Anterior placenta = back to back labour???

[emsyj]

Can someone shed some light on my ignorance please???? I have an anterior placenta and am shaking with fear that this means I will end up with the baby back to back (she was back to back on my 20 week scan) and have back labour with all its horrific pain EVEN WORSE than normal labour etc

Is there an increased risk of back labour if you have an anterior placenta??? What's the 'normal' position for the baby at 20 weeks?

Although there is a theoretical risk of baby being occipito posterior (back to back) with an anterior placenta it is by no means a certainty. Bear in mind that at 20 weeks baby is only about 19cm long from crown to rump and will change position approximately 2 million times in the next 20 weeks (well, obviously not that many but you get my point!) There is no normal position at this gestation and we only get concerned about baby being head down (cephalic) at 36 weeks, and they can change from posterior to anterior (and back again) during labour.
Btw, posterior labour does not have to involve 'horrific pain', labour is an entirely individual experience. Please don't spoil your pregnancy worrying about such stuff.

It isn't a given. I had an anterior placenta with my DS. Easy peasy labour (though the hypno certainly helped with that) and he was in the correct position.

Lots of leaning forward/hands and knees will help. When I read in bed at night I have my pillow under my chest, my bum in the air and my legs spread wide. It isn't the most dignified of poses but is quite comfortable and gets bubs used to the right possie.

I miss my anterior placenta, this time around the baby actually HURTS when he pushes hard against my tum.

When you have a back to back labour does the lo come out with its head facing up? And with a "normal" labour the lo comes out looking at your bottom, is that right?

I also have a anterior placenta quite low down, i didnt realise it increased back to back labour oh dear am off to google!!

There are some good articles about both anterior placenta and OP presentations on the Spinning Babies website.

I would try not to worry too much about it at this stage, as other people have said, babies can turn round at literally the last minute and it's certainly not a given that you will have a OP baby and/or difficult labour.

My baby was lying breech at 28 weeks and I got quite fixated on trying to turn him/her, last week at the 32 week check all was fine and head-down (fingers crossed things stay that way!). I have an anterior placenta and have noticed that baby seems to turn back-to-front then back-to-back depending on how I've been sitting, lying etc. I don't plan to get too worried about it for a few more weeks.

Good luck with it all and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy

Yeah, I had this I'm afraid. Placenta was anterior, DD took 37 painful motherfucking hours to arrive.

I tried to turn her using spinning babies techniques, but I think it's just natural for babies to face the placenta, unfortunately.

She did turn during labour, thank god, but I basically paced the house for 27 hours to achieve that, so I would recommend an active labour. After 27 hours I got a blessed epidural, but made it a walking epidural so I didn't have to give birth on my back. I gave birth upright, I suspect that helped too as second stage was fairly quick and straightforward in comparison to first!

i have had 2 pregnancies and 2 back to back babies and 2 anterior placentas

DS never turned and after 2 days of slow labour he was born vaginally with gas and air and a shot of pethidine

DS (second child) back to back on the day of labour but turned and was a 7 hour labour from start to finish

she popped out with 2 pushes

don't be disheartened at this stage

I also had this with both my dd's and dd2 resulted in an emergency section at the end.

My labour with dd1 was not as bad as with ds who was front to back but dd2 labour was horrendous

Anterior placenta for all 3 of mine; last one only one where he was back to back. It was the most full on labour so far; no breaks between contractions as he turned himself around. Little sod. Was the fastest though and the most intense, but he popped out happily on our bed. So no, ap doesn't mean this will happen each time..Good luck!

Hi
I had an anterior placenta with DD and she was back to back nearly all of the way through my pg. She turned just in time, at about 36 weeks I think. I stopped sitting on the sofa and sat astride a backwards dining chair in the evenings and did loads of rocking on all fours. Not sure if that did the trick or if she would have turned anyway, but it's worth a try!
Good luck

Pennyscotia, many thanks for that link. I'm 26 weeks with DC3, first time with anterior placenta, and although mws have dismissed any suggestion that this could contribute to a more difficult labour, it's good to know about the spinning babies techniques to maximise chances of baby being in the right position. Here goes!

I've had four pregnancies, the last two had anterior placentas and none of the four were back to back labours

The two with anterior placentas (#3 and #4) were both fairly quick labours and in both cases the second stage was more the baby exploding out of me rather than lots (or in fact any!) of pushing.

I had an anterior placenta and my DS turned back to back around week 38 or so. I then spent the rest of my pregnancy leaning forward, bouncing on my birth ball - didn't sit on a sofa again til after DS arrived, and never slept on anything but my left side. In the end the little bugger turned LOA only to go transverse 17 hours into labour, turning a nice chilled out water labour with just paracetamol and gas and air into an em c-section. Don't stress it, they'll do what they do whatever happens! And he turned transverse because he was a whopper - don't think it was anything to do with having an anterior placenta. Good luck but really don't stress. Next one, there's no way I'm giving up the sofa whatever position they get into!

I had anterior placenta last time... and easy birth... just pay more attention to your posture in last 4 weeks..... position at 20 week scan is totally irrelevant baby is tiny!

OK, will try not to worry about it for a few weeks and then look at turning techniques. The whole labour thing is terrifying me. Have signed up for hypnobirthing classes though, I am praying they will help me stay calm...

I had an anterior placenta with ds2. He was born 4 hours after the first twinge. Only used a TENS on my way into hospital.

Please try not to worry too much, just be aware of things in the last moonth or so.

Don't be terrified emsyj most births go just fine and some are even pleasant (mine was awesome with hypnobirthing), it is just that you only hear about the horror stories, never about the easy/nice ones, because it feels wrong to talk about them when other people have had it rough.