40 weeks, head not engaged at all....

[MrsCooper31]

Hi Ladies,

My first thread on here so please be gentle!

I am 40 weeks today with my first baby and my baby's head is totally free, not engaged in the slightest, and he is back to back! I have been on my ball, scrubbing the kitchen floor and doing as much walking as I can, but none of it seems to be helping.

I just wanted to know if there were any other ladies out there with a similar experience and if so what happened?

At the moment I am booked in for another check-up in a weeks time. There is no point doing a sweep if his head is not engaged so the midwife is talking about being induced if he is still not engaged by next week. Obviously this wouldn't be my first choice, but when does a labour ever really go to plan?! My concern with being induced is that as his head is not engaged it wouldn't work and it would end in a C-section.

If anyone has any stories, whatever the outcome I would love to hear them, just so that I am informed! Did anyone still have a latural labour without the head being engaged? Did many back to back babies turn during labour? Did being induced work even though baby wasn't engaged? So many questions, but hopefully you get the jist from this.

Thanks in advance!

My initial thoughts are that if you haven’t got another mw appt for a week, that’s plenty of time for things to change. You won’t necessarily know I don’t think- not everyone gets the “bowling ball” feeling. So keep doing what you’re doing and see what happens in a week. They don’t tend to induce much before 42 weeks anyway I don’t think (unless another medical reason). Sorry I don’t have any experience of induction but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of advice from those who do soon enough xx

I had mw apt and growth scan at 40 weeks and DS was not engaged at all. I went in to labour at 9.30 the next day and DS was born at 5.30 the following morning. First baby. Have a look at the spinning babies website for techniques to hopefully turn baby and then encourage them to move down. Good luck!

I was told at my midwife appointment baby’s head wasn’t engaged (I had told her that the baby felt really low, she said not that low yet dear!). 6:45am the next morning I went into labour and baby was born 6 hours later!
If there’s ever a next time I will take everything they tell me with a pinch of salt!

Thank you all for your responses, it’s reassuring to know it could still happen naturally, and until then I’ll keep doing what I can to get him to where he needs to be! Fingers crossed he makes an appearance soon, I’m so ready to meet him! X

My concern with being induced is that as his head is not engaged it wouldn't work and it would end in a C-section

Afraid to say it but on the balance of probability (and clinical experience) you’re right.