Position of baby during labour

Hello,

Just a quick question and if no one knows then that is cool, but you all seem to know so much stuff so i thought i'd just ask here anyway..

Anyhow, my baby was head down and facing towards my left side during the later part of pregnancy and all through labour.... once I wanted to push she was still in this position and didnt move until the ob came in and put his hands up there to turn her around. She was getting stuck on my pelvis, and every push I did was doing absolutely nothing. She'd come down a bit, but as soon as the contraction finished she'd go back up to where she started.

My question is, do they normally turn around on their own or do you normally need an ob or someone to turn them around?
or can you push them out when they are facing to your side?
or was I maybe pushing too early or something?

I probably should have asked the midwife or ob, but i totally forgot about it when I was finally holding her!

They do normally start out facing the left (or sometimes the right) as they come down and they turn so that they're face down as they're born. This position means the head has it's smallest circumference presenting to make it as easy as possible to push out. Baby would normally do this by him/herself but sometimes, as in your case, needs a bit of a hand.
I'm not sure whether they can be born facing sideways - I imagine they could but it would be really hard work for mum and she'd need a pretty roomy pelvis. I'm sure someone else here will know! :D

Yes, most bubs do sort of get themselves into position - usually head down, facing your back, head slightly turned to the left or right. (On the chart, it would be marked LOA - left occiput anterior, or ROA - right occiput anterior.) Those are the most common presentations, and the easiest to deliver, as the PP mentioned. That presents the smallest head circumference. Some babies are born looking up, or to the side, which is a more difficult delivery, and some are "face" presentations, which is also quite difficult, because the face doesn't mould the way the skull of a newborn will. (Is that the right "mould"? hmmmm, it's looking funny to me. Oh well, you know what I mean. :D ) The mother would need to have quite a roomy pelvis for that to work, as the pp said.
Anyways, yes, they do usually get into position, but anything can happen, and sometimes they will need a little guidance. It probably didn't have anything to do with you pushing too early.

Hi Karina,
The position that you are describing sounds ok to me. It sounds as though your baby was in the optimal positioning for birth. An OA or anterior position. Baby's head is usually face down at birth, unless you have a posterior baby, then the face would be up. The babies body is actually birthed on the side. When we see the head crown and birth, we then wait for what is known as restitution. That is the head will turn from face down to face forward, relative to the body. Eg; if your baby is lying on it's right hand side, with the front facing the left, the head will restitute so that the face is also to the left, does that make sense?
Baby's head cannot come out facing to the side. That is known as deep transverse arrest and becomes an emergency if baby gets stuck, perhaps that is why the doctor needed to change the position of bubs? Face presentation can happen but brow presentation is also an emergency as the circumference is too wide to pass.
The other thing that you describe also, sounds normal to me. As baby is moving through the "u" bend it comes down a little and then slips back, comes down a little more and then slips back again. For a first bub, this might seem like it takes forever but eventually the head will crown and stay on the perineum. Perhaps you had a cervical lip (which is a small part of the cervix that hasn't totally pulled back and is inhibiting the baby's descent)and this is why the doctor put his hands up there? I'm sure that if the doc could place his hands on baby's head to change the position then you were ready to push.
Did they explain it to you and your partner as they were doing it?
Anyway, I hope that info helps a bit.

Well said Tiggy. I agree it sounds like a normal birht to me. One other thing the Dr could have been doing as feeling the soft spots on the babys head. Doing this tells us exactly what positoin the babys head is in

Wow thanks for all the info. I was just a bit confused at the time becuse they really didnt tell me much except for that she seemed to be stuck because her head was sideways... but I really couldnt concentrate on what was being said cos I was having massive contrax close togather.
All I remember was pushing for almost 2 hrs with absolutely no success until a doctor came in and turn her head, then it only took me a few pushes to push her out. I was worried I had done something wrong, or that I had damaged her or something. They didnt tell me anything, probably because they didnt want to stress me out more.

Ok i have waffled enough. Thanks for your replies, and now I actually know it is sort of normal anyway.