Optimum Positioning?

[RUMPEL]

Please can you give me your thoughts/experiences:

My DD was back to back so labour was excrutiatingly painful and long and I had to be attached to a syntocinon drip and given an epidural.

I am due again in 3.5 weeks and really, really wanted a waterbirth, as I couldn't manage one with DD. However I am just back from the MW who informed me that this bubba is back to back too!

I am now terrified that it will be like last time. I know I need to go on the gym ball a lot and crawl on hands and knees (which I do with DD anwyay) to help bubba to shift but I just wondered how many of you had managed to shift your babies in this manner and what your experiences of back to back labour were?

see here here.

Got to dash out will check in later to see if any better advice!

Thank you! I will now rush off and check my Suzanne Yates shiatsu book!

Just bumping for evening crew!

sorry, read this title as
"opium poisoning"

going to have a cuppa now.

if you HAVE to sit on a couch/chair/in car etc make sure you have cushions at your lower back to ensure you are sitting straight - NO slumping

do you have a gym ball? it forces you to sit up properly with good posture for pelvis and baby

on all fours or on knees leaning over gym ball?

Certainly try all of the above but I must warn you that several trials have shown that optimum positioning only has a temporary effect, if any at all. A really good book is 'The Labor Progress Handbook' [sic] by Simkin & Anchetta which has all sorts of tips and positions if you have a back to back labour. Good luck, and don't forget that second labours often bear no relation to first.

Ta ladies - any other thoughts?

I did all the optimum positioning stuff with DD and she turned - for a week - and they stubbornly settled back down to OP. And that's how she was born, face to pubis (lovely!). Some women just have the kind of pelvis that encourages OP, sadly. However I know that I was OP (that's where I inherited the pelvis - thanks Mum!) and that my Mum had a really fast second birth. So I'm really hoping that the "second birth is faster" thing will outweigh the "OP pelvis" thing. Stories on MN seem to back up my Mum's experience (and she was forced to give birth on her back. Fingers crossed for both of us.

Ta Mrs Tittlemouse - I think I must have 1 of those pelvises as I used my gym ball all the time when pg with DD and crawled a lot. Was so sure that LO was in right position this time - I gave birth on my side last time but would so love a waterbirth.

By the way, the only reason that I couldn't have a waterbirth with DD was because the combination of water and OP was slowing things down. Had I progressed a bit better then I could have stayed in the lovely water. So for a (fast) second delivery, it wouldn't matter if your baby stays OP because the labour won't slow down too much. And I can tell you that the water was wonderful at easing the backache between contractions and giving me a bit of a rest. I found getting out and being "active" really tiring and painful in comparison.
I am hoping to labour in water and deliver on dry land this time around (if I don't go for an elective CS - long story).

Good luck Mrs Tittlemouse - when are you due?
Hospital called this morning to say that I couldn't take my own pool in ( they only have 1 so I bought an inflatable as a back up plan) so much for that idea! oh well, whatever happens happens.

Thank you. I'm due in October. I'm going to see the consultant next week to see whether my body will cope with a VB or whether it's best to have a CS. I'm a bit nervous and not sure which answer I'd really like to have.
Assuming that I have a VB I'll be in the same position as you, as the hospital only has one water bath. So it'll be the luck of the draw whether I arrive when it's empty (and clean!).

I had my DD Oct 4th so good luck - hope the pool is free for you.xx