back to back labour , is it really that bad?

[helenhull]

Hiya, people keep telling me horror stories about long labours wen baby is back to back with mum.
My midwife says thats the position my baby is in and she suggests i try turning her by kneeling and rocking on all 4s. Ive only 2 weeks left and i am huge, rocking kneeling even just sitting is v uncomfortable. Will it make much diff if i just leave her in that position and hope she turns herself?????? would love to hear other peoples oppinions or experiences.THANX!!!

Helenhull - Not read the other responses, so sorry if I double up. Pains horrendous...MADE to have an epidural by MW. Ds had a large head anyway, so ended up having to have ventouse and forceps just to get him out. He got a very bruised head from hitting the cervix the wrong way round, and the birth was over long because of the complications of his position.

Totally recommend an epidural. Try not to worry - the baby will come out, and the hospital staff will not allow either you or the baby to become dangerously uncomfortable. Good luck.

Thanx guys , feeling a bit reasured about it, only because i'm realising that every experience is very diff. At least the stories i am hearing are mixed rather than all negative still nervous though ,naturally.
Been attempting my exercises too , even tho they're hard being so huge,i think its wise.

My fist baby was op and my MW instructed me to swivel my hips hula style in early labour, he turned around shortly after this (felt it) and was born 6 hours later!

sorry - first (!)

My midwives at the Homerton ( about six different women came and went) didn't seem to know I had a face up baby. My waters broke three weeks early and had a job persuading the maternity ward I was in labour in the first place as they think women don't know the difference between waters breaking and being incontinent (not that I had ever been incontinent!). I was in severe unremitting pain for ten hours - the last three of which my baby was stuck in the birth canal. I was out of control/knackered wih pain after about six hours so just let the midwives lie me on the bed and accuse me of not pushing properly (not true, he was a big baby, my first one and sunny side up as it turned out). Next they wheeled me off somewhere else for the interventions - ventouse and deep cut. Baby came with first push after that. Good job as they were threatening a caesarean if I couldn't deliver within five minutes. I lost a lot of blood which no-one noticed and needed transfusions a few days later when I started getting chest pains and breathing problems from severe anaemia. My baby thankfully was alive after all that but developed grunting/breathing problems soon after the birt and ended up being in the SCBU for eight days (he got jaundice and then they wanted to make sure he could feed as well as breathe so fed him bottles - no breast feeding possible after that week :-(). Then, because I was distressed and sometimes volatile due to my baby being in special care and me being in a terrible maternity ward (lazy nurses, filthy ward) in too much pain/ too weak to go and be with him all the time they asked a psychiatrist to come and see me as they thought maybe I had post natal depression. The psychiatrist thought my feelings were understandable given the birth, the SCBU separation, the nurses not bothering to give me pain relief etc! Sorry this is not a good story but I write it in the hope that if any women out there suspect they have a baby back to back and are not getting good enough labour support BE VOCAL about it, get help to stand up in labour or ask for an experienced midwife to help you turn the baby. Good luck I'm sure it doesn't have to be as bad as my experience.

My DS was back to back, I was terrified as like you had heard horror stories about the pain but i had no back pain whatsover for the first 10 hours (then had a emcs for another reason). I think like OFP labour OP labours are all different. I would recommend that if your baby is OP you labour in positions such as hands and knees or draped over the bed as this is what I did. The only time during labour I was on my back was when I decided to have a bath and then the contractions did get more painful (until I shouted at DH to get me out of here NOW!)

One thing I'd really like to know is what likelihood you have of having a second child born back to back - as I would like another child but cant quite bear the thought of going through that again (although reading some stories here it sounds as if it can be ok). Does anyone know any stats/research?

DD1 was normal and DD2 was back to back. In my experience, the back to back labour hurt far more. The pain was very intense, but I did manage to cope with just gas and air (and water!), so it is do-able. My labour was only 3 hours too, so I didn't have a long labour. Unfortunately, I had a very bad 3rd degree tear, which I believe was caused by the bad position my baby was in... so it is worth trying to move the baby if you can. That said, my baby wasn't back to back until I went into labour!

DS1 was back to back...the first stage of labour was painful but not unbearable, I got to fully dilated with just gas and air..
It was the second stage where it all seemed to go wrong..I had no urge to push at all and nothing seemed to be happening, they had me in all different positions, on all fours, then in the stirrups which was horrible..the contractions stopped and they put me on the synto drip, by his time I was exhausted and really wishing I'd had an epidual..after 2 1/2 hours they were talking about doing a c/s when he became distressed and they went for the ventouse instead..he was 9lb 1oz and came out face first which they clearly were not expecting..
Thankfully he was fine, but I ended up with a bad third degree tear and massive PPH..like you Elkat I blame the position he was in for the tear and all the subsequent problems Ive had..with the benefit of hindsight I would have been better off with a c/s, I dont know why they didnt realise he wasn't in the right position to be born..

Hi Helen

ds2 was back to back. I can honestly say that labour with him was MUCH easier than with ds1 (but then, it was a second labour, so easier anyway maybe?)
the pushing was hard. I pushed for a long time, and he was difficult to budge.
but I did it, at home, with no pain relief, and only a teensy graze to show for it.

it can be done and it doesn't have to be horrendous.
bear in mind though, baby may move before then (the kneeling on all fours is a good one) and they can often move during labour too.

hope all goes well