Back to back..

[....Jess....]

Just been for my 38 weeks appointment and MW has said she thinks baby has turned herself back to back.

all she could say was "it's going to make labour a lot more painful"

Does anybody have experiances of giving birth to a B2B baby? x

 

[solitaire89]

My baby was back to back when I started out in labour - by the time LO arrived she'd turned, but for the most part of labour she was back to back. I had no pain at all during labour and birth, so I have to say I don't necessarily agree with your mw... Oh, and that was a drug free labour and birth too, so it wasn't drugs dealing with the pain!

 

[Beccaboop]

I had a back to back labour but as he is my first baby i dont know if it was more painfull but i had a lot of pain in my back and lower tummy and lying down was not very nice during labour i spent the whole time bouncy and rolling on a ball during labour which really healped and pushed leaning over the back of the bed but lo got stuck cos he was back to back and was getting distressed so i went to theatre and the used forceps to turn him and i pushed him out which was good cos they said if they couldnt turn him then id have to have a c. section they even ave me an epidural just in case or maybe it was cos they cut me im not sure!

I would say it wasnt the worse pain ever tho i kept waiting for the pain that made me shout and scream but it never came i breathed through my contractions and only had petherdine really early on then 2 co codimal and some gas and air but i dont think it did much really so i got annoyed with it and gave up! I think if he didnt get stuck i could of pushed him out without it!

Good luck and i definitely recommend sitting on a ball in labour xx

 

[solitaire89]

I had a back to back labour but as he is my first baby i dont know if it was more painfull but i had a lot of pain in my back and lower tummy and lying down was not very nice during labour i spent the whole time bouncy and rolling on a ball during labour which really healped and pushed leaning over the back of the bed but lo got stuck cos he was back to back and was getting distressed so i went to theatre and the used forceps to turn him and i pushed him out which was good cos they said if they couldnt turn him then id have to have a c. section they even ave me an epidural just in case or maybe it was cos they cut me im not sure!

I would say it wasnt the worse pain ever tho i kept waiting for the pain that made me shout and scream but it never came i breathed through my contractions and only had petherdine really early on then 2 co codimal and some gas and air but i dont think it did much really so i got annoyed with it and gave up! I think if he didnt get stuck i could of pushed him out without it!

Good luck and i definitely recommend sitting on a ball in labour xx

I'd agree, a ball is really good to "boing" about on. It makes for a good laugh. Especially eating fish and chips whilst bouncing on one!!!

 

[aimee-lou]

I HATED my ball! I had hubby forcibly pop it after Earl was born and I never replaced it lol.

Eddy was sitting back to back when I was in early labour. my sadistic but brilliant midwife had me walking up and down the stairs and dancing the hula trying to turn him, and by jove it worked!

 

[aliss]

I found it much easier than my pitocin non B2B baby. I did 12 hours with just hot water. I don't know natural normal labour.

 

[Anthrogirl]

I found it much easier than my pitocin non B2B baby. I did 12 hours with just hot water. I don't know natural normal labour.

I'm with aliss! Straddled a chair in a hot shower to ease the pains of B2B labor with my first, but induction after PROM with #2 tethered to the bed on continual monitoring was WAY worse hands down!

I don't remember if they told me my first was B2B. I know I didn't go into it expecting back labor but she was my first so I was really none the wiser. It seems that a lot of women get a "btw you're baby is B2B, be ready for a hellacious labor". Anyone else find this a little counter-productive in the 'fear of labor' area?

 

[solitaire89]

Totally and utterly counter productive. I felt myself start to tense up when I heard the words "back to back", for a split second before checking myself and thinking... "but I'm already in labour and it doesn't hurt!". Fear tension pain cycle here, anyone?!

 

[LegoHouse]

4 hours, gas and air, 15 mins pushing, first baby.

Stay calm and relaxed. Trust your body. Lean forward a lot x

 

[winegums]

Hmm what a helpful thing for her to say?

Some women find it more painful, some women don't. Some women just find it feels 'different'

My son was OP, my labour progressed quite quickly until the end when it slowed down considerably whilst he changed position. I used paracetamol, TENs machine and gas & air. It wasn't the pain that got me, it was the involuntary pushing before being fully dilated - which is common with OP babies as it helps them to turn into a better position before being born.

Anyway, like everything it is subjective. Warm water is meant to help, as is TENs x

 

[kerrie24]

Ive had 2 b2b babies,Aimee took 3 hours from first contraction,Owen took about 1.5 hours from first contraction,niether of which were more painfull than my normal birth with ds1.And Owen weighed 10lb5 too and he still came out lol.

 

[MindUtopia]

I'm not sure if my baby was still back to back during birth, though it didn't feel like she had turned before then and I definitely felt her hands to the front during labour. She was back to back through most of my pregnancy and this was confirmed at my 36 week scan. I had her at 37 weeks so I am pretty sure she was still that way. But honestly, it didn't seem to make a difference. I don't think I had any back labour. I used a TENS machine in early labour, but that was my only pain relief, so I imagine I would have felt it. I actually found the pain really manageable. Granted this was my first baby, so I don't have another birth to compare it to, but I don't think it made any difference. The only thing I would say is that I had a longer 2nd stage (4 hours of pushing, even though I was upright, walking around, squatting the whole time). I'm thinking this might have been longer because she was turning and trying to better position herself then because she did come out the right way. That would be the only possible downside I could think of, but I don't even know if that had anything to do with being posterior. In the meantime, I'd really recommend trying the exercises from Spinning Babies. They might not work (I did them religiously from 31 weeks!) but it's worth a shot.

 

[Eleanor ace]

I've only had 1 baby so nothing to compare it to but my back to back labour was fine . I did have gas and air for some of it but honestly it wasn't the horror story people other people told me it would be!

 

[Hunbun]

It was very sore, but like others have said it was my first baby so I don't have anything to compare it to.

I managed on gas and air until the pushing, then I stopped using it.

They say it slows the labour down but other than that I think it just makes your contractions more concentrated because they are all in your back.

 

[randomrach]

I found it much easier than my pitocin non B2B baby. I did 12 hours with just hot water. I don't know natural normal labour.

I had pitocin and halfway through my 26 hour labour baby turned B2B, backpain was very bad but I survived I did have an epidural as doctors were heading towards me having a csection (I even had the sexy stockings ) but that was completely ineffective once LO did turn. Lying on my side helped turn baby back around but don't give up hope my LO was breech at 37weeks but wasn't at 39 week scan.

 

[liz1985]

My LO was back to back pretty much all way through labour. I have nothing to compare it too, put it was manageable. Try not to worry about it, it's all doable, just go in with an open mind about how you want things to go and you'll be fine.

 

[XJessicaX]

Wont lie. My first labour was a back to back (persistent posterior) and it was a hundred times worse than my 'normal' 2nd labour. In fact my first labour was so horrendous that I contemplated and looked into having a section with my 2nd baby if she had been in the posterior position at my last midwife appointment.

 

[LilyValley]

My B2B baby is my first, I won't lie, it was a painful, long and complicated labour. When comparing labour stories mine sounds awful but actually, it was probably because it was my first experience of labour that made it seem worse. If I had to do it again I'd insist on a stronger painkiller, earlier on. I ended up with syntocin and an epidural which meant I felt nothing during pushing, I ended up with a 2nd degree tear which has only just stopped giving me aggro 4 months on. The reality of B2B is much easier than the thought of it, even if I knew I would have a B2B baby again it wouldn't scare me, and I'm a wimp! Don't worry x

 

[Lulu1982]

Mine was back to back but turned before she was delivered. Natural, unmedicated birth but she was my first so. Don't have anything to compare it to. It was all fine and no more painful than I would have expected having a baby to be!x

 

[LuluSS]

My baby was back to back. He ended up turning at the end.

But it was very painful for me. But what was hard was that my contractions were nonstop. I did not get a break in between. The anethesiologist even asked me if I was given pitocin because my contractions were so crazy.