Posterior Position During Labour

I didn't know much about Posterior Positon after I experienced it myself. I had a very long and difficult labour while delivering Derick and ended up c-section. Every constraction was really hurt my back not my tummy. The contractions pain itself were not as much pain as my back pain.

I didn't aware that some of my lifestyle may cause posterior positon. Actually posterior position are much more likely only occured to western women.

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It seems that western women are much more likely to have posterior babies than women who work in traditional ways in the fields, or bending over their cooking pots. So lifestyle might be one cause of posterior babies. It's not difficult to understand why. When you are sitting in your car, or curled up on a comfortable armchair watching television, or working at a computer for many hours, your pelvis is tipped backwards. This is always true if you are in a position where your knees are raised above the level of your pelvis.

When your pelvis is tipped backwards, the heaviest part of your baby, which is the back of his head and his spine, will also tend to swing round to the back. So he ends up in a posterior position, lying against your spine. If you have a lifestyle which involves very little sitting and a lot of upright activities, your baby is far more likely to go down into your pelvis in an anterior position because your pelvis is always tipped forwards.


What's the best position for birth?

The best position for your baby to be in when you go into labour is head down, with the back of his head slightly towards the front of your tummy. In this position, he fits snugly into the curve of your pelvis and it's easy for him to move gently down during labour. When he gets to the bottom of your pelvis, he turns his head slightly so that the widest part of his head is in the widest part of your pelvis. The back of his head can then slip underneath your pubic bone, and, as he is born, his face sweeps across the perineum, which is the tissue between the back of the vagina and your back passage.

Your midwife describes a baby who has the back of his head towards the front of his mother's abdomen as being in an ANTERIOR position. Labour is nearly always shorter and easier if the baby is anterior.

What's a posterior position?

Some babies go down into the pelvis with the back of their heads towards their mothers' spines. This is called a POSTERIOR position and it can lead to several things happening:

• Your waters are more likely to break at the beginning of labour

• You have a lot of backache during and in between contractions

• Labour is slower

• You may need forceps or ventouse (a suction device) to help you give birth to your baby.

The close proximity between the baby's bony skull and your spine can be very uncomfortable, and you might well find that the best position to labour in is on all fours. In this position, your baby drops away from your spine, helping relieve the backache.

When your baby gets to the bottom of your pelvis, he'll need to turn through 180 degrees to get into the best position for him to be born. This can take quite a while, or your baby may decide he's not going to turn at all! In this case, he will be born with his face looking up at you as he emerges. He might need forceps or ventouse to help him out.

How to help your baby into an anterior position:

• Sit on a cushion in your car to lift your bottom up

• Check that your favourite chair doesn't make your bottom go down and your knees come up

• Take regular breaks and move around if your job involves a lot of sitting

• Watch television on all fours for ten minutes every day

• Scrub all your floors and skirting boards — our grannies used to say that washing the kitchen floor was a good way of preparing for labour. And they were right! When you are on all fours, the back of your baby's head swings to the front of your abdomen.

How can I improve my baby's position during labour?

Women instinctively know how to labour if they are left to their own devices. However, giving birth in hospital sometimes means that it's hard to do what your body tells you because of lack of space in the delivery room or because you have to lie down for various procedures to be carried out. Try to:

• Remain upright for as long as possible

• Avoid lying on the bed for any length of time

• Lean forwards during your contractions

• Ask your labour companion to massage your back

• Rock your pelvis during contractions to help your baby turn as he passes through the pelvis

• Avoid sitting in a chair or on a bed in a leaning back position.

• If you get very tired during labour, lie on your side as this still allows the pelvis to expand a bit to give your baby more space whilst you are resting.

It you want to see some photos of posterior position, click here .

For those mommies including myself, who have posterior labour before, remember this :

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For those of us assisting VBAC moms who have had a posterior labour leading to cesarean or rooms who previously have had vaginal deliveries after long posterior labours, a word of caution: In my experience, when a subsequent baby is not in a posterior position the women are often very advanced in labour before they realise that they are in labour. This has led to many amusing situations!