird (cool though)
theyre so strong that i shake. good sign?? im 35 weeks xx

[A&A]

Did you attempt to give birth on your back? Posterior births are SO much easier when you're off your back. (I birthed my 8 lbs.6 oz. posterior ds on my hands and knees.)

[corrio]

I find being in my own space makes the pain easier to deal with..

[Happiestever]

I birthed my 9# posterior UBAC baby kneeling over the side of the pool. You can do it mama! Believe and have faith in yourself.

[mataji4]

I was recently similarly obsessed! I was doing all those things too but my baby wasn't having it and stayed posterior throughout my labor. I think he turned as he was making his final descent before I started pushing, as he wasn't born posterior. He turned at the last minute, and he was a big boy weighing 10 1/2 pounds!

I heard from other moms who had pushed out big posterior babies, and others who assured me that babies are smart and know how to navigate the birth canal. I held onto the idea that I needed to stop being fearful and trust my body and trust my baby! So I stopped doing all the "stuff" and just enjoyed the last days of my pregnancy, and I truly stopped worrying.

If you end up in "posterior arrest" where you just don't progress past about 6 cm and feel "stuck" and concerned, what will you do? Maybe address this and have a plan so if it comes up you'll still be making your own choices. I experienced posterior arrest and was at 5 cm for about 20 hours with my 4th baby...very irritating but he eventually turned too and was born after 40 hours of labor. I didn't take heart tones but I felt him moving and was reassured by that.

[zoebird]

my son was posterior. i had a pleasurable (painless) unassisted childbirth with him. it was great. no tearing, no pain, no problems.

i was on hands and knees, in the candlelight, just my husband and I.

it can be done.

[corban's mum]

thank you all so much! i had posterior arrest with DS and got stuck at 5cms four a couple of hours so they started ramming me full of pictocin and ordered me to lay on my back to be monitored. the pain was awful i thought i was going to die! so they gave me an epidural... so i never got of my back. contrax were every 30 seconds for ages my body went into overdrive but they didnt reduce the pit. at 9 cms babyboy was flooding meconium he'd had enough.

i just want a much more natural gentle experience for DD and myself.


for posterior arrest i guess i'd just use roll over/belly sifting and lifting and lots of natural stimulation methods and hypnosis i guess?? as long as baby still has a decent heart rate/is moving (we have our own doppler for the birth)

i've gotta doula (who is also a hypnotherapist) a birth pool and ball etc. at 35 weeks ive still not found out if the community midwives are willing to come out to me *sigh* but i will try my best to UBAC if they dig their heels in.

i think it's just that in my mind i picture a beautiful quiet gentle loving birth at home, and i worry that her peresentation alone may change that and it'll end up being a screaming nightmare haha. i have blind faith that i could birth this baby like shelling a pea if she was OA. seriously it's like like and dark in my mind.... OA=she'll "fall out" and OP = i'll struggle for hours and have to cs

wondering why it's so important really. can position matter THAT much *sigh*

and thank you ZOEBIRD i think a lot of what i need is just to hear ""i birthed my posterior baby and it felt wonderful" hehe cuz that's what i want

[lotusma]

posterior arrest because you got "stuck" for a couple hours at 5 cms w/ your *first* baby? i see nothing unusual at all about that scenario. baby going into distress due to pit is another one entirely. (unless i'm missing something)

posterior presentation is just a variation of normal and i've seen many successful ones at home. it sounds to me like you were a victim of hospital management, not "posterior arrest". jmo from what you've given in your post.

hugs mama. wishing you a positive, healing birth.

[teamsalem]

I've had two posterior labors. I'm now 39 weeks with this one and she has been persistently posterior up until this week. She finally turned. I saw a chiropractor and he did something similar to the Webster technique and it seemed to make a difference for me. Took 2-3 adjustments. Maybe check out a chiro near you?

If she is posterior in labor, definitely try an upright or hands and knees position as the others have suggested.

[theycallmemom]

4 of my 6 births were posterior, the other 2 started posterior but turned during labor. I prefer hands and knees position, the ctx are much more bearable and I feel like I have more control over the labor(until the last couple ctx, but then the baby comes) ;-) My first was in the hospital, but was a threatened c/s, ended iwth a vac extraction and a huge hickie on her head My last ended up being in the hospital(with my very first epidural, a very bad choice made out of fear during a panic attack, but I won't go into the details) he was posterior and face presentation. The midwife I interviewed the other day said that is considered a for sure c/s. I had no problems pushing him out, but it does explain the labor that was stop and go for weeks on end.

I've never been succesful turning a posterior baby for long during pg, although I tried everything, and never recline. But my body just does it that way, I guess. Like a previous poster said, posterior is just another variation of normal. If you spend lots of time on hands and knees during labor, the baby is likely to turn even then.

[softeemommapads]

Ive had two boys and prego with the 3rd child (girl) both boys were born posterior and in a hospital on my back. The 3rd will obviously and hopefully be born at home unassisted. She has been posterior most of the time. She likes to tease me and turn every once in a while. Which I think is only to help me dilate a little and then turns back. She is comfortable there and I am ok with that. Im 37w4d and due sept 20th but started "preterm labor" at 33 weeks. Im not too worried though. Ive never had anything BUT posterior babies. I think if I had one in the "normal" position I probably wouldnt be able to tell she was coming til her head was falling out lol.
Just know its very possible and very safe. Just not the "ideal" way to birth a baby. It takes more work, longer hours(sometimes), and it CAN be more painful. Try getting the hypnobirthing book and talking to your baby about turning. Then become comfortable with it if he or she does decide to stay posterior for birth Good luck momma! Stay positive!

[MsBlack]

"posterior arrest", my hind foot!

While 35 wks is far too early to worry about baby's position for birth, IMO--it is not too early to start clearing your fear by clearing your mind of such terms as 'posterior arrest'. Some labors reach a necessary plateau, for an hour or several hours; this is not 'arrest', but it may be 'a rest' of sorts. A time in which you and your baby are working toward necessary shifts, necessary negotiations of baby through the pelvis...the progress is not perceivable by outside observers--especially if they have undue fear of alternate positions of babies and the variations of normal labor. Your last birth is unlikely to have any bearing on this one--if you can clear your mind of the false terminology, AND avoid all the interventions. During labor, if you can keep yourself fed, hydrated, peeing, moving/positioning yourself according to your own instincts, and resting as needed, you will find that you have the energy and patience to work with your labor, and your baby, JUST FINE toward a normal birth.

For some women, the shape of their pelvis necessitates the baby entering it in the OP position--just a variation of normal. Some babies continue through the pelvis in OP, some turn at some point. You are already doing much to give yourself and baby every advantage as you approach labor day...you might add chiropractic or cranial-sacral therapy. Otherwise, what you can do for your mind, and your fear, is release the negative terminology about your first birth that was taught to you by those who do not have a very clear understanding of birth--and always a little too ready to 'rescue' moms/babies needlessly.

The one thing you mentioned that I want to 'discourage' in you, is your idea that you may need to stimulate labor somehow. Your baby and your body are perfectly capable of monitoring and administering the exactly proper amount of needed stimulation of contrax If labor is slow, or you encounter periods of contrax 'backing off', then try to see this as normal for you/baby. There is rarely a need to stimulate contrax--remember, 'a rest', NOT 'arrest'! It can be a very good thing for mom/baby for labor to slow down for awhile--use that time to eat, drink, pee, rest, position/move as you feel like--and trust that labor will pick up again in due course. I've seen this several times now. You and your baby know just how to do this dance...even if you don't know you know! Trust yourself and your baby, trust birth to know what it's doing for you both.

[corban's mum]

yup i agree MSBLACK, i've been spending some time meditating on my own affirmations and relaxing into the concept that even if labour takes days of stopping and starting it's only because that is what needs to be done, and my body knows it. so im not going to fight with it, try speeding it up or interfere with hospital interventions. im just going to stay home (or go for a walk if i feel like it) and let my body do what it's gotta do. it was fighting it and forcing it that ruined my last labour - i mean seriously i was sectioned after only 11 hours in labour for failure to progress with a first baby, because apparently that's a LONG labour....*sigh* (he started flooding meconium shortly after i was prescribed the section - but before it actually happened...i wonder if he knew what was about to happen poor love!)

i just needed some positivity from outside sources, as apart from my hypnotherapist, the only people around me who i can talk to about it are either MW's who just tell me i'll have to push really hard and it's gonna hurt, or my DH/Friends who dont really know much on the subject. and thanks to you mamas i've started to find my way, i just needed a boot up the butt to calm me down IYKWIM lol

[Ish'smom]

My first baby was born in the hospital and was persistantly posterior, I had severe back labor, an arrest for only two hours and was threatened into an epidural and then was on my back for the rest but I was able to push my boy out posterior with a little help from the doctor's hands when his chin got stuck on my pubic bone(he came out posterior)

It sounds like your fear is just a fear of this birth being the same as your last, which is common when you have had a traumatic birth experience. Just keep doing the things you can do to lessen your chances of that happening, make a good list of what you will do in all of the possible difficult situations that could arise(back labor, long labor, arrest of labor, Etc.) Then just let it all go and relax. It doesn't matter what you do or how this labor plays itself out. It will not be the same labor as your last. This is a different baby, you are a different woman and you will be in a different place with more choices and options to choose.
This will be the labor and birth that you and your baby will need.
As long as you and baby are well you can get through any labor regardless of the difficulties. At the same time, my second labor was a quick intnse labor but a peice of cake compared to the first. I had similar fears beforehand because my baby was persistantly breach until about 36 weeks at least.

Sending you wonderful birth vibes

[corban's mum]

thanks Ish'smom

kinda what i need to hear - that im not gonna have a repeat of what happened last time, that this baby is her own person with her own destiny and we'll figure it out together when the time comes (soon please hehe im desperate to meet this little one!)

it's funny - that although im VBAC i really have no serious concern at all about rupture, i think it's hyped up, the statistics show it's a very small risk and i have faith that since it's been nearly 6 years since my cs and i over-heal whenever im operated on that i think it'd have a tough time re-opening lol *fingers crossed*

at the beginning of pg i was sure i'd be worried about it but im not at all - just all the normal standard birth worries hehe wonderful

[paxye]

Three of mine have been posterior and there was nothing that would change it... like you, I was a bit obsessed and tried and tried, especially with dd, but she was always back to her normal position...

With all three, they turned in labour, right at the end and were born within minutes of turning...