# determining fetal position



## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

by which i mean _basic_ position--head-down or breech, etc...

last week my doctor told me he couldn't tell fetal position. he was trying to tell by feeling for a presenting part inside, which he couldn't get at because baby was too high.

i want to know her position but am planning to refuse an internal tomorrow. can't he tell by palpating my abdomen, or is that unreliable (or really, do OBs not know what the hell they're doing)? is it really that hard? last week he mentioned sending me for an ultrasound if he couldn't determine position...i don't want to have an u/s for that reason alone, when i thought it was easy to tell fetal position??? they'll just find some other problem. everyone i know who has late pg ultrasounds leaves hearing either that the baby is too big or the amniotic fluid is low. sigh







:

i've tried determining myself and i think she's head-down, but i'm not sure.

any insight would be great. sorry to keep bugging you all


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## velcromom (Sep 23, 2003)

My mw has been able to tell me baby's position since 21 weeks, I couldn't really tell then but it's a bit clearer now. I don't see why an ob shouldn't be able to, it seems like a basic skill for anyone attending pregant women? Mw says baby is head down and what I'm feeling agrees with that. Try spinningbabies.com, I think they have info on how to tell what the baby's position is.


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## hapersmion (Jan 5, 2007)

My ds was breech, and even though I tried to convince myself otherwise, I could pretty much feel his head right there under my ribs the whole time. I tried to tell myself that it was his knees or that he had a really bony bottom or something, but it really felt like a head. I even had one of my midwives tell me he was head-down based on an internal exam, so either he had a bony bottom after all, or internal exams are just bad at figuring that out.

You can probably tell just as well as the OB.









hapermion


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## cidercat (Oct 31, 2006)

I think they do their best, but it's obviously not a perfect science. I have a friend who was actually pushing, without making progress, before they discovered her baby was breech.


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

Hey, you're not bugging anyone









I've always gone by where I feel the kicks (higher up generally signifies head down), and I have most always been able to feel their little bottoms.

How many weeks are you?? Personally, I'd refuse _any_ testing, but that's me. Any internal isn't going to provide any information other than to satisfy some strange curiosity, IMO---after my first birth w/countless, unecessary and violating internals, I've gestated and birthed two healthy babies w/o anyone's hands inside of me









Follow your instincts and ask questions. Why exactly is this test necessary? What information will be gained? How will the findings potentially alter care either way? What are the benefits? Risks? Be a PITA







It's YOUR body and baby


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## sevenkids (Dec 16, 2002)

If a baby is posterior or there's an anterior placenta or both, if the baby's presenting part is deep in the pelvis, depending on the baby's position, it may be hard to tell position.
I do think determining position is a dying art with OB's who can simply order an ultrasound.

Does your baby hiccup? Hiccups down low, head down. Hiccups up high, breech. Baby's don't hiccup out the butt.


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

yep, hiccups about 2 x daily, always down low on the left side.

tellin' ya, this baby is sooo head-down. if only my OB weren't being such a PITA. i just want it confirmed for some reason...though everything you all are saying means head-down checks out for me (i feel kicks higher up on the right; smaller, ticklier movements down low around pelvic bone; i get the lump, which i think is a butt, on the higher-up left side, a few inches above my navel). guess that should be confirmation enough!

oh, and i forgot to say, i'm 37 weeks tomorrow.


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

hmmm...interesting point about the anterior placenta. i don't think i have one, just because i know/think they generally mean you feel less movement, and i can't really imagine feeling any *more* movement than i've felt with this little one...though i have no point of comparison!







:


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## roadfamily6now (Sep 14, 2006)

how far along are you?

I was able to tell my baby's position since about 28 weeks or so.

Anyway, not sure what an internal exam will tell him if he cannot find a head or a butt cause you are "Too high" still.

?????????????????


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

I can get a good idea from the kicks and then following the feet back to the butt, also whenever they have hiccups is a good time to feel.


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

If it were me I wouldn't allow an internal. If he can't figure out what is a head and what is a butt from the outside, can you really trust that he'll be able to do it from the inside? (And risk introducing infection and maybe oops stripping your membranes while he's in there?) Even experienced midwives can mistake a butt for a head when doing an internal.







If you feel you need absolute confirmation, wait until labor starts to have an ultrasound. And then hope baby doesn't turn during labor.









But if you're feeling hiccups and hearing heartbeat down low and kicks higher, the baby's head down.


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## colobus237 (Feb 2, 2004)

Have to say in my experience, I felt hiccups way low, right by my hipbones, with both of my breech babies. I don't know why, but there it is. My midwife was sure baby was breech because she could "nod" the head up top - you can't nod a butt without moving the rest of the baby. But it's not always easy to tell. I thought I could feel a head up high with my head-down baby, too.


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