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Question about placenta position!

464 views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  3cuties 
#1 ·
Hey there ladies! I read alot here, post occasionally, and am planning a homebirth with number 4 in August. I have had 2 csections. So this is really a hba2c.

Anyways, I am 18 weeks and just not feeling good kicks. WIth my first (twins) I didnt feel anything till 24 weeks, but I didnt really know what I was looking for. With Joshua I started to feel him around 16 weeks. Now I am feeling something here, but not KICKS. So I was wonderings if my placenta could be implanted in the front instead of the back. And if it is, can I still have a homebirth? My midwife doesnt plan on a US for me. I am just SO scared I am not going to get the birth I have been dreaming of and end up in the awful OR AGAIN (which btw, if it did happen, I will end up trying AGAIN for a hba3c, and so on and so forth until I push a baby out of my vagina!) Anyways, anyone have any words of wisdom!?
 
#2 ·
i think the only concern with having the placenta in the front is because you have had 2 c-sections already, there's a possibility of placenta percreta (where the placenta invades the muscle layer of the uterus) but i think it is only associated with single-layer repair of the cesarean incision. it's pretty rare. if you know if yours were repaired this way or not that would be of benefit. i don't think having the placenta in the front would automatically rule out a homebirth, though.
 
#4 ·
This is why my midwife had me get one ultrasound, just to make sure my placenta was not attatched to the scar, which can be lifethreatening... Other than that, it should not matter if it is attatched to the front or back... just as long as it's not attatched to the scar.

Good luck! I'm also HBACing.
 
#5 ·
I have an anterior (in front) placenta and it did make the sensations of movement different than my other pregnancies. I started feeling "something" around 18 weeks...not flutters, not kicks...just something. The placenta placement has made it a little more difficult to hear clear fetal heartbeats at times, but my mw's are very patient and creative. They are willing to try many different positions and techniques before they 'give up" on listening...and every time they find it loud and clear eventually. This is certainly the kind of difficulty that could scare off a traditional OB...my mw visits are two hours long, i'm sure my OB would not be wiling to put in 3 minutes finding a heart tone, let alone the 10-15 minutes the mw's will invest!

Now, we did have a 20 week u/s to assess whether placenta accreta, previa or other implantation issues were present since i had a c/s with first pregnancy. But i did this when i was still seeing my OB/CNM team who i subsequently fired for bungling another issue...so i'm not sure if this issue would have been addressed with my hb mw's or not. I think that they would have listened for blood flow in the placenta to determine whether it was high enough from my c/s scar.

The issue for me with my anterior placenta is that the baby wants to face the placenta...which makes her an OP presentation for birth unless she wiggles to a better position for the actual birth (i'm due in 2 days!)

So, on the whole, i'd say that an anterior placenta is not a big deal--clearly your risk of an implantation issue is higher b/c of c/s history...but it is not a given. I'm sure that checking on it, either through the use of the fetoscope , Doppler, or a u/s would make you feel better...i'd work my way up to that though since having the u/s could lead you to be worried about all new issues you hadn't even thought of! (That's what happened to me...it is like they fabricated a bunch of problems to keep me coming back for more and more test...all the test always came back negative...and finally i just said "enough" and chose hb instead!)

There was an earlier thread about anterior placenta issues...it might have some more info for you to check on, too. Hope this takes you to it: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=835897
 
#6 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by DoulaJulian View Post
The issue for me with my anterior placenta is that the baby wants to face the placenta...which makes her an OP presentation for birth unless she wiggles to a better position for the actual birth (i'm due in 2 days!)


Sorry to hijack and this is off topic -- have you seen a chiro and gone to spinningbabies.com? I highly recommend it. My placenta is always anterior (this is my 4th pregnancy) and my previous three pregnancies my babies were posterior positioned, so I assume the same for this one too. My third, I turned the baby (or I think *I* did
) with the help of exercises and a chiro.
Good luck with your labor!
 
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