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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Baby's hiccups - can this indicate their positioning?

12 replies

LearningFast · 26/07/2011 09:36

I've been under the impression that my baby is breech for many weeks now (I'm 35+4) but yesterday when he/she was hiccuping and kicking simultaneously at different sides of my uterus I began to wonder whether this is correct...

Basically I have a large lump of baby (a bottom or head I'm guessing) under my ribs at the top of my abdomen on my right hand side, plus kicks in my lower abdomen (also on right hand side). However the hiccups were most definitely being felt down at the bottom left hand side of my uterus, well away from his/her feet.

Can anyone more experienced in these matters than me (this is my first pregnancy) give me their thoughts on what the position of the baby could be?

Many thanks

OP posts:

LoveBeingAtHomeOnMyOwn · 26/07/2011 09:41

Well with dd I never felt hiccups but ds is breech and the are felt around and belly button area if that helps?

EauRouge · 26/07/2011 09:47

DD2 used to get hiccups all the time. I felt it on the bottom left which is where her head was, she was head down and slightly turned to the side. DD1 also used to get hiccups and I used to feel that in the middle at the bottom of my bump where her shoulders were. Has your MW checked the position? They are usually pretty accurate.

Em3978 · 26/07/2011 09:57

DS had hiccups 4x a day for the last few months.... usually on my bladder, as his head was resting there nicely (ouch!) and then through my pelvis as he started engaging at 32 weeks...

Original poster

LearningFast · 26/07/2011 10:44

Hi Ladies,

Thanks for the replies. You may have guessed that I am doing my best to think positive about the baby's position, as the potential consequences of him/her being breech have been (literally) giving me nightmares.

I was just starting to get my head around the likelihood of a C-section or at least a difficult conversation with a consultant about breech vaginal birth, when I had this hiccupping incident yesterday morning, and realised that this is where I usually feel the baby's hiccups and that they are probably not travelling down through his/her legs into my side!

My midwife has checked the position and said she thought it is breech although it is hard to tell. She could feel 2 hard lumps of baby, one at the top and one at the bottom. We had assumed that the top one was the head and lower one was his bottom as the kicks are all coming low down - thought baby must have their legs tucked up with knees bent... but both DH and I have long legs in comparison to our bodies and I'm starting to wonder whether we have just made a wrong assumption about body parts .

OP posts:

ButterflySally · 26/07/2011 10:59

My baby is consistently head-down every midwife appt/scan I have and I feel his hiccups near my hips...definitely lower down.

ShowOfHands · 26/07/2011 13:18

Have you looked at the spinning babies website? The belly mapping section can help determine the position and there's a lot on there about getting a breech to flip.

There's also external cephalic version (ecv) if your baby doesn't turn. Bear in mind that most do turn, only something like 4% are breech at term.

My midwife was brilliant at showing me how to palpate the baby's position. The biggest key was the way the head moves compared to the bottom. So if you can locate the two 'lumps' you can gently press on them. The head moves independently of the body but if you push on the bottom, the whole body shifts. Plus the head feels like a cricket ball and the bum is a weird bony wedge shape (for dd anyway). I quite enjoyed learning how to find out her position.

vallinnapod · 26/07/2011 13:41

Oh, Em that makes perfect sense. I am 34 weeks and 2/5 engaged. Baby confirmed as head down. He always gets hiccups after I eat and it does now feel all pelvic. As opposed to before when he was head down but slightly turned and I would feel them lower right hand side and kicks upper left.

RunDMC · 26/07/2011 14:47

I'm also on my first pregnancy at 40+2 (waiting patiently) and baby was suspected breech from about 28 weeks onwards. Only one midwife thought baby was head down whilst all others and a consultant thought breech. I had what I thought and what felt like a head on the right hand side under my ribcage for ages and was convinced also as I feel kicks mostly downwards and very rarely up by my ribs.

However, I went for a scan at 37+5 and baby was most definitely head down so what I thought was a head was a bottom.. Baby also has hiccups about 3 x a day and I feel them all down in my lower abdomen (which reassures me he/she is still head down)...

hope this helps..

Original poster

LearningFast · 26/07/2011 14:51

RunDMC I love you! I'm holding out for that to be the scenario...

It didn't occur to me that I would get stressed about something like this late on in pregnancy. I feel like such an amateur!

OP posts:

MoonFaceMamaaaaargh · 26/07/2011 14:53

my baby has just turned, i'm 31wks and i could tell by doing what showofhands describes...a student midwife told me about it at an appointment. Mw has confirmed i was right so lets hope it stays that way!

Good luck op!

Original poster

LearningFast · 26/07/2011 14:57

ShowofHands - thanks, I have looked at the spinning babies website, and tried all of the positioning techniques on there. I'm seeing an osteopath regularly to make sure there is as much room as possible for the baby to move about in, and have had acupuncture and moxibustion which got the baby very lively indeed.

I decided to try and chill out about it a bit more this week as there is not much left to try short of ECV - then felt the hiccups low down and am wondering if it's just been a misdiagnosed breech from the start, or if maybe he/she has turned without me knowing (as I say, there has been lots of movement going on)...

OP posts:

diyqueen · 27/07/2011 09:05

I hate to say it, but my baby was breech and I always felt the hiccups low down too - it made me hopeful that she was actually head down, but it was just that the hiccups made her whole body twitch (as I could see after she was born!). I sympathise with you, I spent weeks stressing about her being breech and tried everything to turn her. I wish I had just chilled out and enjoyed the end of my pregnancy, but at the time that was impossible as I was just so terrified of having a c-section (I had an ECV that failed as she was so well wedged). I had horrendous nightmares. In the end it was OK, much better than I'd imagined - and when my baby arrived I couldn't believe that I'd even considered risking a vaginal delivery (she was and is just the most precious thing to me, and the thought of even the smallest risk of her being oxygen deprived or injured is awful now). I hope your baby is head down or turns, but if not, you'll get through it and you can be proud of yourself for coping with whatever happens to get them into the world. The cs recovery was a pain but in a way I was glad as it kind of 'made up for' missing the pain of labour... maybe that's weird! 4 months on, me and dd are fit and well and I'm just so glad to have her.

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