Malpresentation Help Please

[roseq]

My friend is 36w with her second

Her baby is engaged, head down, but has it's hand and foot on either side of it's head. She is 3 cm and 50% effaced (although I know that doesn't mean too much). Her doctor (she's in CA) is telling her she wants to schedule a c/s.

How can she encourage baby to move, and can she birth vaginally this way?

[cathicog]

The hand could easily move before labor, and so could the foot. Since this is her second, then there is more room to move than there was with the first, generally...a c/s for that???? Some compound presentations, like mentum anterior(chin jutting out facing forward) would probably require it, but something like the baby's leg sticking straight up(extended) would most likely move and bend at the knee long before labor begins. Sounds like doc is making a play for unnecessary surgery....suggest she spend 15 min 2 or 3 times a day on her hands and knees, it will help her belly hang downward a little and give the baby more space to bend his knee. I bet this was seen on an U/S, wasn't it? Well, lots can happen before labor starts....

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Well, *I* would probably switch practices for such a suggestion but I have noticed that a lot of women are remarkably unwilling to do that even when it might mean avoiding unnecessary surgery. It's odd.

[kate3]

At 36 weeks there is definitely time to move, and because it's not her first, there is most likely room to move. I think scheduling a c/s right now is jumping the gun, and I would take a wait and see approach.

I don't have any advice on getting the baby to move. My 3rd was a hand/arm along side the head presentation. We knew about it from sono but he never moved. I did have a vaginal delivery but it wasn't gentle or pretty. I had a severe shoulder dystocia, he was very bruised (and later very jaundiced), and had a brachial plexus injury which thankfully resolved. We had all assumed he moved but when he got stuck we realized that the malpresentation of the arm was the problem.

[ZoeyZoo]

I would check out the website www.spinningbabies.com It should give some ideas on how to turn the baby.

I have seen recommendations on this board for chiropractic care and acupuncture too. My MW highly recommends belly dance for positioning issues. There are a number of beginning videos on the market and many video stores and netflix carry them.

[memiles]

My secret recommendation for situations like these is a variation of hands and knees. With mama in the hands and knees position on a bed, she spreads her knees wide and lowers her chest to the bed-butt as high as possible, chest as low as she can go. Staying there for at least 20 minutes gives the baby both a gravitational help off of the cervix and opens her pelvis to give babies in funky positions some wiggle room. After the 20-30 minutes here, roll onto the left side with the top knee as high as possible, so mama is almost rolling onto her belly.

I've seen this change the position of babes in quite a few funky positions, including a hand presentation. It can be done prior to labor, or even in labor itself.

Scheduling surgical birth for something like this makes me so angry! Babies move all the freaking time, but some OB's act like they are little statues only to be rescued by their mighty scalple.

Sigh.