# Tell me everything you know about babies in a transverse lie.



## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

I'm 28 weeks today. My baby has been in a transverse lie forever. My placenta is anterior. I am already all about spinning babies.com and Sit Up and Take Notice.

I want to hear some personal experiences from mamas who had babies who liked the transverse lie and when/did they turn for labor. I also would love any statistics anyone has on the topic.

TIA


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## engineer_mom (Dec 22, 2006)

:


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## mimiharshe (Oct 16, 2006)

Do you have someone doing Webster technique on you now?


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## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mimiharshe* 
Do you have someone doing Webster technique on you now?

I keep meaning to make an appointment with a chiropractor. I have one picked out. I will write down his number tonight and call tomorrow.


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## mimiharshe (Oct 16, 2006)

I highly recommend you do and do it now why you are "earlier" in your pregnancy instead of waiting until baby is bigger. Working on those ligaments and getting adjusted can help baby have room to move and turn! There's an acupuncture point on your feet too. I hope it helps you! Do you know this chiro?


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## mimiharshe (Oct 16, 2006)

check out post 14 on this thread....

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=621968


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## amandacj08 (Jan 8, 2007)

My baby was persistantly very low and transverse and like you I have an anterior placenta (high). I started having websters done at 26 weeks and had good results but only for a day or two after seeing the chiro. After about a week 1/2 I realized that when I spent extended periods of time resting on the couch she would end up transverse again. I've completely eliminated the couch as a resting point. Now at 30 weeks baby is mostly head down and I've had a lot of relief from the pubic & lower back pain I was experiencing.


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## mimiharshe (Oct 16, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *amandacj08* 
My baby was persistantly very low and transverse and like you I have an anterior placenta (high). I started having websters done at 26 weeks and had good results but only for a day or two after seeing the chiro. After about a week 1/2 I realized that when I spent extended periods of time resting on the couch she would end up transverse again. I've completely eliminated the couch as a resting point. Now at 30 weeks baby is mostly head down and I've had a lot of relief from the pubic & lower back pain I was experiencing.

i posted a link to your other comment just a few minutes before you posted! how funny!


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## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

I haven't eliminated the couch, but I did start to use it differently than I generally would. Instead of leaning back or into one of the corners I've been putting my butt near the back and put a pillow behind my back kinda high and I've been sitting upright. I usually put my legs in the butterfly strech position, just because it's comfortable when I'm upright. Sometimes I put my feet on the floor with legs apart and lean forward on my knees, with my back arched(lower) and strait(upper).
Do you guys think that is enough or do I need to abandon the couch completely?


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## koru (Sep 7, 2006)

this is not a suggestion....just a question. what about _lying_ on the couch? (on the side, of course). my babe is transverse, too, and i have to sleep on the couch many nights because my congestion is so terrible. i havne't started worrying about position yet because i'm a tall girl & am pretty sure Baby has a while to turn but now you've got me thinking.


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## Corri (Jul 7, 2005)

I'm having some struggles with this myself; I'm only at 23 weeks right now, but with the anterior placenta and all, I'm trying to be concientious about sitting position. I picked up an inexpensive exercise ball and I find that it helps my back quite a bit to sit on it, and it's really easy to make sure I'm canted slightly forward when sitting.

My trouble is that I've started to get some swelling in my feet - not much, just enough to make it a tiny bit trickier to zip up my boots in the afternoons. With that plus my family's history of varicose veins during pregnancy, everyone says to keep my feet up as much as possible. But how do I put my feet up higher than my hips *and* lean forward while I'm sitting, without folding myself in half over my belly bulge? I'd need to be a yoga master to make that one comfortable! Or even possible!









So which one's more important, you know? Feet up, or back tilted forward?


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## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

My son was transverse up through 32 weeks. I did the acupressure point on the pinky toes, the inverted positioning on the steps, and avoided reclining, and at 33 weeks he turned and stayed head down. I would avoid any reclining positions, but I think sittign upright as you describe and lying on your side would still be fine.

My daughter was breech, and I managed to turn her too at around 30 weeks - did all the same as with my son, and did some of the positioning suggested on spinningbabies with my exercise ball.

I think the idea is to keep the belly button either inline or in a plane underneath the spine (as you would doing the butterfly legs and leaning forward), as opposed to the belly button in a plane above the spine (as you would be in a reclining position). And keep the knees lower than the belly, too (which would not be the case in a reclining position). Hope that makes sense.


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## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Corri* 
But how do I put my feet up higher than my hips *and* lean forward while I'm sitting, without folding myself in half over my belly bulge? I'd need to be a yoga master to make that one comfortable! Or even possible!









So which one's more important, you know? Feet up, or back tilted forward?

Actually, if you do the inversion positioning to turn a baby, you can do it on your steps, or on the couch, and your feet go up behind you (so they're technically 'elevated', and your head goes down...but you're face down, supporting yourself on your elbows (think dog in "play mode", with its butt up in the air). So your feet are goign to be higher than your hips if you do it on the stairs, AND your belly will still be underneath your spine...catch my drift? I used to do it with my arms on the floor at the bottom of the steps, and just walk my backside up as many steps as I could comfortably, and then I'd just chill like that for a while, read a book, talk to DH, whatever. Not entirely comfortable, but it worked.


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## 4lilfarmers (Feb 9, 2006)

what about a chiro? my chiro has had two woman come to him with transverse babies and both turned vertex.

good luck!


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## momuveight2B (Mar 17, 2006)

My youngest was in a transverse lie for 37 weeks. She turned that week and I really didn't do anything to make it happen. She was born at 42 weeks so really there was not a need for her to turn any sooner. Once she did turn she remained wedged against my pelvis and was born with a bald spot where her hair had rubbed off.


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## Jilian (Jun 16, 2003)

Thanks for this thread! I'm 26 weeks now and my babe is transverse too. For me it's a good thing right now because I was in the hospital for PTL yesterday, but in a week or two if contractions are gone I'd like to try to encourage him to turn head-down.


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## amandacj08 (Jan 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *doulalove* 
this is not a suggestion....just a question. what about _lying_ on the couch? (on the side, of course). my babe is transverse, too, and i have to sleep on the couch many nights because my congestion is so terrible. i havne't started worrying about position yet because i'm a tall girl & am pretty sure Baby has a while to turn but now you've got me thinking.


For me laying on the couch on my side was the problem. My chiro said the uterus is like a water balloon and when a ligament on one side is tighter than the other it torques the whole uterus keeping baby from having as much room to move around. Add to that the anterior, high placenta (most babys like to either face their placentas or lay away from them) and she was most comfortable transverse.

I do have an overly cushy unsupportive couch though.

My suggestion would be to switch the side you lay on to make sure you aren't overly tightening to stretching one ligament more than the other.


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## Corri (Jul 7, 2005)

Quote:

Actually, if you do the inversion positioning to turn a baby, you can do it on your steps, or on the couch, and your feet go up behind you (so they're technically 'elevated', and your head goes down...but you're face down, supporting yourself on your elbows
We don't have steps - we're in an apartment, and there's no way I'm doing this on the main stairs in the building! - but I can try it off my futon. From the way you describe it - it's basically Puppy or Child posture, but with my knees/butt/feet up on a support higher than the floor?

A photo of "puppy" pose, for a shared visual reference.


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## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Corri* 
We don't have steps - we're in an apartment, and there's no way I'm doing this on the main stairs in the building! - but I can try it off my futon. From the way you describe it - it's basically Puppy or Child posture, but with my knees/butt/feet up on a support higher than the floor?

A photo of "puppy" pose, for a shared visual reference.

Right - like that, you'd get your feet/knees up on the futon, and your head down. As I said, not the most comfortable thing in the world, but fits both criteria for ya!









Here's the picture I used as a reference when I was doing it: Ta Da

Good luck!


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## mwherbs (Oct 24, 2004)

so lots of interesting and good advice-
when you say transverse- where exactly is your baby laying?

if the head is entering the pelvis and is LOT or ROT there is no problem with either of these positions and babies often enter the pelvis in these positions.

Now if you mean something else- transverse as in head not entering the pelvis and bottom/feet sideways across from that or? some degree of diagonal , like head diagonally in the pelvis and bottom under the ribs on one side..

in any case what I would do is belly banding- in addition to chiroptractic and or massage-- what a belly band does is to help form a firm funnel for the baby to align with.


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## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

He's laying across my belly- perpendicular- in a transverse lie (I've taken to saying Lateral for vertex "transverse" positions because of this ever-so-common need to clarify







)
Well, actually now I'm not sure as to how he's laying. He might have slipped head down. I swear all I feel is back back and more back. I don't know if this dificultly in palpation relative to my last pregnancy is because I'm trying sooner than I remember or if it's because of this anterior placenta. I sometimes feel kicking at my cervix (weeeiiiird! :shudders







and when I do I generally feel the back across the legnth of my fundus--unless all those things I'm feeling are a wacky braxton hicks. . .could be, I suppose.

I want more info on belly banding. I read on spinning babies about "funneling" the uterus and I just don't understand that wording. I press on the sides of my uterus to make it more cylendrical(sp) because it's pretty globe-like--is that what the action of the rebozo does? How exactly would I go about it? Are there any risks with it (theoretical or otherwise)?

Thanks


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## Corri (Jul 7, 2005)

Beautiful, T4, thank you so much! I think the Bean's shifted one way or the other, 'cause _someone_ was tapdancing on my cervix yesterday







, but I want to make sure s/he stays that way and out of breech. Much appreciated!


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## cjanelles (Oct 22, 2005)

All of my babies liked to relax transversly from about 25-36 weeks...and this one is no different.

She is sideways, looking down, almost all of the time now, although she often spins in circles still, and I'm almost 27 weeks.

My previous three children all turned before delivery with no intervention of any kind. So, I expect this one will do the same.


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## cjanelles (Oct 22, 2005)

This will sound stupid, maybe, but I'm just sitting here reading the responses to this thread, and I don't know if the "catch" to the concern is the placental position or not, but I keep thinking...

Isn't 23-28 weeks too early to be worrying about baby being in the right position?

Personally, my babies didn't turn until I was right between 34-36 weeks...So, I don't know if my body is the odd one, or if it really is normal for some babies to wait until later to turn.

I don't know...before 30 weeks just seems so early to worry.


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## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cjanelles* 
This will sound stupid, maybe, but I'm just sitting here reading the responses to this thread, and I don't know if the "catch" to the concern is the placental position or not, but I keep thinking...

Isn't 23-28 weeks too early to be worrying about baby being in the right position?

Personally, my babies didn't turn until I was right between 34-36 weeks...So, I don't know if my body is the odd one, or if it really is normal for some babies to wait until later to turn.

I don't know...before 30 weeks just seems so early to worry.

I think I am just freaking myself out a little. . .I was hoping for a response like yours reminding me that Yes, babies do turn in the 36 week range. You aren't the only one who said that too--I should have acknowledged how much better it makes me feel to hear personal experiences of the like








Thank you ladies


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## sophiekat (Oct 29, 2005)

do you have a bicorneate uterus? mine is and dd didn't have room to turn head down.


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## knowerofnada (Dec 4, 2006)

Moxibustion turned mine at 32 weeks....I highly recommend it


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## Drewsmom (Jan 12, 2002)

Admittedly I didn't read through all of the posts, sorry. But my baby was transverse at 28 weeks as well (ds#2) and he turned around 30 something weeks. I did all my research on what could be done but ultimately I would talk to him and tell him to turn while sitting forward and I did this every day until he did. I'd just rub my belly and say, "You need to turn head down."

I don't think it's terribly unusual to have a baby who is not in the "proper" position at 28 weeks. Try to relax your uterus muscles as much as possible by not stressing and knowing that you have a good amount of time for the baby to turn. Hypnosis can be helpful with this.


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## Synchro246 (Aug 8, 2005)

Thanks for all your responses, Just so you know baby is now head down.
Weird too-- at 26 weeks my fundal height was 34, now at 28 weeks my fundal height is 30 cm. It feels like things have settled down into my pelvis.


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