Biomechanics- has anyone tried it?!

[lepoissonM]

I’m pregnant for the second time (24w) and have just had my VBAC appointment with my local hospital. Last time, 5 years ago, I was induced at 42w which ended in an EMCS at 42+2 after failure to progress. I got as far as 5cm dilated in that time, and it turned out that baby was back to back, which was the fundamental reason why he had to be evicted.

I am keen to try for a VBAC this time around if at all possible, but I am worried about another B2B baby. I’ve been looking at biomechanics online and I see that some trusts have leaflets etc on the subject, but my NHS trust doesn’t seem to. I’ve also seen the research done in Ireland, where it seems to be a common part of antenatal education there. When I asked about it at my midwife appointment, she didn’t really have much to say on the subject.

I’m just curious to know if other people have tried it and whether they thought it was helpful or not.

Yes, I did the exercises on the spinning babies website (on the daily activities section) and obviously I’m only a sample size of 1, but my baby was head down and positioned well for labour. I also made sure I never sat leaning back in a chair or on the sofa, I either sat upright or lay down on my side. Swimming was helpful too (and good if you are struggling with a bad back).

I do think there’s something in it, and it makes sense that with gravity the heaviest part of the baby (ie the back) is going to sink to a different place depending on how you position yourself. Anything you can do to help them settle with their back at the front is going to be helpful!

Never heard of biomechanics but I did spinning babies exercises, and if you look on YouTube there’s lots of yoga for getting baby in good position. I also swam a lot. Mine was head down the whole time but flipped during larbour! Had a forcep delivery. There is only so much you can do so dont put too much pressure on it

Thanks for the input @PaperAirplanesFlying and @Peonies12. I did pregnancy yoga last time and hated it so an alternative would be welcome! Swimming sounds like a good idea, stupidly hadn’t thought of that. Might try YouTube too, I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff on there that I haven’t investigated.

I remember seeing lots of stuff on TikTok as well, but it’s probably worth taking that with a pinch of salt! I’ve seen lots of people talk about the miles circuit but I never did that myself. Another thing I did do in labour was lots of position changes. I was fairly mobile to start with but then I had an epidural and obviously wasn’t moving much then! I got stuck at 9cm for a while, and what we did was change the bed into the “throne position” so I was sat really upright, and I do think that helped with that last cm of dilation. There’s some stuff online about different positions for labour with and without an epidural, worth looking at so you have options depending on what pain relief you need.

I’m off to Google the miles circuit @PaperAirplanesFlyingthank you!