Friday, June 8, 2012

Spinning Babies

My first daughter was born via Cesarean Section. After two hours of pushing, and the baby not tolerating labor the greatest at that point, they told me her head was titled so she couldn't fit past my pelvic bone.
I, being someone who just likes to understand things, had a hard time with this explanation. It made no sense to me. (I mean I knew I was doing everything I could, and that she wasn't budging. But I didn't understand why.) So at every appointment I had afterwards I asked questions about it, trying to figure it out.

I learned her postion was called asynclitic. And that she had her head tipped to the side, like her ear was aimed towards her shoulder. And she also had her chin extended outward.

So me being the person I am, I continued to dwell on this for basically ever. And one day while googling the infamous word I was fixated on, I came across this website.




It was the first time I understood the word asynclitic for real. And the first time I realized, that while its very possible my daughter would have needed to be born via c-section no matter what, that there actually are some techniques out there that can help asynclitic babies come out vaginally.

Since then I have been enthralled with the website.
Its a really cool resource both during pregnancy and during labor. So I just wanted to mention it on the blog so other ladies might also get to use it.



Probably the most practical part, is the section where she covers a few basic stretches and activities to do regularly in pregnancy to hopefully help baby be in a good fetal position for birth.
Those can be found here.

For when you are in labor, here are her helpful suggestions for that.

If you are trying to figure out how your baby is positioned inside during pregnancy, here is her tutorial for that.
(Scroll down, past the booklet there is a free tutorial available below)

If your baby is breech, here are her suggestions for that.

So lots of good stuff!

And I find myself sucked into the entire site all the time. But maybe that's just me! :)

Hope you find it helpful!



*Click here for more of my healthy pregnancy tips.


(Update 7/18/12: After using many of the stretches and daily activities --- and employing other helpful tips (from my healthy pregnancy tips) , I did go on to have a safe and healthy VBAC. You can read my birth story here.)

5 comments:

  1. Hi! I don't know if I've ever commented on here, or how I found your site but I love it! A lot of your 1st pregnancy seems similar to mine (being told my baby was small and he ended up being 8lbs 7oz,having his head at the wrong angle causing me to push for 3 hours etc.) It's encouraging to me to see the changes between your 2 pregnancies and I can't wait to hear when the baby's born how everything turns out. Good luck in these last few days and praying that everything goes the way you want it too! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thank you so much, Renae!! That means a lot to me!

      Delete
  2. Thank you for posting this! My first son was asynclitic, which we of course didn't know till after I pushed for two and a half hours and he finally came out, and left me with a third degree laceration. He was 10 lbs 5 oz. I'm now pregnant with my #2 and am praying that baby weighs less and comes out the right way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MeriM, Oh I so, so, so relate to you on that. My first daughter was 9lbs and I often wondered if she had been smaller, if perhaps she still could have come out vaginally....so I was so hoping to have a smaller baby the next time as well!
      If I could suggest anything to you, I it would be to see a chiropractor that specializes in seeing pregnant women. It makes a huge difference! I have an article on it (in the healthy pregnancy section -- it has a tab at the top.) I know it helped me a ton in my second pregnancy and delivery. My delivery was awesome compared to last time -- I mean I still marvel at it regularly -- and I think it is in large part due to seeing a chiropractor.
      And as far as a smaller baby, I did a lot of research and found that the way to aid in having a nice birth weight for baby is to really limit carbs -- especially sugar! But not having a lot of bread or grains, and the ones you do have, make sure they are whole grain. (One midwife told me not to have anything white except for cauliflower -- as kind of a way to think about it.) I followed the Brewer Diet as best as I could (I have a post on that in Healthy Pregnancy.) and my second daughter was 8 lbs 4 oz. Nearly a whole pound less! (They were both born at almost 42 weeks.) I also gained 9 lbs less in my second pregnancy (nice perk.) I didn't limit carbs as much as I had wanted to -- one friend of mine needed to really limit hers for her glucose levels -- she only ate one whole grain serving a week and had two small babies ( 6 and 7 pounds) doing that. (And I've talked to lots of medical people about this diet-- its been smiled upon by all.)
      I'll be praying for you and your second baby too! I know very well the emotions that go into it.

      Delete
  3. i agree with you. your tips are so good.nice article,i have also more visit here

    ReplyDelete