Positions/Belly Mapping « Back to Group Discussions

[wildmansmom]

So I've seen several people discussing positions and I'm not that familiar other than posterior babies and back labor. 

My first was in an odd position, but not true posterior.  It was more like he was at a 45 degree angle.

Anyway... I looked at spinning babies and I think DD just rotated to LOT or close to it, but I don't know for sure. 

Is position that big of a deal for labor?

[MPsSweetie]

I've been reading about this also. I just knew my last baby was off, I could feel him by my hip. So I spent some time working on positioning.
I think this one is pretty close to facing my front and I'm wondering if that's why I'm having ctx so close together but no progress. I've been on hands and knees a LOT.
I also tried some stuff to help him engage.

[storygirlcindy]

If I remember right from my own extensive spinningbabies reading, LOT is a great position for labor! They tend to rotate LOA pretty quickly. (If I'm remembering right.)

My babe is the queen of the strange positions. She has a pronounced aversion to the left side of my uterus and will never venture over there... she spends most of her time in ROP or ROT with the occasional foray into regular old OP (only still on the right side of my uterus, LOL). And this is after months of positioning. At this point, I've resigned myself to a longer birthing with back labor and stalls, cause for some reason that's just how this little girl seems to like to roll!

[wildmansmom]

thanks. i cant remember where ds was exactly but i know they had to cut me so the ob could turn him and get him through my pelvis.

im glad it is a good position but after having her butt out and all the kicks in the placenta this LO who I thought was quiet and sweet is proving just as active as her brother. I really want to sleep and she is having a dance party!

[storygirlcindy]

Oh man, me too! My little girl is big enough you'd think she wouldn't be able to move much anymore (although I do have extra fluid, which helps her in that!), but I swear, she's been more active than ever for the last week. Last night she was dancing for at least a solid 30 minutes while I was trying to sleep. Crazy kid! She is going to be a big birth weight baby (no surprise, runs in both mine and DH's family history!), but it would not surprise me if she ends up being one of those babes who never gains weight after birth because she's in constant motion!

[Meggsy]

As far as I know, LOT puts you at risk for posterior (i.e. sunnyside up). But you can encourage the baby to go anterior by sitting with pelvis in a good position, not lounging back on the couch (i.e. tilting your pelvis), and by doing cat/cows on your hands and knees, lunges, and breast stroke. The more you find ways to open your pelvis the better it is for baby position.

[storygirlcindy]

I just went back and checked it again on spinningbabies - here is her thing on OT babies:

http://www.spinningbabies.com/baby-positions/all-positions/right-occiput-transverse

From that, it seems to indicate that the ROT baby is likely to rotate posterior, while the LOT baby is more likely to rotate anterior. I could have interpreted that wrong, though. ;) I just know I was really excited for the 10 whole minutes my little girl actually spent on my left side (....MONTHS ago!), because I knew that all the right-sided positions probably meant a harder labor, LOL.

[SlimP]

Like you StoryGirlCindy, my LO has an aversion to the left side of my uterus, unless he's kicking it away from him, despite my trying to encourage him into a more favourable position. From what I gather too, babies in an ROA or ROT position will likely turn posterior as they usually spin clockwise, making it a 270 degree rotation instead of just 90 if they spun anti-clockwise. So makes for a longer labour that often stalls Perhaps though, there is a reason our babies have assumed this position, like we may have tilted pelvises or an anterior placenta that influences this. If babies don't turn, we still could experience a fast and easy labour in some cases.
I've started homeopathic Kali Carb however...just to encourage the more usual exit position.

[wildmansmom]

Originally Posted by SlimP 

Like you StoryGirlCindy, my LO has an aversion to the left side of my uterus, unless he's kicking it away from him, despite my trying to encourage him into a more favourable position. From what I gather too, babies in an ROA or ROT position will likely turn posterior as they usually spin clockwise, making it a 270 degree rotation instead of just 90 if they spun anti-clockwise. So makes for a longer labour that often stalls Perhaps though, there is a reason our babies have assumed this position, like we may have tilted pelvises or an anterior placenta that influences this. If babies don't turn, we still could experience a fast and easy labour in some cases.
I've started homeopathic Kali Carb however...just to encourage the more usual exit position.

[wildmansmom]

On my phone...sorry!

I know I have a tilted pelvis from xrays done by my chiropractor years ago. A posterior rotation and long, stalled labor exactly described my first birth. I guess this time ill just try to encourage a good position and prepare for another long one!

[storygirlcindy]

I don't know for sure that I don't have a tilted pelvis, but I do know my placenta isn't anterior - it's one of the things that has puzzled me so much! It's apparently squarely in the back of my uterus right under my fundus. I HAVE started wondering, though, if it has something to do with my extra amniotic fluid. I have tons of it, and I can tell that I have an especially big and bulging pocket on the left side. Maybe she doesn't want to mess with that? ;) At this point I've done pretty much everything in my power to do, so I figure that if she continues to hang out the way she is, then it's just how things are meant to go. (It took me some time to feel that way though - you can see an older thread where I was freaking out about it!) Definitely odd, though! But it's been going on literally the whole pregnancy, so I guess she has SOME reason!

[nearlyelated]

I have a right loving baby too.  Although, despite babe pushing out on the right (what I assumed was a bum), at my last prenatal appointment, the midwife seemed to think the lump was knees or feet and that the back was actually at the front/left with head down.  Front left being mostly just left of my belly button, so still not taking up much room on that side, but I happy to to question it. We'll see what this week holds.

Last baby was in a bad position, I had an anterior placenta, and didn't pay much attention to positioning.  This time it's become almost obsessive.  I think the midwives think I'm weird when I ask for more details after they confirm baby is head down.  "Yeah, but where's the rest of the baby?"

[wildmansmom]

Originally Posted by nearlyelated 
 "Yeah, but where's the rest of the baby?"

I think what I feel to the right is knees and feet also, that's why I think she's now in LOT but I've been doing cat-cow and tailor sitting for the last 3 days and she hasn't budged! This baby is likely as stubborn as her mother.
 
 

Sometimes I wonder if it's really all that important.  As long as baby is head down they will come out eventually!

[nearlyelated]

No matter the position, the baby will come out eventually!  After having a c/s with my last due to poor positioning, I'm determined to do what I can to give the one every opportunity to get in a optimal position.

[storygirlcindy]

Yeah, every time I've had a growth ultrasound (I am high risk so have had them monthly since 20 weeks) the tech tells me the baby is head down and then I pester her with all these questions. "Which way is she facing? Where's her back?" etc. I've been pretty obsessive this pregnancy too, but am working on just being okay with what happens now. I can tell that pregnancy in general and this position thing in particular has brought out all my control/desire to "fix" things issues! I keep reminding myself that we will have the birth we are meant to have, and that after I've done everything I can, I have to let it go. Even if we were to end up in a c-section (my worst nightmare)... well... it wouldn't kill us. Luckily, I have a pretty good anti-CS weapon, since they are very contraindicated for my particular genetic disease. :) So my doctor has said he'd let me labor a lot longer than most women before going to CS.

ETA - Also - there was a link posted in the thread I brought up a week or two ago about baby positioning that made me feel a lot better about it all. It was by Henci Goer, and cited a study in which maternal positioning during pregnancy hadn't been shown to have a great effect on labor outcomes, but maternal positioning during LABOR had been shown to be extremely helpful in turning babies. So I figure, even if she's still in a less than ideal position going into labor, that's okay - I have a great chance of being able to be proactive during labor and getting her to turn.