# Anyone have a natural birth w/ back labor?



## MediaNaranja (Oct 6, 2008)

Despite chiro visits and pelvic exercises, my baby is still posterior (sunny side up) and is fully engaged. Doc thinks he'll stay that way until birth but may turn during birth. If not, he says I'll most likely have a lot of back pain. I am a bit disheartened because we've been preparing for an unmedicated birth with Bradley and lots of practice. I know it can be done but I just feel like I'm up against tough odds since back labor sounds even harder than regular labor and I'd like some positive words of encouragement from moms who have been successful even with back labor. Thanks so much.


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## kitkat5505 (Feb 22, 2005)

My 2nd was all natural with back labor the whole time. It was extremely painful the last few hours through transition and pushing, but up until then as long as I was walking or in any position but lying down I was able to get through it fine.


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## ChristSavesAll (Mar 27, 2008)

Yes, with dd who was born at home (intentional UC)... on the plus side, the back labor went away when pushing began, but until then it was on and off back labor with contractions in the front too for 36 hours, 5 of that was active with about 5-7 minutes resting gaps between contractions.. I lived through it, really the pushing was the hardest and most painful part, though I was getting pretty done with the contractions right before my water broke.

Oh and btw, my contractions didn't hurt nearly as bad as they did with ds who I was induced with pit.


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## Beakybird (May 18, 2007)

My first son was born sunny side up (posterior) and I did not have back labor. So keep in mind you may not have it anyway, or baby could rotate before labor or even during labor.


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## lifeguard (May 12, 2008)

I had back labour & no pain meds.


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## 98741 (May 17, 2006)

both of mine, the first was posterior or labor and turned in the birth canal, that really hurt (but i did it and was thrilled that i did!) and my son was anterior until he really engaged in my pelvis towards the end of labor and came out posterior. they both really hurt but i didn't suffer (there is definately a difference!). i think i just have a funky shaped pelvis that makes them go posterior. mine was also with chiro and lots of intentional positioning. the odds are that you'll do fine but stay upright or all 4 and have a few sets of hands that can rotate providing counter pressure on your back i definately recommend a doula because they have provide lots of ideas to try and show you good places to massage/push for a back labor.


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## elanorh (Feb 1, 2006)

dd1 was not fully engaged, but posterior through my whole labor up 'til right when it was time to push, then she turned.

I did pelvic tilts (I think that's what they're called?) to try to get her to turn, labored most of the time either upright or on hands and knees (mostly hands and knees). It was tough -- but manageable. She did turn in the end, though -- I don't know what it would be like to go through pushing with a posterior baby. I do know that my labor was slower because she was posterior ....

My second was not posterior, much much quicker labor in the late phases and it was not as painful.

For me, with both, breathing and relaxing (concentrating on that) whenever I started to notice how painful I felt, really helped a lot. It made an immediate and noticeable difference.


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## BekahMomToOliver (Oct 31, 2008)

DS was posterior the whole time. I laboured and birthed in a birth pool, and I found the water relieved alot of the pressure. Oh, and my midwife showed my sister how to do the 'hip squeeze' on me during contractions, that _really_ helped too.
Good luck!


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## Turquesa (May 30, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *elanorh* 
dd1 was not fully engaged, but posterior through my whole labor up 'til right when it was time to push, then she turned.

I did pelvic tilts (I think that's what they're called?) to try to get her to turn, labored most of the time either upright or on hands and knees (mostly hands and knees). It was tough -- but manageable. She did turn in the end, though -- I don't know what it would be like to go through pushing with a posterior baby. I do know that my labor was slower because she was posterior ....


This is pretty much my own birth story. The site www.spinningbabies.com has suggestions for what to do during labor to help the baby turn and avoid the "sunny side up" delivery. My doula had me doing pelvic tilts, lunges with one foot up on the couch, and some funky "Nazi walk" that I can't really remember.









I remember that most posterior babies turn before delivery, but it can't hurt to study up on exercises to accelerate that process!


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## umami_mommy (May 2, 2004)

both of my born at home babies rotated during labor. one was posterior for the whole pregnancy! the job of the mom is to dilate, the job of the baby is to rotate! BTW i had 7 hours of back labor with my first. it wasn't *that* painful. there is a lot you can do to help the mom with the pain... counter pressure, hot packs, hot water in the shower, walking and changing positions frequently.

your OB is being silly. you need to tell your OB that fear in childbirth creates way more complications than a posterior baby or back labor!

PS, my posterior baby was born after less than an hour of active labor!


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## amandaleigh37 (Jul 13, 2006)

My son was born at home 2 weeks ago... he turned the right way during labor. The back labor was painful, but manageable. I had my hubby do a lot of rubbing on my back and that helped. You can do it


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## sunanthem (Jan 29, 2004)

I had a posterior baby and back labor right up until the end of labor..it was a hb, my midwife's assistant pushed on my sacrum for a few hours, which helped alot; doing counter pressure.. then when I started pushing not much was happening so I sat still, did not pushed, breathed and asked her if she was ready to come out. A moment later I felt her turn, I pushed for about 15 minutes and she came out the right way. Sure its a bit painful, but you can do it.. your not injured, your not dying, your just having a baby, there may be some pain/discomfort, but it will end and the result is soo worth it!


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## Pat899 (Nov 11, 2008)

My first and my third were posterior.

Labor hurts. So if it hurts a little more it is not a huge deal. Sounds like you are scaring yourself. What if you did not know anything about the baby's position? You then would not have such fear. Try to surrender and let go. It is only maybe 1/10 more painful. you will make it if you don't create this as a reason for defeat.


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## Astraia (Jan 1, 2009)

My daughter was posterior, turned that way the last couple of weeks of pregnancy and stayed that way throughout the labour.

8 hrs total, 2 hrs pushing, no back labour <shrug> I was SHOCKED when my midwife told me she was OP because I'd heard all the horror stories of back labour. The only real pain I felt (contractions weren't a big deal, really) was the feeling that my hips were being pushed apart- which, of course, they were.


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## *MamaJen* (Apr 24, 2007)

My baby started out posterior, or at least partially posterior, but had turned by the time he came out. I had a super easy labor. I did feel the contractions in my back a bit, but it wasn't like excruciating pain or anything, just discomfort. The birth pool was a godsend. Ohmygod, I would never give birth without one.
The only thing that really sucked for me with the posterior baby was that from the second labor started the contractions were coming every two minutes. I went into early labor at 7 a.m., and was having really mild contractions all morning -- just kind of mild menstrual cramp type contractions, and I was talking and walking around and cleaning the house and all through it -- but they were still two minutes apart. Then when it picked up into active labor, the contractions were still two minutes apart. I could have handled having a longer break between the contractions. The midwife said that the contractions being so close together were probably the baby turning out of the sunny side up position. So long story short, yeah, it really wasn't that bad for me.


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## Novella (Nov 8, 2006)

Back labour seems to be "my way". I had one (useless) shot of Demerol with my first, 3 hours before she was born. Others, nothing (had learned the mind game of properly melting through the pain and "riding the waves" of the contractions).

My support people fairly could not apply enough counter-pressure - I think it was very hard on their hands. We also used a lot of gel packs as hot packs were helpful, but I needed them to be scorching hot, so they needed to be recycled through the microwave very frequently.

It was fine. Labours progressed well. It's a temporary state.


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## DoulaVallere (May 29, 2009)

DS1 was OT, meaning he was not facing front or back, he was facing my leg. He was ROT from about 25 weeks, and no one ever told me I was at higher risk of him being posterior because of that, so I never did anything to try to get him to turn (I was just relieved he was head down!). Well, 39 hours of labor and 3 of those pushing, he came out...still facing my leg and with two nucal hands. It was long and hard, but I did it completely naturally in a free standing birth center. I don't remember having any abdominal pain at all...just back labor. My DH did a lot of "double hip squeezes" and I spent a lot of time standing under a hot shower or in the tub. It was very manageable. You can totally do it!


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## Veritaserum (Apr 24, 2004)

My last baby was persistently posterior. She did rotate anterior after a few visits to the chiro, but rotated back posterior at some point during labor. After she turned posterior my contractions stopped. I called my chiro and she gave my doula instructions for specific exercises I could do to help my baby turn again. 9.5 hours after everything stopped, I felt her rotate back anterior and started having contractions again. I did have a lot of back pressure toward the end (even though she was anterior at that point), but that pretty much went away with counter pressure (dh or doula pushing HARD on my lower back).


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## Mosaic (Jun 20, 2005)

My baby was posterior, but I had a fabulous birth... sounds a lot like DoulaVallere's above. The only downsides were 1) I spent the entire labor standing/on hands and knees, so I was pretty darn tired afterwards and 2) I remember getting past the tailbone was a TON of pressure.

I distinctly remember the pressure on my tailbone and when I mentioned it to my midwives, they told me that was the baby's head pushing past it. It was *very* intense, but that little bit of info reminded me that a baby was moving down in there and gave me the perspective to work through it. She still ended up coming out facing the wrong way (with a hand up there as well), and my husband was sore the next day from "the double hip squeeze" the.whole.time (bless him!), but the birth was fabulous!


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## sweeetpea (Jun 14, 2006)

PM'd you!


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## sunshynbaby (Dec 10, 2008)

Whoops, sorry I meant to post this as a new thread


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## crunchymamatobe (Jul 8, 2004)

My son was born at home, posterior. Rotated posterior during labor (and we didn't know until he was born). I labored in the water, which I think helped a lot. Pushing took a long time. More than four hours. Thankfully no one mentioned the time to me and I couldn't see any clocks.


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## nia82 (May 6, 2008)

I had back labor and a natural birth. Midwife attended hospital birth. We thought DS was posterior, but once he was born we noticed he had his hand over his forehead and the MW thought that's what caused the back labor.
It really was no fun in my humble opinion. I didn't feel like I was in labor (or like I pictured it)... To me it felt like someone was hitting my lower back with a baseball bat and then like ripping my spine out. It didn't help that my contractions were on top of each other. But I gotthrough it. Heat on my back helped a lot!!! Pushing was like a piece of cake compared to labor, and I pushed for 2:36!


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## Mamatoabunch (Sep 23, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *CrunchyMamaToBe* 
My son was born at home, posterior. Rotated posterior during labor (and we didn't know until he was born). I labored in the water, which I think helped a lot.

Exact same here w/ my last. Although pushing time was shorter, but longer than many of my others.


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## ~Katie~ (Mar 18, 2007)

I've had two all natural back labors, one ROT baby who was a hospital water birth and one mal-positioned head baby who was a UC. Both labors were very different due to the different positioning but contractions were concentrated in my back. With DS, rocking in water helped the most and eventually he turned OA and was born with a hand by his face. His labor and birth was 11 hours with approximately 2 hours of pushing. With DD I did as much counter pressure as I could on myself, I also did squats and laid on my side in the pool in order to distribute the pressure of her head evenly on my cervix. I basically did whatever resulted in the most effective contractions. Her labor was 4 hours with under 5 minutes of pushing.

Back labor is really all I know so I just cope with it. I seem to be one of those people with babies who choose alternate positioning for one reason or another despite doing all the "right" things. Trust yourself to know how to cope during labor, you'll find what works for you.


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

my dd was sunny side, and i had back labor with her. what helped more than anything was FIRM counterpressure right below the small of my back during the transition contrax.


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## purplemoon (Sep 24, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ChristSavesAll* 
Oh and btw, my contractions didn't hurt nearly as bad as they did with ds who I was induced with pit.

I had the same experience. My first was a med-free induction that left me hoping to die and sad that the monitors would alert medical staff if I did die, and my second was natural with back labor that sucked, but I dealt with it.

I was confused why all the pain was in my back! Anyway, heat worked and so did serious amounts of counter-pressure. The warm tub helped a lot too.

He must have rotated internally because he was born facing normally but pushing was more painful than the first (the first felt just like a HUGE bm and the second felt like he was trying to exit anywhere but my birth canal).

His face was horribly bruised but all in all, it was soooooooooo much better than my pit birth.

So, all that to say it is more than possible.


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## EdnaMarie (Sep 9, 2006)

2nd was back labor despite all the exercises, positions, etc. Way more intense than my first, and I'm going to say that yes, it did hurt hurt, not "hurt in a good way" or "just pressure" but actual PAIN







, and I think the best description was someone bowling down your back every contraction.

I dunno, the position was just wrong somehow.

But it was a homebirth and I got through it. LOTS of open-mouthed mantras, "mamamamama" "bababababa" "love baby love baby love baby" helped me to stay relaxed through those super-intense, painful contractions. Pressure and massage on my back also helped a ton. I had both babies standing, but it was harder to stay standing with the back-labor one, but I couldn't get the traction I needed on hands and knees.

It only lasted 45 minutes for the super intense part, though.

You CAN do it!

ETA- she rotated during labor, possibly after about 25 min because then it changed to the "good hurt" type contractions.


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