this is a stupid question but what do they mean EXACTLY when they say the head is engaged?

[mumofdjandbabies]

They will talk about engagement in fifths. So if the midwife can feel 4/5 of the head in the uterus then you are 1/5 engaged (as 1/5 of the head is too far down for her to feel). Obviously the ideal is 5/5 engaged if you are keen to go into labour soon.

my babies head is not but I wondered how far into the pelvis do they consider engaged to be?

Far enough that the midwife can't feel it. Just to confuse us all, they sometimes refer to the amount of the head that is palpable (sp?) - meaning the amount that she can feel. So 3/5 palpable is 2/5 engaged.

neither of mine were engaged when i went to labour. both were turning and annoying me. when i was 5cm later midwife says. "oooh but the heads not even far enough down or engaged. your not ready to push"

3 pushes and 6 mins later the baby was in my arms.

Mine never engaged properly either, but had to be pulled out much against her wishes. She has remained as stubborn ever since.

HI guys!! aw so I can do it then? really?
cos I feel like its my fault somehow she is in a crappy position and If i was doing something beter/different she would be turning

mines were back to back and side on though. and when they were in this position throughout the pregnanxy. i.e feet kicking me out the front. this is when i felt good, and the baby seemed quiet at rest.

whenever they turned and but their bums out, i felt awful.. being sick and couldn't move. and they would batter my insides until they managed to turn themselves round the "wrong way " again.

With DD1 I did the optimum foetal positioning thing with knobs on. I managed to turn her the "right" way, but then she turned right back again at 39 weeks and stayed that way - she was born "face to pubis" (lovely!). I think that OFP is a good idea to try, but certain women have a pelvic structure that encourages the baby to lie back-to-back (this is from my midwife), so please don't beat yourself up about it if you have a stubborn baby!
I'm trying OFP again this time, by the way, but DD2 is also back-to-back. I have between 5 and 10 weeks to turn her. We'll see.

aw thanks guys
youre stars / encouragements!

has anyone told you back to back is agony and lasts for hours as it takes forever to get established. elmo was 3 days. sunday night till tues morning.

side to side was weird to. every time they put monitor on me the contractions stopped. so they sent me to the ward. and i kept saying i was having contractions. and they would put monitor on. and they would stop. so they wouldn't believe me till i was screaming i was gonna have it in the loo unless they took me to labour suite. as soon as i was in the labour suite this is when the 3 pushes and 6 min labour occurred.it was close.

eek!

maybe i shouldn't scare you.

only kidding you can tscare me I am made of steel

I had 2 back to back. They were long, tedious but NOT agony. Good luck.

aw thanks mrs!