How can you tell the baby's position?

[Storm Bride]

I'm about 34 weeks pregnant (I think...I don't seem to be tracking this one very well). I've had two c-sections and am intending to VBA2C. My OB has been fairly supportive (more so than my family doctor, actually). But, he doesn't want to try the VBA2C if the baby is breech. Both of my other children were breech...one frank, and one footling.

Anyway...I'm going to be seeing him on the 1st and he'll be arranging a u/s to check the baby's position. If baby's breech, he wants to go ahead and schedule a section. (I think I may push to wait until labour starts - I laboured with ds, and I think it positively affected b/f.) But, in the meantime, I've been trying the breech tilt to get baby to turn, because I thought his/her head was up by my belly button.

At my prenatal appointment on Wednesday, the doctor said she thinks baby's head is down in the correct position, but she's not sure. How can you tell?? Could what I thought was the head actually be the bottom of the spine and the bum? Any helpful hints?

[MamanFrancaise]

http://www.spinningbabies.com/BellyMapping.html

[mightymoo]

Yes, the bum can feel very much like a head. My babies have always been head down from the getgo, so I don't know much about telling breech for vertex, but I know that I have a head down baby with a big lump at the top that if I didn't know better I would say feels like a head at times.

[mwherbs]

when you push on a head the head moves when you push on a bottom the whole baby moves
the head is next to the shoulders and neck so you feel for them as well
hard to feel babies that are posterior

[Storm Bride]

Thanks, ladies!

But, now I'm more confused than ever...the "lump" seems to be bigger and wider than it was even a couple days ago. If this is a bum and lower back, I feel sorry for this baby! I'm quite sure now that it's not a head, though...I just can't tell what it is. It almost feels as though the baby is turned with its spine outward (toward my belly), but sideways, not head down. Although...maybe not...if the baby is vertex, can you feel the head? Baby seems to just...curve inward under my navel, then disappear.

[flapjack]

It's possible baby is head down, but posterior- and so what you're feeling is the shin bones, thigh and bottom. It's also possible that baby is currently transverse, which means s/he is probably on their way into a nice birthing position.

[OnTheFence]

This is my first perfectly vertex baby, and I don't see how you wouldn't know. After having two malpositioned babies in pregnancy, I FEEL a difference. My bottom feels like a bowling ball is about to fall out. I have to go pee about every 20-30 minutes. Movement is definitely different than with the other two, and I look different.

I feel like I am going to split open any day now!

[Storm Bride]

My babies have all been vertex at some points during my last few weeks. I don't really remember very much about how I felt physically towards the end of my last two pregnancies, though. I just remember it was very difficult to walk. And, I know I had a lot of strain in the groin area with dd, for about three weeks. Looking back, it did ease up, and that was just before I was told that she'd turned.

My belly is more forward and...don't know how to describe it, really. I look more pregnant and less like I'm just fat than I did with my other two. And, I don't have to pee every 20-30 minutes, but I feel as though I do! (I think I have a bladder the size of an almond.) Dh and I were out walking yesterday morning, and every time I put my weight on my right foot (not as pronounced with my left), I felt as though something was going to push the middle of my pelvis apart - right up near the clitoris (sorry if that TMI!). It didn't feel quite like what people with vertex babies describe, but it was very pronounced pressure...

Oh, well - I really can't pin down what I'm feeling. I wish I'd paid more attention to where my doctor picked up the heartbeat. I haven't been able to isolate enough to use the belly-mapping on spinningbabies.

[MamanFrancaise]

every time I put my weight on my right foot (not as pronounced with my left), I felt as though something was going to push the middle of my pelvis apart - right up near the clitoris (sorry if that TMI!). It didn't feel quite like what people with vertex babies describe, but it was very pronounced pressure...

Ohh I can so realate!! Down to the letter of those sentences. OUCH!! My baby is posterior, head down with his/her back switching from left to right (all the way across...this one's an acrobat!).

[Storm Bride]

Your due date is very close to mine!
Well...I think this baby probably is head down, but I don't think its position is the best. Maybe it will turn...I'll try some of the positioning exercises, but I won't do any more tilts. My kids are all acrobats...dd turned breech in the last week or so, and she was over 10lbs. My son turned breech during labour.

I don't know why my babies hate being head down so much!

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by OnTheFence

This is my first perfectly vertex baby, and I don't see how you wouldn't know. After having two malpositioned babies in pregnancy, I FEEL a difference. My bottom feels like a bowling ball is about to fall out. I have to go pee about every 20-30 minutes. Movement is definitely different than with the other two, and I look different.

I feel like I am going to split open any day now!

My babies have all been vertex and I never felt any pressure on my bottom part. Nor have I ever felt the bowling ball thing people talk about. My babies just stay really high up until labor, so it isn't always that obvious.

I think mine has flipped head down this week too, but It is all over the place so it's hard for me to pinpoint what is going on.

[Storm Bride]

That's what I don't have - the bowling ball thing. But, I definitely have the splitting pressure, at least when I walk. I'm taking it as a good sign. I'm not going to push for a VBA2C if this baby's breech, but I'm really hoping!