what shape is your pelvis?

[BellyBelly]

The Pink Kit goes over this and gives positions ideally suited to your pelvis shape for labour.

[paradise lost]

Don't know if this is true but one of the midwives i saw during my PG with DD said that you could tell if you had a good birthing pelvis by feeling with your fingers.

You basically put the first 3 fingers of your hand against your vulva (not necessarily IN the vagina though) and pull upwards, until all 3 are hard up against the underneath of the pubic arch. She said if your fingers stay in a straight line your baby will "fall out" (was true for me anyway! though i had a bit of an OP labour to begin with), if your middle finger sits a little higher between the other 2 you should make sure you're on hands and knees to deliver and if your middle finger goes so high that your other 2 are almost touching then you can expect a longer 2nd stage but, she stressed, a vaginal birth is still very possible with patience and support.

Bx

[Tobily]

This is from something I read while I was doing my doula training:

There are four different types of pelvis - gynecoid, android, anthropoid and platypelloid. The table below shows the features of each and the incidence amongst women.

The gynecoid pelvis is the most common amongst women and is the ideal shape for childbirth. The sacrum is curved well and the inlet is rounded. The pubic arch has the optimum angle for the baby's head to move past.

The anthropoid pelvis is found in a quarter of women and is the second most common shape. The pelvic brim is wider on the anteroposterior diameter (front to back) than it is on the transverse diameter (side to side). Women with this pelvic shape are often tall and have narrow shoulders. Posterior positioned babies are common with this pelvic shape.

The android pelvis is similar to the shape of the male pelvis and is found in 20% of women. It tends to be more common in women who are short and stockily built and possibly have a tendency to have more body hair than the average woman. Posterior positioned babies are common with this pelvic shape. The ischial spines are close together and may result in a slow descent of the baby in late labor.

The platypelloid pelvis is the least common shape. The transverse diameter at the inlet is larger than other pelvic shapes while the anteroposterior diameter is smaller. Because of the smaller anteroposterior diameter the baby may need to tilt its head (asynclitic position) in order to engage into the pelvis.

And yeah, the pink kit has a heap of exercises on mapping your pelvis so you can get an idea of the shape, where your tailbone is pointing etc. Really interesting.