Possible posterior at 36 weeks.

I had an appt with my GP yesterday and he thinks our baby may be lying posterior. We don't know for sure but it does make a lot of sense to me, lying in bed last night i had simultaneous movements in my lower belly on both sides. So it's very much a possibility.

Just wondering how those with a similar expereince went. Did bub turn prior to labour? Is there anything i should be doing?

I had a read of a book that i have and it says most turn but a small percentage don't and posterior labour can be quite long and painful. Probably shouldn't have had a read :doh:

Just wondering if there is any advice or stories from personal experince?

Thanks ladies :)

Have a look at the spinning babies website there are lots of tips on there about improving posture and encouraging bub to move to a better position. Lots of girls on here have birthed posterior babies, I'm sure they will pop on soon. With posterior labour you do tend to have more back pain in labour.

My son was born posterior at 38 weeks. They didn't tell me he was posterior before labour, so I didn't look it up, lol


My labour started on the Thursday about 3pm and I was having contractions every ten minutes until Saturday when my labour intensified in my ba ck and I went to hospital, I was only 2cm dilated then and they sent me home, they still didn't say he was posterior, I laboured at home until 2am sunday ( Saturday night) when we went back to hospital as the pain was too much ... I was still only 4cm dilated but had gas and air until I progressed further.

By 10.15am I was ready to push and had been having contractions every two minutes so I was exhausted by then, and in a lot of pain, which I didn't know was because of bubs position.....

He was born at 10.38am and they didnt realize until he crowned.... I was in the right position though and hubby delivered him no problems....


I didn't know until later when MIL actually explained what way he was facing etc.

I had several stitches, but I'm not sure whether that had anything do with it....

Posterior births are usually longer labors and the pain is mostly in the back, other than that I had a great natural birth.
Best of luck !!!

Oh Myboys - my middie said the same, I've been doing the exercises from spinning babies and I think bubs moved last week. There's not just positions to help bubs change position but also to birth in to help bubs come out.

Get yourself some moxa sticks from an acupuncturist, or even hve acupuncture. I did both, ds was supposedly posterior from 35 weeks, but by the time I was in labour he'd definitely turned as I had none of the pain etc associated wih post. Labour, and he wasn't posterior when born.

Oooh I was told to be careful with moxa because they use it to turn breech bubs and if they are head down they can flip to breech :o might be worth finding out from a TCM before you try it!

Not normally..def talk to the therapist first

I recommend spinning babies too. My son was suspected posterior at my last appointments too and he didn't seem to move even though I was careful about posture. It seems he was posterior in labour given the way I laboured (upright, swaying, couldn't sit/lie down, back pain, hot shower on back) and he turned in labour. It really wasn't that bad so I'm happy to say that not all posterior babies make for difficult labours.

my 1st bub was posterior only 1.5 hour labour and lots of back pain didnt know till she came out

Dd2 was in perfect position...... Until I went into labour! She was posterior and although it was painful I didn't know any different and coped fine. So even if you do everything you can and bub stays posterior don't let it get to you mentally. It is still totally achievable. :) not long now!!! How exciting.

DS was posterior up until the day i had him, i dunno if he turned for the birth or if i was just lucky he was almost 2 weeks late and timed it well. have you tried using acupressure?? i was a lil sceptical at first but a friend sent me some info on it and i gave it a go, there is actual certain points you can press which apparently turns the baby ready for birth, so the day after i tried it i had an appt. at the hossy where i had an u/s and bub was in perfect birthin position! either it really works or that was a huge coincidence. cant hurt :) GL with it all xx

My DD was born posterior. Can't answer right now coz she's screaming in my arms, but there's a link to my birth story in my sig if you want a read. it kinda describes the back pain.
It can be done! Don't be scared, be prepared!


ETA - I have a bit more time now. 3 of my 4 kids have started out posterior in labour. DD2 & DS turned during, DD3 didn't.

DD2's labour was quite drawn out & long. I had 20 hours of 'pre labour' contractions. Irregular & starting & stopping. 10 hours of full on labour. While in labour I sat on an exercise ball rocking my hips side to side to help her turn.

DS's labour was hard & fast, only 5 hours (fast for me). But contractions never got regular. What I found great with him, was if you get up on your hands & knees over a bean bag or something it takes the pressure off your back. Its so much easier that way.

DD3's labour was again quite drawn out. 12 hours with pre labour. Again contractions never got regular. Not long before I had her contractions started to slow & ease up. This is what you need to be careful of during labour. Its very common in posterior babies coz they aren't quite in the best position to keep coming down. This is when you need to get up & move around. Keep those contractions going & get gravity to help bubs move down. I yelled & protested, but just a (long & painful, lol) trip to the toilet was enough to pick things up again.

That is where alot of obs see failure to progress & women end up with intervention, such as c/s. Its good you know this & can prepare, coz I had no idea with DD. I'd asked the doc at every appointment about her position coz I wanted to avoid that if I could, lol. Somewhere in that last week she decided to turn!

The pain is hard. It can be done, but its hard. Its horrible lower back/pelvic pain. It feels like there's so much pressure that your back/pelvis just wants to split in two. My 3 with that pain though, were my 3 drug free labours. (Til the very very end anyway... DS was out before the peth kicked in... they tried to tell me :lol:)

So there's some info/experience about it all in case your little one is as stubborn as DD was. Hopefully baby will turn soon & all will be good though :)

Good luck :D

DD was posterior at my last appointment (39+6) and had spun around but the time I was induced (40+3) so there is definitely oodles of time for your baby to get itself into a better position! Good luck!

Thanks so much ladies, hearing from you all makes me feel confident that it definately can be done. I have gone relatively pain free with my boys as i've only even used the gas and i hope to be able to do that again.

I had mothers group this morning and found out that that was what one of the mum's went through with her first bub. A long drawn out labour that ended in a c-section :o

But i'm going to remain positive. I will defiantely take a look at the spinning babies website and i think i may even consider some accupunture aswell. I know there is still a fair bit of time to have bubs turn but if i can help make sure that happens i will :lol:

Reading about the posterior position they said that it can happen more in this 'modern age' as we sit so much more than the 'olden days'. I find that hard to believe, not much sitting happening here at all running after 2 kids :lol: Where do they get that from????

Thanks again ladies some of you defeinately had some tough labours but birthed your babies beautifuly in the end.

My posterior labour was drug free, you'll be fine. :) xx


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Thanks for the reasurance Junglemum, i know i can try and change things but as to if that works or not is another thing. So i'm not going to worry about it too much, we'll just have to see what happens. I think i'm more worried about intervention than the pain :dunno: Lets just hope things go well and we're left to do what we need to do :D

Congratulations by the way, so very happy for you and your beautiful family. All the best for a happy and healthy 9 months oxox :D