"spine to spine" birth

[TettyLouBar]

Hi all,
DD1 is now 2YO, and we're now expecting DC2 (12weeks) in January. I was thinking the other day about the whole birthing experience from last time and my husband reminded my that the expression "spine to spine" was bounded around on the day from the medical staff.
I had a long labour and ended up with ventouse, forceps and episiotomy. I think I was a gnats whisker from a c-section.
Can anybody share experiences of this? I believe it means that the baby was facing wrong way when entering the birth canal and instead of turning the shortest way she rotated all around the long way and at one point she was facing up (if I was lying on my back) meaning we were spine to spine??

I'm led to believe this is a more painful and long birth and labour and was wondering whether anybody can shed any light?
Am I likely to have this problem again if Ive had it once already??

The more usual phrase is "back to back" or a posterior lie.

Think about your posture - do you sit slumped back in your sofa with your feet up on the coffee table ? If so - try to stop this and sit in positions which are more upright, forward leaning and open (your legs that is!!) if you can sit with your knees lower than your hips that will help too.

You can ask your midwife to feel where the baby is, or pull your tee-shirt tight over your bump and look in the mirror - if there is a saucer-like indentation where your belly button is, chances are that this baby is lying back to back too - use the above posture advice to give him/her chance to move. Or - adopt all four positions for 15/20 minutes 3 times a day.

Spinning Babies website really good for information on positioning and turning babies.

During labour - stay upright, stay mobile and avoid lying down.

My first was posterior - second practically flew out !

Hi! My last labour was an undiagnosed back-to-back which only came to light after the last internal examination before they whisked me off for an emergency c-sect.

Labour was long, slow and very painful (3 days), I wasn't dilating, my contractions weren't strong enough, I was put on a drip to speed things up, the epidural I had didn't work very well so I felt excruciating pain in my back with each contraction yet I couldn't move to a better position. Eventually I reached 9cms and DS's heartrate started to drop so off I went for a c-sect.

All of this I put down to him being back-to-back and not putting enough pressure on my cervix to help labour progress.

I'm pregnant again and I hope to avoid a c-sect this time and I am going to put a lot more effort into how I'm sitting and spending time on all fours so that I can give myself the best chance of avoiding another back-to-back labour again. I have heard, but I don't know if it is true, that you are more likely to have another back-to-back if you have already had one.

i had my 1st back to back and similar birth to what you described but 2nd was fine, he came out very easily and seemed to be in the right position. with his pregnancy i kept asking midwives to check if they could feel if he was back to back or the right way round but he stayed sideways til near the end aparently so they told me it was 50/50 what way he was going to turn round in the end? (some people like the scanner seemed a bit confused why i was asking (prolonged pregnancy scan not like i asked at 20 weeks or anything!) so maybe they do not normally get into that position right until you go into labour or something i am not sure, but anyway i didnt have any problems like that with the 2nd one so its not necesarily going to be the same just because dc1 was like that.
also i think about the posture thing, chasing around after toddler and being busy on your feet all day probably helps whereas with a first pregnancy we are more likely to do a bit more lounging around on sofa?

My DDs were both 'back to back' in birth and I had 2 long, painful labours resulting in forceps, venteuse and like you a hairs breadth away from a c-section!

With DD2 I tried the midwives suggestion of going on all fours and swaying!! Apparently now women no longer do such physical labour like scrubbing floors 'back to back' is more common! But it was to no avail, DD2 like her sister was stubborn!

Good Luck

My first was undiagnosed back to back 24hours constant cc i.e no break just constant pain 30mins pushing born face up.

My second 10hours contraction were manageable at home for 9 hours went to hospital after 9 hours had Gas and air after about 30mins dd born 30mins after pain relief later 2mins pushing, Dd birth much easier .

Hopefully you will have a good birth this time.

Sorry to hijack but my first baby was back-to-back, didn't know this until DS crowned. MW then rotated the baby's body while he was still in me, very painful and I tore all the way up to my cervix. Does anyone know what the point of this procedure was/is?
Snows thanks for the posture advice

Ahickeyfromkencikie I have heard they do that my mw was unable to turn my ds because he had his elbow up by his head so his arm came out the same time as his head and twisting him would have broken his arm. I didn't tear BTW Mw hadn't realised he was the wrong way till crowning by which point it was too late for me.

TettyLouBar, my first dd was spine to spine, back to back, long labour well felt very long and painful, about 16 hours in very heavy pain, but no forceps etc, and only a few stitches, my second dd practically flew out in 3 hours no probs at all, although now she is almost 3 and still not the best sleeper, I think its payback! With my 2nd I stayed on my feet the whole time and gave birth kneeling, Due my 3rd in Feb so hope all goes well for you in Jan

My first was back to back. Waters went and contractions every 10 mis for 40 hours. So painful, sick all the time. Started throwing up green stuff. Ended up in hospital, with epidural after day and half (had wanted water birth in birthing centre. Ha ha). Baby delivered fine in the end. Funny that when it came to the second I would rather have gone through the same thing than try for water birth, birthing centre. even though it was bad there was comfort that i had come through it. Second birth was SO easy, did almost enjoy it! Delayed calling mid-wife and going to centre becasue it wasnt nearly painful enough. Only just made it. 10 days over on my third so just waiting to see

Both my DD's were back to back and turned at the very last minute after being perfectly postitioned for weeks.

DD1 - 27 hours in labour, painfully slow dilation,hormone drip to speed things up, every pain relief going, ended up with forceps, vontouse, narrowly avoiding a section.

DD2- 6 hours in labour, fully dilated in 2 hours at home, no pain relief. Needed vontouse help again but much much easier!

So yes it can happen again but back to back birth doesnt necessarily mean a long one.
2nd births tend to be quicker anyway as your body already knows what to do

ds was back to back. labour was induced at 42 weeks and labour was quite short, about 8 hours and wasn't that painful, i managed on G&A. ds was was very stuck though and hadn't moved an inch despite hours of pushing so he was an EMCS as he was getting very distressed.

with dd she was back to back too and had been all through the pregnancy according to midwife so i decided to have an ELCS rather than risk her getting stuck like ds did.