# Natural birth with a sunny-side up baby?



## MamaFlick

I'm at 32 and a half weeks and my baby is head down (yay!) but sunny-side up (booo!). I know there's still plenty of time for her to change positions... but I was wondering, has anyone here ever made it through back labor and still had a natural birth?

I mean, I know it has to have been done before, I just need some encouragement and inspiration. This is my first baby, so I don't know what kind of pain to expect. I already have constant back pain anyways from fibromyalgia and other issues, and I've heard that sunny-side up babies cause back labor. I'm scared that the pain will be too much and I'll cave and end up getting medication, which I really don't want.

So how bad is the pain, REALLY? How bad is back labor + natural birth?


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## hellohefalump

To be honest my back to back labour hurt about the same as my normal position labour. The difference was I had the urge to push when I wasn't fully dilated yet, and no one told me this but you actually shouldn't push (easier said than done) because it puts pressure on the baby's head and can cause the baby distress. The labour took longer than it should have because my body was trying to turn him round before he came out. When I got to the hospital they said he should have taken around 20minutes, but he actually took two and a half hours, with very painful contractions and the urge to push. I did push when my body wanted to even though the midwife told me not to I couldn't help it. I don't know whether or not this contributed to his very low apagar score (2) when he finally did arrive... I didn't take the midwife seriously when she said not to push because she didn't explain why, luckily my baby was ok though in the end. 

As for pain relief I had just gas and air in the last two hours. However, the pain right at the end was so bad I did ask for an epidural, but by the time the man came, it was too late and the head was crowning. I'm glad I didn't have it, but at the time I really really wanted one even though before the birth I was quite determined not to have one.


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## june2013

I was positioned sunny-side up and my mom delivered me naturally. She said it was by far the most painful of her three deliveries and it did take longer but she did it with no pain relief. I was also a 10 pound baby! So it can be done! Good luck!


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## summer rain

My youngest wasn't sunny side up but he was facing towards the left and not in the optimal position-and even when he came out he came out facing left and his shoulders came out with his head! It was the most painful and drawn out of my labours but it was doable with only gas and air. I think a TENs machine would have worked amazingly well too had I remembered to bring it to the hospital with me xx


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## MamaFlick

summer rain said:


> My youngest wasn't sunny side up but he was facing towards the left and not in the optimal position-and even when he came out he came out facing left and his shoulders came out with his head! It was the most painful and drawn out of my labours but it was doable with only gas and air. I think a TENs machine would have worked amazingly well too had I remembered to bring it to the hospital with me xx

Most US hospitals don't offer gas and air anymore... I'm pretty sure mine doesn't. :( So hopefully it's doable with no medication at all!

Thanks everyone for the responses. I really appreciate it.


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## chicka.chicka

I've done it 4 times with no pain relief... at home. All of my babies have been sunny side up with back labor except my last one. It can totally be done. I just take it one contraction at a time - breathing and moaning from deep down help. I find that the contractions are tolerable until my water is broken (has to be done manually, has never broken spontaneously), and then they get much more intense. There is a "sweet spot" right in the lower part of the small of my back that if my husband sticks his fist in it during a contraction it takes the edge off, so he knows once things really get rocking, that's his job. LOL

You can totally do it. Yes, it hurts more, but the good news is that the pain is temporary. Just remind yourself that "this too shall pass." ;)


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## MamaFlick

Thank you so much chicka :)


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## aliss

I had a very long (for 2nd baby) back to back birth, he was 12 hours + 2 hours pushing. Zero pain relief (we have G&A but I didn't like it with my 1st).

May I recommend "sterile water injections", apparently they are used in the US as well, for back labour. I didn't get any (I was in my moment and didn't want to break for it) but these are something nobody told me until I was in labour. 

RE: Pain
Well, it hurts like hell, I admit. But remember when your contractions break, all the pain literally stops. It is surreal. So you can breathe and brace for it. Also, it was a walk in the park compared to my non-back labour pitocin-induced baby.

Good luck. You can do this!


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## MindUtopia

My daughter was back to back (or at least as of the week before she was born) and I had a home birth, and I can assure you it's definitely totally doable! Who knows if maybe she turned, but I don't think I had any back labour or at least none that was unbearable. I used a TENS machine through a good part of my birth (that was the only pain relief I had, didn't even really get in the pool except for about 30 minutes before I got out again). Labour is intense, but it's _not_ unbearably painful. It's like having really intense diarrhea (yes, really) with a sorta painful clenching and urge to poo, but at least for me, it was completely possible to cope with and I never felt like I needed any additional pain relief. The only thing that was challenging for me is that I had a fairly long 2nd stage (pushing) probably because my daughter was turning in my pelvis then because she came out the right way. It lasted just short of 4 hours (but didn't feel that long!). The hard part was just that I was squatting and kneeling and my legs got so tired after a while! But yes, have faith in yourself, because it's so doable. I'd really recommend a TENS machine though (and hypnotherapy, if you have the time to learn in still).


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## hellohefalump

Just remembered when my mum had my sister she was back to back and she had a home birth with a water pool. She went to bed during labour and fell asleep (my mum must have easy labours because I can tell you there was no way the pain would let me fall asleep once labour started!!) anyways, my sister turned around while she was asleep during labour and came out the normal way round. Midwife couldn't believe it! Lol


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## Anthrogirl

Had my first sunny side up/back to back with no drugs no interventions. It hurt, but then what labor doesn't? Positioning really helped (hands and knees, straddling a chair in the shower) and squatting to deliver (she was out in 3 pushes). Honestly I didn't find it nearly as bad as my labor with #2 that was induced after PROM with no contractions.


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## MandaAnda

I don't see that anyone's mentioned it, so I will. Have a look at the Spinning Babies website and see if you can't get baby in a better position before the day. I'd make sure that you have freedom over your position in labour, as we do automatically assume the position best suited to delivering our baby, such as all fours. Flat on your back isn't fun, no matter what position baby's in. x


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## lozzy21

Most of the time baby's are back to back because of the mothers posture or how she sits. Slouching and sitting on sofas does nothing to help. My waters broke on the Sunday, I was 2-3 CM and baby was back to back. Got sent home Monday lunchtime and spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning sat on my ball and when I went back to hospital Tuesday afternoon she was the right way round.


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## summer rain

MamaFlick said:


> summer rain said:
> 
> 
> My youngest wasn't sunny side up but he was facing towards the left and not in the optimal position-and even when he came out he came out facing left and his shoulders came out with his head! It was the most painful and drawn out of my labours but it was doable with only gas and air. I think a TENs machine would have worked amazingly well too had I remembered to bring it to the hospital with me xx
> 
> Most US hospitals don't offer gas and air anymore... I'm pretty sure mine doesn't. :( So hopefully it's doable with no medication at all!
> 
> Thanks everyone for the responses. I really appreciate it.Click to expand...

I'm aware of that, just sharing my experience. Coming to think of it it was the latent stage of labour that was most painful, later on it wasn't that painful, it was the pressure feeling that was much more severe and intense and I don't think even an epidural could have quelled it completely. My sister had a back to back baby with her youngest, she was always extremely active during pregnancy; sat on a birth ball instead of the sofa for most of her pregnancy and attended pregnancy yoga one of the purposes of which was making sure baby was in an optimum position for birth-but these things just happen sometimes. She had a home water birth using only hypnobirthing, she was in transition for two hours because her daughter was not only back to back but just not engaged properly at all either so she had to wait for her daughter to turn and engage. I would have lost it as I always feel ready to push as soon as I am 10cm but my sister was able to stay calm and collected and she said due to the hypnobirthing it didn't feel like 2 hours at all xx


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## aliss

It is doable without medication. Remember that nearly every woman ever has done it without and that there are ways to do it without hospital medications. People are very good at convincing you that you will literally die without pain medications but unless you have some sort of heart condition or serious blood pressure disorder, then the risk of you actually dying from pain itself doesn't make sense, right?

I've done it once with, and once without, and IMO the complications/risks of pain medications like an epidural simply don't outweigh the pain. It hurts, don't get me wrong, it bloody hurts, but when it's over, it's over. Without the epidural, I felt like myself again in 5 minutes. With the epidural, I was still limping around with bloated legs for a week.


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## Blob

My second daughter was back to back and tried to turn in labour but actually was born sunny side up too. At least I picked her out of the water and she was facing me so she had to be ;) 

She was a lot longer labour than my first, not harder for me also I found no difference in labours. But I had a very fast labour with my first but my second was over 2 days from regular contractions so that was harder. 

Actual pushing I found a lot easier but with my first I was lying down and this time I was squatting. 

She was born at home and with only a few mouthfuls of G&A x


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## IrelandsOwn

Totally doable! My daughter was born sunny side up and I did it naturally. It wasn't bad at all. The back pain did hurt but I found someone (doula or my husband) pressing on my lower back during a contraction really helped. You will be fine. Good luck!


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## solitaire89

My DD was back to back when labour started but had turned herself around by the time my waters broke several hours later. I didn't feel any pain at all. Nothing. Intense sensation, yes, but pain? Nope! I suppose at this stage I should add that my labour and birth was entirely drug free. I would recommend, as someone else has said ( ;) ) that Natal Hypnotherapy is fantastic, and if you have time I would suggest you look at it.


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## Blah11

Both mine were born completely back to back and I reckon its just the way my pelvis is shaped or angled. I did everything to turn them and romans labour was very active with me mainly standing and on all fours which is how I gave birth.


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## SimoneMK

MamaFlick said:


> summer rain said:
> 
> 
> My youngest wasn't sunny side up but he was facing towards the left and not in the optimal position-and even when he came out he came out facing left and his shoulders came out with his head! It was the most painful and drawn out of my labours but it was doable with only gas and air. I think a TENs machine would have worked amazingly well too had I remembered to bring it to the hospital with me xx
> 
> Most US hospitals don't offer gas and air anymore... I'm pretty sure mine doesn't. :( So hopefully it's doable with no medication at all!
> 
> Thanks everyone for the responses. I really appreciate it.Click to expand...

What is gas and air? NEver heard of it before


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## MandaAnda

It's Entenox (nitrous oxide and oxygen), known in North America as laughing gas.


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## Guppy051708

yeah most US hospitals dont offer that here. 


Im in the USA and I had DS1 intervention and drug free and he was perssitantly face up. Little stinker! lol

Here was my birth story with him. ( https://babyandbump.momtastic.com/b...-arrival-posterior-style-bradley-way-3-a.html )
im not going to lie. it was lonnnggg. it was hard...and it hurt a million times worse than my labor with DS2 (who was not face up) BUT it can be done. Posterior labors just take more support and more patience (A LOT more patience bc they can take longer, but not always). But it can def be done! Hydrotherapy will be your best friend!

Also, only 5% of babies are actually born face up. 50% of all women enter labor with a face up baby, but only 5% are born that way. So theres a good change your LO will turn at some point, but in the meantime id suggest lots of counter pressure and hip squeezes as well as lots of moving and listening to your body. And of course hot water.

you can also ask for sterile hot water injections in your back. I didn't know about them otherwise i would have done it. Its basically just a shot of hot water into ur lower back, but apparently they work pretty well ay reducing te pain of back labor,from what i hear. Since its just water, there are no drugs involved. If I have another face up I will be asking for them

i would highly recommend water birth too...im bias though lol


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## MrsSmartie

DS was back to back for the whole of my pregnancy. It did bother me but I tried to just remind myself that most babies turn etc. Then at 39 weeks he turned right round and I went into labour the next day and had a lovely birth. Don't panic about position in pregnancy, it is possible to birth back to back but most babies will get themselves sorted in time! X


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## NaturalMomma

I had back labor and didn't find it more painful than regular unmedicated labor.


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