# Posterior babies



## Tonks

Hi ladies, my baby has been posterior for quite some time, I'm 35 weeks so she still has time to turn but she is pretty comfy in this position she has not moved from it in months. I was wondering if any if you ladies had a posterior baby that either turned or if they were born posterior you did not have a 3-4 degree tear. This is my greatest fear, I have been having panic attacks about 4th degree tears so please no stories about this. I need some encouragement that babies do turn and not all posterior babies cause 4th degree tears. Thank you so much anyone who can help with your birth stories. I am very frightened, and all the confidence I once had of "I can do this" has turned to fear.


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## DolceBella

I labored with a posterior baby, making my contractions a bit more challenging, but she rotated for delivery. Try checking out spinningbabies.com


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## Tonks

Thank you, I will check it out. I'm glad to hear in your experience she turned, it gives me hope. Was she your first born?


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## Betheney

Yes i highly recommend reading spinning babies and researching. There is a lot of habits that we do that encourages babies to lie posterior. Like sitting back and slouched in couches. Always try and sit up or even forward like on a chair that's turn backwards. I think with my first the last few months i virtually only sat on one of those birthing balls whenever i sat down at home. None of my babies have been posterior but then again i'm very vigilant about avoiding a posterior baby by doing all those little habits that help prevent it. Have a look at their activities information and their posture information. Basically you want to encourage the baby to hang into the hammock that is your belly.


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## Iveneverseen

What's posterior? two my babies were back to back and one breech, one of them turned.


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## Betheney

posterior is back to back. The babies back is along the posterior part of your uterus. If the baby is anterior then it's back is against your tummy or front of the uterus.

Here is all the positions baby can be in if you want to get technical. There's more explanations about each one and which ones are more ideal for pregnancy, labour and birth on the spinning babies website.

https://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o676/MrsFairy_/image-2_zps17ad22b2.jpg


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## Iveneverseen

Yep 2 back to back/posterior babies here and a breech.


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## Tonks

Iveneverseen said:


> What's posterior? two my babies were back to back and one breech, one of them turned.

Posterior is back to back. Can I ask how the delivery went with your back to back babies?


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## honey915

My second baby was postierier and I was terrified that it would cause a very long Labour with bck pain. For months I was terrified! My Labour was 6 hours he turned in Labour he was a 9lb12oz baby so he got a bit stuck but I still got him out no problems and it really was a lovely Labour. I tore a little bit but nothing major just a few stitches but that was nothing to do with him being back to back it was because he was big. I hope this baby is as easy going in Labour as ds2 was good luck and try not to worry! Xx


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## Iveneverseen

Tonks said:


> Iveneverseen said:
> 
> 
> What's posterior? two my babies were back to back and one breech, one of them turned.
> 
> Posterior is back to back. Can I ask how the delivery went with your back to back babies?Click to expand...

Honestly? Very very long, and alot of pain in my back. but i got there in the end. pushing it was about 25mins with first baby and 8 mins with second baby. first baby was manually turned in labour, second came out face up.

i've herd some people say theirs wasn't too long though, i can't compair it to a normal labour though as both my labours where back to back and my third was breech c section.


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## Betheney

i have 2 close friends who had back to back labours where the baby didn't turn during delivery. The first one said back pain through labour was horrific and she still has back problems to this day from that delivery, it was her 3rd child. My second friend had really quick labours of only a couple of hours and her 3rd child was posterior and she laboured for about 18hours or longer and it was a long and tough labour at the end the doctor started talking a C-section because of failure to progress and then she finally pushed her out, she was also a very very big baby which i'm sure didn't help things. lol

I'm sorry to have such negative stories. But i imagine people who have posterior babies and birth perfectly fine don't bother mentioning it. It's always the horror stories you hear about.


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## Iveneverseen

My second baby was posterior and was 9lbs 4oz. i wont tell you how long my labours were with her and her sister, all i will say is 18hours would have been a dream for me lol.


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## Eleanor ace

My babies were both back to back. My first labour was 6 hours 20 minutes start to finish, gas and air for pain relief up until pushing and then nothing for the last wile of pushing because I was getting lazy :haha:. I did have a 3rd/4th degree tear but honestly it was no bother, I couldn't tell I'd torn and I just got stitched up, rested for a day and was up and about the next day. My 2nd was about 9 hours, gas and air from 8cm through pushing and just a couple of tiny tears which didn't require stitches. Obviously I can't compare my labour experiences to none back to back labour but my experience of b2b labour was positive, I found them both wonderful experiences and look forward to having anoter LO even though I will most likely have another b2b baby due to the position of my uterus.


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## Iveneverseen

Eleanor ace said:


> My babies were both back to back. My first labour was 6 hours 20 minutes start to finish, gas and air for pain relief up until pushing and then nothing for the last wile of pushing because I was getting lazy :haha:. I did have a 3rd/4th degree tear but honestly it was no bother, I couldn't tell I'd torn and I just got stitched up, rested for a day and was up and about the next day. My 2nd was about 9 hours, gas and air from 8cm through pushing and just a couple of tiny tears which didn't require stitches. Obviously I can't compare my labour experiences to none back to back labour but my experience of b2b labour was positive, I found them both wonderful experiences and look forward to having anoter LO even though I will most likely have another b2b baby due to the position of my uterus.

How do you know about the position of your uterus? is it something they mention to you?

I have three kids all wrong position, all never turned i wonder if there is a reason for that.


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## DebbieF

I was never told that my baby was posterior. I wish I would have known before I went in for my induction. Knowing the babies position goes you more power over the situation. Like Eleanor ace, I also had a 4th degree tear. It caused me absolutely no problems whatsoever. I would have never known I had it if they wouldn't have told me.


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## Iveneverseen

DebbieF said:


> I was never told that my baby was posterior. I wish I would have known before I went in for my induction. Knowing the babies position goes you more power over the situation. Like Eleanor ace, I also had a 4th degree tear. It caused me absolutely no problems whatsoever. I would have never known I had it if they wouldn't have told me.

The onlyone i was aware of the position out of my three was my youngest who was breech and i had a section for that reason.

My other two i was told in labour, they could have been back to back before but it wasn't mentioned to me.

Funnily enough my eldest, my midwife told me she was in proper position and engaged, when i went into labour she was back to back and certainly not engaged, as her head was too far up even at 10cms dilated i had to be left for an hour to allow her head to come down as it should have been. 

a consultant said my baby wasn't breech anymore too when i came in for my section, even though for months and months of my pregnancy he was and stayed breech and midwife checked 10mins previous to this.

they got the scanner out and yes he was still breech.

weirdly all three of my babies have been in wrong position (2 posterior/back to back and 1 breech) none of them turned and all three never engaged either :wacko:


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## JessesGirl29

Don't stress!!!!!! The most important thing to remember is that if you are scared during labour that will stall it just as much......you can TOTALLY do this!!!! 
My baby was back to back and sunny side up....I only had laughing gas and had a tear 'up front' due to his weird positioning but honestly it was so exciting to hold that baby that I didn't even care. :cloud9:

I knew my baby was back to back and when I woke up four days after my due date I had a period cramp and as soon as I stood up it turned in to a back cramp. I had back labour, not one cramp up the front. It felt like my back would tighten up here and there and I had a midwife appointment that morning and she checked me for a sweep, said I was 1-2 but didn't want to do the sweep because my baby hadn't descended. Her 'check' started my labour and when I got home I had my bloody show. 

I sat on the couch and watched netflix all day and tried to nap as much as possible. The back cramps were totally manageable all day, by the afternoon I had to breathe through them but I wanted to labour as long at home as I could so I just kept at it. At around 11pm I was starting to really feel it and called the midwife, when she heard I couldn't talk through the contraction she came and checked me and I was gutted to only be 3-4. 

She told me to keep going and she'd meet us at the hospital when I was ready. The contractions ramped up again and by 4:30 I was yelling at hubby to phone midwife, tell her I wanted an epi and that I was heading to the hospital. I was six centimeters when I got there! :happydance:

The BEST thing for my back labour was being in all fours in a huge tub and when a contraction would come my OH would use a showers head with super hot water and spray it on my back during the contractions. After awhile I needed the laughing gas and just kept plugging away in the tub. Was able to laugh with midwife and OH between contractions. By 9:30am I was fully dilated but my water hadn't broke. Midwife broke it and that sent me in to instant transition which was difficult but by that point the longest part was done and there was no going back. 

I won't lie, it felt like my butt was going to explode when I pushed but my midwife held a hot washcloth on my perineum to offer support and I was scared to push because it hurt so it took two hours of pushing. Baby's heart rate stayed great the whole time. When he was crowning I was screaming out "I'm tearing!!!" But it was just the ring of fire. I actually tore on the final push out and it was his beautiful little face that did it since he was in there wonky. At 12:08pm Wesley James came in to the world and it was the best moment of my entire life. 

Sorry that was so long, but I was a scared FTM like you but I made a plan and stuck to it, I wanted to labour at home as long as I could to avoid intervention, have a natural birth and use the tub. Talk to your labour 'team' to get the support you need. My baby was 8lbs5ozs.

PM me any time with questions and don't listen to the horror stories! :winkwink:


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## Eleanor ace

Iveneverseen said:


> Eleanor ace said:
> 
> 
> My babies were both back to back. My first labour was 6 hours 20 minutes start to finish, gas and air for pain relief up until pushing and then nothing for the last wile of pushing because I was getting lazy :haha:. I did have a 3rd/4th degree tear but honestly it was no bother, I couldn't tell I'd torn and I just got stitched up, rested for a day and was up and about the next day. My 2nd was about 9 hours, gas and air from 8cm through pushing and just a couple of tiny tears which didn't require stitches. Obviously I can't compare my labour experiences to none back to back labour but my experience of b2b labour was positive, I found them both wonderful experiences and look forward to having anoter LO even though I will most likely have another b2b baby due to the position of my uterus.
> 
> How do you know about the position of your uterus? is it something they mention to you?
> 
> I have three kids all wrong position, all never turned i wonder if there is a reason for that.Click to expand...

When I was expecting my DS I had an early scan and was told I had a retroverted uterus, it tilted forwards as the pregnancy went on but was still tilted quite back. My MW told me that a tilted uterus makes you a lot more likely to have a back to back baby. My stimach muscles got ruined with DS and my 2nd MW said that the way they are now also makes it more likely that my LO's will get into a posterior position but I'm not sure why!


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## ashlee2916

my son was posterior and the labour was long and painful. he was delivered via ventouse, but i had no episostomy and only 2 internal tiny stitches!
i thank the raspberry tea leaf for that!


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## Iveneverseen

Eleanor ace said:


> Iveneverseen said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Eleanor ace said:
> 
> 
> My babies were both back to back. My first labour was 6 hours 20 minutes start to finish, gas and air for pain relief up until pushing and then nothing for the last wile of pushing because I was getting lazy :haha:. I did have a 3rd/4th degree tear but honestly it was no bother, I couldn't tell I'd torn and I just got stitched up, rested for a day and was up and about the next day. My 2nd was about 9 hours, gas and air from 8cm through pushing and just a couple of tiny tears which didn't require stitches. Obviously I can't compare my labour experiences to none back to back labour but my experience of b2b labour was positive, I found them both wonderful experiences and look forward to having anoter LO even though I will most likely have another b2b baby due to the position of my uterus.
> 
> How do you know about the position of your uterus? is it something they mention to you?
> 
> I have three kids all wrong position, all never turned i wonder if there is a reason for that.Click to expand...
> 
> When I was expecting my DS I had an early scan and was told I had a retroverted uterus, it tilted forwards as the pregnancy went on but was still tilted quite back. My MW told me that a tilted uterus makes you a lot more likely to have a back to back baby. My stimach muscles got ruined with DS and my 2nd MW said that the way they are now also makes it more likely that my LO's will get into a posterior position but I'm not sure why!Click to expand...

I asked my midwife when pregnant with my third if she knew why i had babies all wrong positions. she said could be shape of my uterus? but not sure as nothing has ever been mentioned.


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## lindblum

My second was posterior, it was 22 hrs from start of contractions to birth. It was quite painful, i used gas and air. My waters didn't go until i started pushing. She was delivered vaginally and unassisted. I had a tiny second degree tear, she was 3.5kg (~7.5lbs?). I don't remember whether she turned during delivery, i think not. 

As mentioned above, you can try different positions to help your baby turn. I was told by the midwife to get on all fours and rotate my hips and to sit up straight. I was only told a few days before i went into labour tho, that's probably why it didn't work. 
I hope everything goes smoothly for you, good luck x


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## Nikki_lou

My second was posterior and we didn't know until he came out. He had been the correct way round at all of my check ups so no idea when he turned can only assume he may have turned during labour? active labour was just under 2 hours (waters broke 6 hours before he was born) with about 10 mins of pushing and I had no back pain. I had no tears at all just a slight graze. Out of my 2 labours I recovered quicker, I even jogged down the stairs after I had showered (home birth) which my midwife was quite shocked at lol.


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## Tonks

Thank tou everyone for your responses! Last night my baby girl was born at 36 weeks after my water broke. She did deliver posterior and although it was a difficult labor we are both fine!!!! I'm in heaven!!


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## lindblum

congratulations and well done :)


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## Eleanor ace

Aw congratulations! :dance:


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## JessesGirl29

Tonks said:


> Thank tou everyone for your responses! Last night my baby girl was born at 36 weeks after my water broke. She did deliver posterior and although it was a difficult labor we are both fine!!!! I'm in heaven!!

Yay!!!!!! You did it!!! :happydance:


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## Betheney

oh wow congratualtions!! so glad all went reasonably well


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## Iveneverseen

congrats x


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## x Helen x

my first baby was back to back. three hour labour from start to finish and she turned as she came out. minor labial tear with no stitches.

I tried everything to get her to turn in the weeks leading up to the birth but nothing worked! I've heard it's quite common for them to stay posterior if you have an anterior placenta.


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## x Helen x

Just seen your update!! massive congratulations!


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## Feronia

My first was posterior and it was a very long labour (but mostly because she was in a brow presentation AND posterior). She did flip before I birthed her, and an acupuncturist who came to my house helped with that -- it was amazing! I didn't experience any back labour, though, and I only pushed for 19 minutes and didn't tear at all! :thumbup:


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## Spudtastic

Hi.
I had a posterior baby and only found out during the pushing stage of labour. It wasn't mentioned before that.
My labour was long slow and painful. After failing to progress with any speed my midwife recommend an epidural. This was the BEST THING EVER. I'm surrounded by people who prefer to use only gas and air but I think my birth would have been a lot different without it. 
My baby turned as she exited the birth canal. In the end my midwife did an episiotomy where they cut you otherwise I would have teared.
If you have a midwife or ob chat to them about your fears. 
But if I have no. 2 I will have an epidural again. It meant that I was rested to be able to push my baby out.


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## Spudtastic

Just read your update too...Congratulations  glad it went well.


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## victoria1987

My baby was posterior and had his head tilted to the side but I did not know until it came to pushing. This was my first baby so I don't know if labour was any more painful than a normally positioned baby (made it to 8cm with just G&A though!). Pushing was pretty terrible tbh. 2.5 hours of pushing and he had to be manually turned during delivery. I managed to get away with only a 2nd degree tear though!


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## LuLu1987

My baby girl was posterior, I only discovered this after 90 minutes of pushing and awful back pain. I'd got through my contractions with G&A, which lasted about 6-7 hours. Things weren't progressing so I ended up having a spinal, forceps and an episiotomy to get her out!


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## NDH

Congratulations! In case this thread helps others some day I'll answer too. 
My first had been beautifully positioned for weeks, but when I went in for my induction the midwife told me she was sure she was posterior. I did have some classic signs of a posterior labour (excruciating back labour, which water injections helped amazingly) and prolonged second stage namely. But she surprised everyone by appearing face down, so must have turned enroute lol. I did have a second degree tear.
I do have many friends who birthed posterior babies without even a graze, and at least one had his hand by his face in addition to being posterior hand still not a graze.


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