About birth positions....possible silly question alert

[paperclips]

So in that ideal world where everything goes nice and straightforward, I want to move about as much in labour as I can and give birth as upright as I can. On my knees or on all fours I imagine.

So... say I deliver when I'm on all fours...how do I get back to a sitting position so I can cuddle my baby on my chest. Do I just scoop baby up from between my legs, then then kind of roll myself round? If I was kneeling on a bed would there be room for this without falling off?

I wonder because all the OBEM etc programmes the women give birth on their backs, even though its supposedly so much harder, so you don't see the births in more upright positions..

I am hoping for a water birth but of course there may be reasons why this can't happen on the day, including demand for the pool. How differently will this work? I guess there will be more room to manoeuvre. I also quite like the idea of giving birth on a mat on the floor like they have in some places so I can move more but not sure if they have them where I'll be.

I have this silly irrational idea about kneeling/all fours etc, that I will somehow squash the baby if I lose my balance or something. Or fall off a bed if I am on one! Obviously there will be midwives to help and tell me what to do! But is it one of those things that will just be obvious and I'll know at the time?

What you describe as scooping baby up and rolling onto your bum describes it perfectly! Your MW and partner will help you and even if you are on the bed there's still room to do it. It's a great position to be in - good luck for the big day.

I have given birth twice in a birth pool like this:

I'm on knees, upright leaning over the edge. I push the head out, then sit back to deliver the rest of the body out forwards, then scoop up baby and cuddle. The first time I did it instictively by accident. The second time was planned because it worked so well the first time.

The one improvement I made to this was warning the midwives that I was going to do it for the second time, so they could move round the pool to see. The first time they were all behind me with DH, so when I quickly moved position the only person who saw dd born was me.

So with DS, I announced that they might all wanna change ends because I was moving.

I see what you mean about thinking you can squash the baby, - but actually IMO you really can't.

I pushed with dd while standing and then kneeled to deiver her, I had made myself a 'nest' in the corner of the room , so was no where near the bed.

The midwife just passed her up between my legs. You will probably have the worst jelly legs imaginable after giving birth and will be helped to move in any way you need to.