Anyone had a back to back (OP position) Labour/Birth for first baby?

[catholicatheist]

Hi ladies..I really need to hear some experiences. I am currently 36 weeks pregnant and my little boy decided he wanted a change of view and turned and is now in a back to back position. I have tried everything to turn him (all fours birth ball etc) and he isnt budging. Can people tell me their experiences as I feel I may need to rethink my birth plan (had hoped for just gas and air) but now considering epidural if it is going to be really really painful and long.

My first (and second for that matter) was an OP baby. His labour took over two days, but to be honest it wasn't especially full-on until the last 12 hours. The first two days had plenty of painful contractions, but they were irregular and pretty bearable with a TENS machine/gas and air. Plenty of recovery time between each one.

Obviously he switched to the anterior at some point before he was born but came out with massive moulding on the top of his head- his head was banana shaped for a day or so. Midwife was brilliant but bloody consultant was exceedingly uncooperative throughout and kept using the "threat" of a C section as a way of trying to make me try harder. I'd really liked to have seen him squeeze a plum through his urethra before he felt qualified to stand at the foot of my bed threatening my like that. Baby weighed 8obs 12 oz when he finally emerged. Perfect condition.

My first baby was back to back. Through the NCT, I learned of a rocking chair (the Kneeler Rocker), designed by a midwife from New Zealand called Jean Sutton, which encouraged the baby to shift into the optimal position for birth. I hired the chair and dutifully sat in it a couple of times a day. One day, the baby did an enormous flip and turned round. A few days later, I had a straightforward labour that lasted only four hours. No pain relief required.

There is a website here which mentions Jean Sutton and gives a contact number. When I hired the chair, I had to go to her daughter in law's house to get it (somewhere near Twickenham - afraid i can't remember exactly where as this was 11 years' ago). I'm afraid the number quoted on the website is from 2000, but if it is no longer the right one, it might be worth phoning the NCT to see if they have a new contact number.

Good luck!

HMC thanks for that, I wasnt keen on pethadine as I have heard some bad things and on reading that it has put me off it more!

toffeefudgecake, thanks for that link..really interesting and I just read that having a placenta on the front wall often makes babies OP and guess what my placenta is anterior. I am feeling a little vindicated now that perhaps he isnt OP because I have been slouching back too much.

I had anterior placenta with my OP DC too.

If you can't get the chair, there are lots of suggestions by Jean Sutton here for encouraging the baby to turn.

I also had an anterior placenta with DS!

If I put a 'watch' on this thread, do you promise to update us in 4/5 weeks time re how it all went? Wishing you a good, positive labour!

ooh looks like there is a common link then. Bloody placenta..I knew that would cause trouble. I keep saying to DH (dont know if this is totally ridiculous) 'You must remember if I need an emergency C section that my placenta is on the front wall' ..I just have visions of them cutting and it bursting or something..probably totally irrational I know!

HMC yes I will update! I am going to be trying every trick in the book to get him out as soon as I hit 38 weeks as I am in way too much pain now and just want the whole ordeal over with. God if only getting them out could be as fun as putting them in hey!

re your last sentence. When I did a labour ward tour before my second delivery, I was talking to the MW about my fears after my first. I was in tears FGS. She was old school, and she said, quite seriously, that in her view "we get the fun, now we have to pay for it with the pain". WTF?! Methinks there's a slight overpayment there.

Yeah or that midwife was having some kind of orgasms the rest of us dont have! lol. Yeah I am thinking if that was the case I want my money back just in terms of the pregnancy!

And what about our DPs? Exactly how do they pay for their part in the fun? Do they carry the baby? No. Do they give birth? No. Do they breastfeed? No. Am I bitter? Too right!

Oh I said this on another post and some woman had a right go at me. My Dh says all he did was 'bring the raw materials on site'..and he gets an orgasm..what do we get...yeah its a pretty unfair deal it has to be said!

Hello,

My DD (first baby) was back to back. She did turn during labour - not sure at what point. 19 hours, but only in hospital for last five, I got to 7cm at home using a TENS and active birth techniques - I strongly recommend both for back to back to labour - do not be stationary whatever you do. Then I had 4 hours in pool (fantastic). Unfortunately contractions slowed so I had to get out and she was delivered using a ventouse - but it was not on for long and I only had a very small cut.

Okay, this is what I know about back to back labours.

They hurt more at the beginning and you might want gas and air very early or need whatever other pain relief techniques you have learned.

At 3cm you will think 'fuck this, I'd rather die than let it get any more painful. I want an epidural'.

If you are refused an epidural you will, in fact learn that this is as bad as it gets. The pain came early but doesn't get worse.

If you get an epidural, they will make you wait because you aren't much in established labour. You will panic and fret. When you get an epidural you will almost certainly be on a parth for assisted delivery of some kind because your baby now has no chance of turning.

If you can stay mobile, but more importantly upright and not panic at the 3cm hell, your body will turn your baby as you contract. Your labour might be a little bit longer because of this, but the less the interference, the more chance you have of your clever body sorting it all out.

hth

My DS was back to back and yes, the contractions hurt, but I coped fine in the birth pool with gas and air and got to fully dilated that way. (Problems then came in that he was stuck and ended up with forceps in theatre etc, but they give you pain relief for that stuff).

It does seem like back to back babies get stuck..which of course makes total sense due to the angle they are using. I just feel if he is potentially going to get stuck anyway I might as well have an epidural? I am so confused about what to do as I really dont want this birth to make me fearful of having another baby.

Also back to back. I had a classic persistent OP presentation, apparently. Contractions started on due date (registering on trace at hospital as 4 mins apart for half an hour) but went away again. Pattern continued like this until waters went at 40 + 12. Contractions never regularised so was induced. Managed pain well until about 5cm, then took epidural because I was really restricted in how much I could move about due to being induced.
14 hours from induction to delivery - 1 and a half hours pushing but he got stuck so had to be rushed to theatre and prepped for trial of forceps. They expected CS at that time as he was quite high but used rotational (Kielland's) forceps to get him out.

Kielland's forceps not so good, lots of pain afterwards and slow recovery. Shocked my baby so he didn't cry for a minute (but was fine.. just to warn you in case!). Rest of it AOK.

All's well that end's well.. I didn't give a toss about having had forceps when I had him, even though it was sore!

Oh, by the way, I never found the pain unmanageable really.. just knew I couldn't cope with a vag exam as was coping by breathing/being in my own space (sounds new agey but it really was my way of coping). I just felt that if someone was examining me I would lose it so I opted for epi.

I wasn't aware that my DS was back to back at the time - he had started off in the right position - but discussions with midwives have since confirmed that he likely ended up back to back...and my Mum and I concur that he was definitely facing upwards when he came out!

Apparently it was a typical back to back labour - waters broke dramatically and contractions started and continued in a half hearted fashion over a period of a couple of days until we reached the point that an induction was recommended because of the risk of infection.

The contractions felt very strange compared to how people usually describe them (i.e. no period type pain early on, no lower back pain later on) and I could not sit down comfortably so either had to be walking, on all fours, or lying on my side.

When we went back into hospital for the induction I had managed to dilate a couple of centimetres so they didn't bother with the pessary but put me straight onto the syntonicin (sp) drip at 5 p.m.

After a couple of hours I was feeling quite uncomfortable so the midwife offered me some gas and air. I enjoyed the G&A quite a lot and the next 5 hours were quite good fun and the pain manageable provided no-one talked to me during a contraction!

When I was about 8.5cm dilated I had the overwhelming urge to push (possibly because they had to up the syntonicin dose quite a lot to maintain regular contractions and possibly due to DS's position as well). It was pretty difficult not to push and I found this quite distressing.

When I finally became fully dilated I was very tired and kept falling asleep between contractions. In hindsight I wish I had just gone with the induction option earlier in the day and I might have had a bit more energy.

After 1.5 hours of pushing (and starting to wish someone would suggest a c-section) the senior midwife appeared and they put my legs in stirrups, told me to put the G&A down (I wasn't focussing enough) and sternly told me to push each time I had a contraction. This was just what I needed tbh and I managed to push DS a fair way down, the obstetrician then appeared to perform an episiotomy and ventouse and DS was born very quickly after that (8 hours after the drip had been started)! The sensation of the ventouse and the stitching afterwards were the most unpleasant parts and I did have some nightmares about it afterwards but I don't really remember the pain of it now (and DS2 is due in 4 weeks).

My motivation to not have an epidural was my fear of big needles!

oh gosh, that was long, sorry!

postive story!! both my ds were back to back. ds1 was born using gas and air in 4 hours and ds2 was born just using gas and air in 2.5 hours. mw had to break my waters with ds2 and that hurt more than anything else

Not sure my birth experience will be helpful! DS was born just over 2 weeks ago and was back to back. Very painful - only felt the contractions in my back and bottom, plus involuntary urge to push. Ended up with epidural which dealt with the pain nicely but DS got stuck (he was nearly 10lb), failed ventouse and then EMCS. Not great for me (bad tear and C-section) but DS was fine once they got him out.

Good luck.

Honeybee79..your story is typical of most. I think that is the crux of it ..back to back equals more pain and more likely intervention will be needed. Oh well at least I am not under any illusions and can mentally prepare. :-)

Similar story here too. First baby back to back - no progress passed 1 fingernail (yes you read correct 1 fingernail) dialated. Had an epidural but didn't need any other help as she was only 6lbs 7oz. They had to give me an injection to open me up and i was able to push her out even though i had no feeling. My mum had warned me if this was the case and i had an epidural, to imagine you are having a poo (tmi I know) but it worked. I tried lying on left side and all the tricks they suggested before labour but nothing worked. i would try Toffees chair - it sounds great.

All the best for an straightforward as you can hope for birth! xx