[mamada]

At my midwives appointment this week I was told that baby is head-down, but posterior. They recommended I check out spinningbabies.com if I wanted to do something to try and turn the babe. I'm not too worried about it, I know that baby is always moving around and will change position lots between now and birth, but I still have some specific questions about the stuff mentioned on spinningbabies.

The first is, should I still do the exercises to help my muscles and ligaments relax (e.g. hoola-hooping wide circles on an exercise ball) if this is my second baby? I would think that the muscles/ligaments would have some memory of how to relax for this babe (I had a relatively easy birth the first time around).

The second question is, when I am on all fours (letting my belly point straight down), how long should I keep this position? I am wondering how long I should be doing this per day.

Thanks in advance!

 

[melissakc]

My DD was posterior, and I am doing everything I can think of to avoid it the second time around. Labor is extremely difficult with a posterior baby. To me, it felt like I was being ripped in half in my lower back, or chiseled with a chainsaw, or both. I think at one point my head started spinning around like in The Exorcist. I didn't take it seriously enough the first time (and I'm a prenatal yoga instructor and should have known better), but I sure am now that I know what the fuss is all about!

I would do the hula-hooping. Your muscles and ligaments have stretched before, but it can't hurt to get them in shape again or even more.

On all fours doing cat/cow (which is what we call it in yoga, can't remember what they call it on spinningbabies.com), I would do a gentle series of going back and forth, maybe 10 breaths, one breath per direction. I would do it several times a day. You can't do too much of that, that's for sure. I always do it before I go to bed at night and whenever my back is talking to me.

Other things I am doing are...

1. The recliner is off-limits in the third trimester. I bought a bean bag chair and will either sit in that (facing forward, kinda leaning into it, not reclining!) or sit on the floor. I'm also not going to be lying on the couch unless I'm on my side.

2. I bought an orthopedic wedge for the seat in my car so my pelvis is in correct alignment while I drive. Most cars have bucket seats, which are just awful for spinal alignment.

3. I'm going to ask my MW to palpate for posterior/anterior position and see a chiropractor if I find out the baby is posterior. There is a great one near me who is trained to deal with pregnancy and knows how to get babies to turn around.

4. I'm going to do cat/cow a lot!

HTH!

 

[AbbieB]

I had a position baby last time around (sat at a desk job all day, 1 hour each way commute in bucket seats, loved to recline).

Needless to say I am devoted to spinning babies this time around. Back labor was rough!

I'm 27 weeks and my baby is flip-flopping like crazy. Whenever I try a spinning babies suggestion I can usually get the little one to get into a good position. So based on this I recommend it.

The above post has great suggestions, and is much more articulate about it than I would be.

I recommend letting your belly be a hammock for baby as much as you can. Weather it be on all fours, or my favorite leaning on the back of the couch or on the counter and just letting everything relax. It works almost every time for me. I do it a couple of times a day (especially when my belly feels tight or the baby seems to be trying to turn breech) and I hold it until I feel relaxed (maybe 5 minutes tops).

Today I did a few laps of breast stroke/frog kick at the pool and that really helped too (not to mention ahhhh, cool water to float in). I was with my 3 year old so I just grabbed a noodle to float with and kicked along side of her while she did her thing.

I also wanted to mention that getting on all fours in labor really helped me get DD to rotate. (It took me 40 hours to realize it and actually try that position but only a few contractions for it to work.) I also read about a maneuver your midwife or other helper could try in labor. Have the helper person stand behind you and gently lift your belly during a contraction to help the baby turn. Check out MidwiferyToday.com for more on this maneuver.

 

[mamada]

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I will definitely get into the cat/cow/belly-down position as much as possible these days. I'm also doing a lot of visualization so hopefully that'll help too!