How do you know what position the baby is in w/o a sono?

[TheDivineMrsM]

I'm 33 weeks and *think* the baby is head-down. I keep feeling movement/kicks between my navel and bust; I feel hiccups much lower. My MW said I don't need additional ultrasounds, which I'm fine with, but... how do I know for sure that the baby isn't breech/transverse/other random position?

[nova22]

If the baby is transverse at this point, you'll probably know it. I feel like I'm pregnant with a log when the baby lays that way and the movements are uncomfortable or painful.

When I lay on my back and feel around above my pelvic bone, I feel a very distinct head shape when the baby is head-down.

[MaerynPearl]

if you have a mw she is probably pretty well trained at external palpitation to check babys position. most can spot a not-head-down baby pretty fast (by 36 weeks they checked every appointment for her head just above my pubic bone)

[Qbear'smama]

Last week my MW was able to figure out that my wee one is head up, she showed me how the head feels different than the bum so she could tell the big lump up top was head and not bum. I'm confident in her ability to figure it out but if she decided that he was head up past a certain point, we would probably have another US because we'd have to consult with an OB about a breech birth.

[WifeofAnt]

I can't feel a head or a bum (I think he's posterior) but its getting to where I can distinguish kicks from punches. The kicks point forward and up, the punches are around my bladder. When he has hiccups they are in the lower half. I can tell pretty quickly when he turns breech because I'll start feeling the hiccups very high.

[outlier]

Besides palpitation, I was also able to narrow down where baby's chest was by listening with my fetoscope those last few months. A heartbeat low down near my pubic bone meant that the hard lump up past my belly button was a butt and not a head.

[Dichotomy]

Im not certain on distinguishing parts either!

I could have sworn that the big lump I was feeling was baby's head...but my midwife has verified that she has been head down at pretty much every visit. Most of the kicks Im feeling are at or just above belly button level, so I suppose that would make sense.

So I have no idea how they do it either....but they have way more experience than I do at this sorta thing!

[WifeofAnt]

I LOVE this little position wheel: http://www.spinningbabies.com/images...-rose-wroa.jpg

I think mine is ROP right now and keeping his hands near his face (like he did at his anatomy ultrasound).

[luckiest]

The baby mapping stuff on spinningbabies.com (the link in the above post), is fantastic for figuring it out. I know my baby is head down, back along the front right side of my belly. I get little nudges low down around my pubic bone (hand movements/punches), big kicks up high on the left side, the right side feels decidedly more firm (baby's back), and every now and then I get a big lump out in front of my ribs on the right side (baby's butt). I also feel hiccups way way down low and the midwife finds the heartbeat easiest down below my navel.

[TheDivineMrsM]

Thanks ladies. I can't tell a head from a butt, and wasn't sure how anyone else could either. Where I live, a breech presentation is almost automatically a c-section, and I'd like to avoid that at all costs.