the British think...

Anne Rogers wrote:
Sorry Anne, but you lost me in all your ramblings. Broken your what?
Pelvis? Is he saying that he thinks instead of SPD you have a broken and
not correctly healed pelvis?

oh yes, I seem to have missed that exact bit out, he said I must have broken
my tailbone (but he then said sacrum, not coccyx, so I'm confused), but that
wasn't really what I was getting at, it was that he thought not being on
your back for childbirth was a British thing, which I have no evidence to
think it is.

When I transferred to hospital the OB said to stay on my side since I
seemed to be most comfortable in that position (actually, she asked
me). I don't know how standard that is though since that's my only
experience and my midwife thought at first the OB was a midwife since
she 'acted like a midwife'. I ended up in a sitting up position
because the side wasn't working, but I'm quite sure she would have been
ok with whatever I suggested. I didn't think to go to a squating
position at that point, which would have been dififcult given all the
bloody tubes/wires attached to me.

When I transferred to hospital the OB said to stay on my side since I
seemed to be most comfortable in that position (actually, she asked
me). I don't know how standard that is though since that's my only
experience and my midwife thought at first the OB was a midwife since
she 'acted like a midwife'. I ended up in a sitting up position
because the side wasn't working, but I'm quite sure she would have been
ok with whatever I suggested. I didn't think to go to a squating
position at that point, which would have been dififcult given all the
bloody tubes/wires attached to me.

That could easily be cited as a reason why doctors prefer the more classic
positions, because it makes it easier for all the machines, it's a
frequently observed fact though, that some babies heart rate traces will go
flat if the mum is flat on their backs and then recover when mum is moved.

You mentioned you had a long 2nd stage, if I'm visualising the sitting
position correctly, I think it may even be worse than lieing down for
getting the baby out. Now, I know you had to be where you were with the
monitors and what not, but I seem to recall you expressed concern for future
births, where hopefully you wouldn't have all those monitors, meaning when
one position isn't working, you can change positions until you find
something that does work, it doesn't have to be the same throughout and some
midwives advocate a deliberate change of positions as the baby starts to
crown. Sidelying isn't for everyone, one reason why Todd mentions it so much
is that its a easy alternative to flat on the back, particularly if you have
an epidural, monitors etc. I've delivered both my babies sidelying, first
was easy, 2nd time much more difficult and sidelying was not ideal, but with
the combination of things occuring, it was literally the only manageable
position, I couldn't manage kneeling or squatting due to severe SPD.

Cheers

Anne