"back to bacK"

[moomin35]

Can anyone explain to me what this means? I keep hearing about babys being born back to back but not sure what it means?!

Just to give a slightly different perspective to those above, not all back to back labours are terrible!

Ds2 was back to back and was born in the pool at home after a 2 hour labour. The pain was pretty intense, and I felt it mainly through my hips rather than my abdomen as I had with ds1, but being in that position didn't appear to hinder his birth at all.

All labours are different, and that includes back to back labours!

My back to back DC2 was born at home with just gas and air, weighing over 9lb. A far easier labour than DC1 who was a much smaller baby, failed to progress, loads of intervention, forceps, PPH etc.

Every labour is different, B2B does not mean it's horrendous. Being active, upright, relaxed and at home i think made for a much easier birth for me.

My first baby was in the back to back position. The pain was awful, it felt as if a spike was being pushed up my back passage. She was born after a long labour with forceps and I had an episiotomy. I had an epidural after a while which was fantastic. The pushing stage lasted nearly six hours and I was exhausted.

My second baby was born by elective Caesarian.

My first was front to back (or whatever the usual way is) and pushing took an hour. Second was back to back and took a little longer and was more tiring but was also throughout the night. However, no tears (or tears) and just gas and air. 2nd one was 9lb 4 so biggish. I won't deny it was harder, but probably 10% harder, not terrible.

Ask about positions as well because this can help. I laboured a lot on all fours the 2nd time which may have helped.

My last two have been back to back I didn't find labour much different in comparison to my first ( not b to b) the only thing was I found it more comfortable to stand or be on all fours.
Dd came out after about an hour 7lb 13 no stitches or intervention.
Ds took about an hour and 15 mins of pushing 10lb 8 no stitches or intervention. So it's not always bad :)

My third baby was back to back but she was my easiest and best birth no stitches and no intervention in fact I didn't even know she was back to back until she popped out after two pushes face up.

My dc1 was back to back I believe. I never dilated properly during the 36 hour induced labour and the bastards refused to give me any pain relief (in a country where an epidural would have required a pre-booking and a large envelope of cash to the anaesthetist) to go with my syntocin drip - although I was granted a five minute shower (the water on the lower back helped a little).
Eventually, once they'd finally relented and carted me off for a c section (probably because the pain was causing me to make an awful lot of noise ) they discovered the cord was wrapped around her neck three times. Am bloody glad I did fail to progress, as being yanked out with ventuose or forceps would probably have killed her.
ELCS all the way for dc2 and 3!

DS 1 was back to back. He was 10 days late, and they say being back to back can impede the start of labour. 1st stage was fine, and quick for a first birth ( 6 hours from first twinge to fully dilated), but 2nd stage took a long time. If I hadn't been in a pool with a very hands-off midwife I think they would have intervened, but he was finally born (still B2B) after 2.25 hours of pushing. He was fine, I was a bit torn but nothing too awful. In hindsight it was quite a painful experience but I had nothing to compare it to.

With DS 2 (not B2B) I went into labour before the due date and he shot out in 32 minutes. I didn't really realise how imminent he was because I kept expecting things to get more painful and then suddenly he was there!

In short, it probably does hurt a bit more and it probably does slow things down. But I had DS totally naturally, in the pool as I had wanted, with no ill-effects, so don't think you are necessarily confined to epidural and/or interventions.

Yes, sorry, I didn't post my story to freak you out. I've heard lots of B2B stories where it was a straight forward delivery, no different to standard delivery. As stated above, every birth is different including b2b.

I had a back to back baby with my first and, although the labour was longer than my second who was normal position, the pain was much less and I had no pain relief

I had a back-to-back birth 5 months ago. I'd thought that no matter what I'd be able to cope with the pain but really couldn't. 24 hours of established labour, after 18 I eventually requested an epidural. Had a ventouse delivery, episiotomy and tore. Stitches still not healed and doc days it will take a year!