thread: anterior or posteria front or back.

  1. #1

    Apr 2009
    central coast
    2,298

    anterior or posteria front or back.

    Can someone please set me stright on which is which i have googled it but to be honest have found things saying both back and front of uterus for a posteria placenta

    I have a grade 4 placenta previa and was led to believe it is at the front so it would be difficult to have a c section.
    All my appt the docs have been unable to hear bubs HB as the placenta is in the way and that is all you can here is the blood pumping through that.
    so i assumed they ment it was in the front
    But when i googled it i found anterior is the front and posteria is the back so looking through my u/s reports i read that my placenta has moved more over the cervix 1st scan said placenta posteria 2nd scan says posteria low then the 3rd and 4th scan both say posteria low totally covering the os and they were 4 weeks apart so i am a little confused if my placenta is posteria then wouldnt that be ok for a c section as it is on the back wall of the uterus and low over the cervix not in front where the incision would be?
    I have read different things and cant seem to get a conclusive answer is posteria the back wall and anterior the front wall.

  2. #2

    Jan 2008
    3,107

    Anterior is front, posterior is back

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Dec 2007
    Victoria
    7,260

    In reference to baby position:
    Anterior : baby spine is outwards, so baby is facing your spine
    Prosterior : baby spine is next to your spine, so baby is facing out towards your belly button

    When referring to your placenta if it is on the front wall of your uterus ie closest to the outside then it is anterior.
    If your placenta is on the back wall so closest to your spine, then it is posterior.


    So the problem they have in givingyou a cs is that your placenta is both low lying AND on the front. The incision site for a cs is right dow. Low horizontally across around about where your pubic line is or just below it.
    The problem is that cutting through this part could well be right on or dangerously close to where you placenta is attached meaning cutting it will cause a massive haemorrage and medically speaking is very silly

    HTH

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Add Dragonbub on Facebook

    Feb 2006
    Perth WA
    900

    Hey hun, the others are right, anterior is to the front (I have anterior placenta).
    Having said that, I have heard that if the placenta is at the front as in about 25% of cases, they do the cut higher. Not sure where I read this, but it wouldn't be too uncommon so I would just ask doc what it means.

    good luck! Hope it moves for you.

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Nov 2007
    Country Vic - West of Ballarat
    1,568

    I had an anterior placenta which moved low the week prior to delivery and ending up being placenta previa. My Ob was still able to do the c/s with the cut being low (they didn't know how low the placenta was until delivery), but as it was anticipated that I would have palcenta previa they did blood matching prior to the procedure to make sure they had blood on standby if needed. To get DD out my Ob had to cut through the placenta and in total I lost about 500mls of blood, even though this is higher than normal it was not extreme and I didn't need a blood transfusion after all.