What part of your belly does your babe camp out in?

[Taedareth]

Mine seems to wind itself into a dense little ball and wedge itself just above my left hip. Ugh. lol... The whole rest of my belly is soft and squishy when pressed on but that one spot is a hard little lump of baby :LOL

When do babies turn head-down anyway? I'm thinking this one is still transverse.

[camprunner]

hmmm, I'm thinking my baby just takes up the whole thing! It's butt is in my right ribs according to my midwife and as of yesterday it's feet were at my left hip with it head pretty much center in the pelvis (not engaged). But this morning I was feeling those same kicks at my right hip. It's elbows are usually poking me in the belly button.

[judybean]

This babe is still EVERYWHERE!! For a while it seemed like he/she was camping out Right On Top of my cervix and punching or kicking there regularly. Now, I've got a little equal opportunity puncher/kicker and will often get pokes on both sides of my belly at the same time.

I'm not really sure when babies finally 'turn' (and hopefully for good).

[bucaye]

My babe is camped out head down and his bum is on my right side. Feet and knees are everywhere!! Hands/fists are in my cervix a lot, but that's ok. He's head down and I think anterior!!! Let's keep it that way . . .

[Geofizz]

ROA here, too. He's been like that for several weeks now, but would pop up transverse everytime I rode my bike ----- no more biking for me. At this point, I think that's where he's going to stay. He's just not a flipper like my dd was.

DD was transverse up until 34ish weeks, and she finally turned head down after 10 days of breech tilt 4 times a day for 15 minutes at a time.

To figure out position, find the head. The head is about softball size (I'm 31 weeks now) and very round. If you push on it, it'll flex away and pop back. If you doubt that you've got the head, it's probably tush. From the head, you should be able to trace along the back to the tush, and the guess at orientation based on punches and kicks.

[IncaMama]

well, like i said in the other thread she's constantly pushing some random small appendage straight out through my belly button. it's so bizarre. my actual belly button is sticking out WAY more than it ever did with DS. the rest of the time, she seems to prefer my right side...kicks happen toward my ribs (thanks)...but then of course there are times when she's doing the opposite so who knows?? LOL

[girrllie]

Mine is head down, but he/she rolls from side to side. She was on the left forever and then I felt her move to the right and then posterior one night and spent the whole night freaking out - couldn't sleep - putting tushie in the air at 4 a.m. She went back to the left after that night (whew!). But now she still moves around - left - right - and sometimes posterior (ugh).

I decided not to freak out about it though. To encourage her to be on the left anterior, to accept a right anterior and to try to just relax through any posterior positioning. Around 34 weeks I'll get much more serious about all the left anterior positioning. DD was born by cesarean mainly b/c she was posterior and the mw missed it - led to all kinds of intervention - and ultimately I couldn't push her out. I WILL be having a VBAC, so it's a big, big deal to me to not enter labor with a posterior positioned baby.

[littleteapot]

Low.
Always, always, always low. He has NEVER been high up.
Right now I'm pretty sure he's butt down and favouring my right side, facing posterior. His head is just barely below my ribs and when I lean over far I'm stopped by it. ALL movement (save for one movement last night, and one today) has been down into my pelvis/rectal/cervical/hip area except those two subtle swishes just recently.

[Spark]

Head waaaaaaaay down. I can feel it if I check my cervix (through the vaginal wall, not through the cervix, FYI). Wendy, it's so low, I can't feel the head anymore through belly palpation. ALthough the babe does float up sometimes.

Baby flips from side to side depending on whatever moves him/her. If I sleep on my left side ala www.spinningbabies.com then he/she goes LOA... if I sleep on my right he/she goes ROA. Still must be too small to pick Left or Right.

Kicks -- arms down LOW oooh. Legs in the ribs.

[witchbaby]

q's been headdown for awhile, just like his/her sister was (k was headdown from about 20 weeks on, only turning transverse for a couple hours around 37 weeks). butt is usually up under my ribs on the left side with feet in my ribs on the right. i had a fist under my navel the other day!

[raspberryswirl]

I feel really stupid 'cuz I have NO idea! :( I just tried palpating my stomach (looking for the head like geofizz suggested) and it all feels the same to me. I mean, it all feels hard (which I guess is the uterus) and the movement is all over the place- high, low, left, right......so I have no idea. I'm so envious of you mamas that are so well-tuned in.

btw- one of my books says that by week 35 the baby has generally settled head-down but that it may still make a few more flip-flops b/f labor begins.

[Geofizz]

I feel really stupid 'cuz I have NO idea! :( I just tried palpating my stomach (looking for the head like geofizz suggested) and it all feels the same to me. I mean, it all feels hard (which I guess is the uterus) and the movement is all over the place- high, low, left, right......so I have no idea. I'm so envious of you mamas that are so well-tuned in.

It takes a lot of practice. Lie on your back and keep your head back. If you pick up your head at all (to see what you're doing) you end up contracting your stomach muscles, making it a lot harder. Look at the ceiling and trust your hands to feel things.

[StarCat]

Unfortunately, right now I have a little head stuck right up under my right rib. I get little kicks on my left side (arms?) and kinda low in the pelvis on the left as well. she flips sideways a lot, too, with her back down and feet in my left side. Its really uncomfortable when she gets in a totally breech position and lodges her head under the rib area. We're working on doing the spinning babies techniques, though, so I am hoping she'll settle into a nice head down position soon.

[girrllie]

I feel really stupid 'cuz I have NO idea!

Don't feel stupid. I had no idea with DD. Could never figure out what was what. It's taken me years of practice (due to teaching prenatal yoga) and tons of reading and picturing and even drawing on my belly to finally feel comfortable with figuring out the position. The spinningbabies.com website was finally what did it for me. They just explain it so well. Even now though sometimes I'm not sure - it's more instinct and also learning to recognize certain feelings.

For example, when I have rib pain on the right, then that usually means he/she is hanging out on the right and is either posterior or anterior, depending on where I feel movement. Posterior - all over. Anterior - movement on the left side of my belly.

[MistyB]

I think her butt is pretty firmly planted in my pelvis. She is flipping from the right to the left but staying mostly butt down and was still that way yesterday at my appoinment. I have been trying to do everything right position wise but still...

I will work on it more over the next 3 weeks and then start looking at options to MAKE her flip if she does not voluntarily cooperate. ; )

[raspberryswirl]

Thank you Geofizz and girrllie for the encouragement :)

I have taken a look at the spinning website and I will keep trying. Hopefully it will be more obvious when I'm further along.

[DesireeH]

head down with her butt on the left upper side but sometimes I see her sticking it out on the other side too. LOL She always kicks way up high. The other day I had a bowl of tomato soup resting on my stomach and she was trying to kick it off. LOL

[Minnow_]

I can't figure out what my baby's doing. It seems to be mostly on the right side. Right now it seems like I can feel 3 main bumps - one centered about an inch to the left and and inch above my belly button, one about the same height but over by my right ribs, and another one on the right, lower down. Head, bottom, and feet? A two-headed baby, or worse, one with two butts? :mischief I just don't know.

It is still changing position a lot, though. Last night my belly skin looked just like a blanket thrown over a dog, with the dog trying to get out (not that I play this game with my dog...)

[PatchPixie]

So, I was pretty clueless as to what position my little Finn was in, but my midwife today helped me figure it out :) Her head is down near my pelvis - it was wild to press firmly and feel her wee lil head - but SO cool! I am pretty gentle with my belly - but my midwife guided my hands and had me really feel where she was. Her little bum is on my left side - but she still has wiggle room and I'm pretty sure she is still shakin her ass from side to side. It is so funny when she sticks her tush out ;)

[birthjunkie27]

At my Dr. appt yesterday my Dr. (a very gentle female who also happens to be a doula, AND just had her own homebirth last year) helped me figure out what was what....I had NO clue. She said baby is head down and will most likely stay that way, so I'm assuming the bulgy thing that I thought was the head (poking out on my sides) is the baby's butt. She also helped me feel a foot! It was SO cool. I could feel the foot and the whole leg. She said with subsequent babies it gets easier to feel for body parts cause the muscles and everything are so stretchy.