Are you currently pregnant? If so, do you know what position your baby is in? If not, you may want to find out! Not only can Belly Mapping (finding out your baby's position in Utero) the last month or two of pregnancy be an enjoyable pastime to do with your birth partner as you oh-so-patiently wait for baby to come, but it is also smart preparation for your birthing time. The sooner you know your baby's position, the sooner you can take actions to help your baby turn if baby is not in an optimal position for birthing, and/or learn techniques that will help you and baby have a more comfortable experience during your birthing time even if baby decides to stay put.
With my last pregnancy, I went through this Belly Mapping Workbook with my husband. We
detected that our baby was in an Occiput Posterior (OP) position.
I waited to take action
until my next appointment with my midwife. I suggested to her that I felt my
baby was in the OP position, and she with her more experienced hands was impressed
to discover that I was right. After talking with her some more at that appointment about what I could do, I
got busy! I read everything I could about the position, the outcomes and
experiences that were associated with it, and I knew it would be in my and my
baby girl’s best interest if I could get her to turn. So, I studied the workbook,
the information on the spinningbabies.com website, the information in my
Hypnobabies home study course, learned the exercises I could do each day and
during my birthing time, as well as ordered the Turn, Posterior Baby, Turn! Track
from Hypnobabies.
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| Image credit: Gail Tully |
**As a quick aside - yes, hypnosis really is a helpful tool in getting your baby to turn. Check out this study on how hypnosis affected turning breech babies: "Eighty-one percent of the fetuses in the
intervention group converted to vertex presentation compared with 48% of
those in the comparison group. This difference was statistically
significant."**
With improving my posture, doing birth ball rotation
exercises and hands and knees exercises several times each day, and listening
to my Turn Posterior, Baby, Turn! Track, I found that my baby had turned to Right Occiput Posterior (ROP)
position by my last midwife appointment before she was born. The ROP is the most ideal posterior position because those babies very often turn to Occiput Anterior (OA) as they are being birthed. During my birthing
time, my baby girl did in fact turn into the OA position, and I was able to have a very comfortable
and easy birth experience.
Obviously, I can never be completely certain if my baby
wouldn’t have just turned on her own without my physical and mental assistance, but it was extremely
empowering and satisfying to know what position my baby was in as I approached
my birthing time. In knowing the potential challenge giving birth to a posterior-facing baby could be, I was able to do something
about it - and I do believe it helped. I also found a fabulous video on youtube.com which showed an exercise I could do
during my baby's birthing time if she hadn't already turned by then.
This information (as well as all the info from the actual workbook and spinningbabies.com) I would never have
thought to add to my arsenal of birthing time tools if I had not studied the Belly Mapping workbook.
So, from personal experience I know the value of this book! And I recommend it with highest accolades to you!
Knowing the ins and outs of Optimal
Fetal Positioning is a very important and empowering resource for all pregnant women. Please, do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to learn more at spinningbabies.com.
