Opinions please - can anyone work out which way up my baby is (33wks) from this description?

[jivegirl]

I can't identify the bony bits - help!

OK. So as I'm looking down at my bump:

There is a big bony bit on the top left of my bump (just above my tummy button). This is where I get the biggest movements & is the bit that sticks right out when bump is having a squirm.

I get taps and what I think are kicks very low down, somewhere towards the back of my bladder (i.e. can feel the taps, but rarely see them).

Also occasional twitches and little movements all over bump - but nothing like the big bony bit at the top!

At last m/w appointment she reckoned the baby was oblique breech - does this still sound like a breech baby to you? I can't work out if it's a head or a bum (surely a head wouldn't move/stick out so much when it was having a wriggle!??)

Thank you in advance!

Claire

I would say the big bony bit is the head - bottom is smaller than you think and is much softer!

The best indicator for head down late in pregnancy I would say is the impact on your bladder. If you can go long periods without needing to pee urgently then it is not head down - I know as I am 36 weeks with DC3 and she is stubbornly transverse. I have had her turned twice with acupuncture and both times I immediately noticed the difference.

Ooh, wouldn't want to guess from description but:-
long smooth area of bump if usually the back, and if head down then most of the kicks tend to be felt under the rib cage. If head is up then you may be able to idenitfy it by feeling the realtive narowwing of the neck just underneath.

I was worried that our LO had turned to breech position as I felt a hard lump up on the top right... But it turn out to be the back... God knows how they work it all out!

I have a big lumpy bit under my right breast and the midwife assures me that this is his head as the bum is softer. Baby is obviously therefore breech at 34 weeks.

Sound's like breech to me. The head definitely does stick right out (freakishly ) in that position. I've had 3 btw.

the taps are your LO doing a little dance of your bladder, so yep, feet!

I could feel it when the baby had hiccups, it was a kind of tapping, but obviously rhythmical. My baby's were head down, so I felt it just above my pelvis. Is what you describe as tapping rhythmical, then it could be hiccups, and therefore head down?

I felt some light rhythmical tapping for the first time last night... It was quite fast though so not sure if it could be hiccups... Can they be quite fast?

Hugeheadofhair - not rhythmical taps - more sporadic and squirmy I'd say! At least I don't think it's hiccups..

Finallypregnant - sounds like we have similar lumpy bits! Are you facing a c-section or doing lots of exercises with your legs in the air?

I'm not totally adverse to a c-section tbh, since a natural birth with DD#1 was quite traumatic (cephalic but back to back - and incidentally her bony bits were in a totally different place!!)

I get scanned a week tomorrow as I had placenta previa at 20 wks so I guess the decision will be made then!

Claire

If the bony lump is a head it should be ballotable - ie if you put a hand either side of it and press (fairly gently!) on alternate sides it should swing like the basket of a hot air balloon.

DD was stubbornly breech and I did have weird things going on very low down - never worked out what they were, though. Her head was jammed under my left ribs, and did stick out an alarming amount when she squirmed!

DD was born as a breech baby at home - despite what a lot of consultants like to say, there is no good evidence to say CS improves outcomes for breech mothers or babies. For more info on vaginal breech birth try and get hold of a copy of "Breech Birth" by Benna Waites and/or "Breech Birth: What are my options" by Jane Evans.