Some babies lie with their back against their mum’s back in the womb. This is known as a posterior presentation, or back-to-back position.
With a posterior presentation, labour may or may not be significantly affected. If you're close to your EDD, you might have been told that labour will take longer, be more painful, and that you’re more likely to have a caesarean or assisted (instrumental) birth. Although these are true for some (because it's more difficult for babies to tuck their chin in, which tends to make getting through the pelvis more challenging), some mamas also report having very positive and fairly straightforward birthing experiences with back-to-back babies. However, we hear less about them, so I've asked one mama who shared her positive back-to-back birth story with me whether she'd be happy to share it with you. Thank you, Eleanor, for taking the time to write your story for us.
After an hour or so of active labour, at 7am, the midwife asked me to look down from my kneeling position - my baby’s head was out, and he was ‘star gazing’, which meant he was looking straight up at me, which was a lovely surprise!
"After 2 fairly straightforward pregnancies, and positive birth experiences, (more so with the 2nd birth), I was feeling hopeful that my body would find the 3rd time around either similar, or maybe even a little easier. So when I found out that #3 was back-to-back, I panicked - would the baby turn in time? My 2nd had been breach until 30+ weeks and turned on her own, but there was no sign of #3 doing the same. Would the labour be longer/more painful? Would the baby get stuck? Would my body be able to cope?
The midwives tried to discourage me from slouching on the sofa (which was a tough sell for a heavily pregnant mama with 2 toddlers!) and instead to try to watch a film on my hands and knees to allow the baby to have space to move. After many evenings of strange positions, neck ache, and still no turning baby, I decided to trust that my body knew what to do, and went back to slouching on the sofa!
My first ‘twinge’ was at 8pm, then I woke up at 3am having irregular contractions, and I arrived at hospital at 5am. The early stages of back-to-back labour felt similar to the previous birth, but the main difference for me was that I had always laboured while lying on my back before (which is supposedly less efficient, but worked for me!), whereas this time, I couldn’t spend any time whatsoever on my back - even to be examined. The only position that worked for me this time was to kneel upright while leaning forwards against the headboard. Holding myself up like this felt more tiring than lying down, but not necessarily more or less uncomfortable.
After an hour or so of active labour, at 7am, the midwife asked me to look down from my kneeling position - my baby’s head was out, and he was ‘star gazing’, which meant he was looking straight up at me, which was a lovely surprise! I didn’t need any stitches, and was able to manage a shower and some breakfast and was home 3 or 4 hours later.
My worries had been:
Would the labour be longer/more painful? No - it was as short as the previous, and it was only more uncomfortable if I attempted to lie on my back. While kneeling, I found it manageable!
Would the baby get stuck? Would my body be able to cope? The baby was absolutely fine and so was I - I trusted that him and my body knew what to do, and they did. 💚"
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