Looking down the barrel of a posterior labour...

WARNING: I’M POSSIBLE OVER-SHARING HERE. IF YOU’RE NOT INTO BIRTH, PERHAPS SKIP THIS POST!

So I think that I’ve said that I’m keen, in fact, feeling quite determined to do my best to have a drug-free, intervention-free labour. I am having my baby in a hospital, but in a midwife-run birth centre within a hospital so technically (in the loosest of ways) I’m going to be giving birth in a non-medical setting. Yesterday, when I had my appointment with my midwife, it was discovered that what I had suspected a month or so ago, though untrue at the time, was actually now the case: this baby is in a posterior position. This means that it’s still the right way up – head down in my pelvis – but that its spine is against my spine and its feet are against my stomach. This explains the flurry of activity that I’ve been experiencing recently, suddenly the baby has way more ability to get my attention than it did when it was kicking off to my right side.

A posterior position is definitely not the worst position that a baby can get itself into, it’s not like the baby is transverse (lying horizontally across my stomach) or breech (feet-first) and that is fantastic because in both of those scenarios it is pretty much caesarean birth only in Australian hospitals (Note that I’m calling it a caesarean birth – it’s still a birth, even if it is under less ideal circumstances). What it does mean is that the weight of the baby is more concentrated in the mother’s back and that it isn’t applying the best amount of pressure to the cervix so the first stage of labour can take a really long time while you wait for the cervix to dilate. This means that the labour is prolonged, it can often be a fair bit harder than a more normal presentation and the mother is more likely to get worn out and want medical intervention. In almost every case, the baby is not actually delivered posterior, it almost always turns, but frankly, there’s not necessarily all that much joy in it turning ten minutes before it is born if you’ve just been in labour with it against your back for twenty-four, or thirty-six, or heck… many more possible hours. Preferably, you want that baby turned before labour begins.

I’m hoping, and am actually fairly confident that this baby will turn before I go into labour. Not because I had any particular success turning it last night even after being on all-fours for approximately five hours (it’s kicking me enthusiastically just under the ribs right now to prove that), nor because I’m going to be having more acupuncture tomorrow to try to turn it, nor because I intend to spend the entirety of today concentrating on turning it. The reason I feel fairly convinced that it will turn before or very early in labour is because of all of the wonderful people who have committed to pray for me and pray that the baby will turn. Was reading a bit of good-ole-Spurgeon this morning and this is what I read:

Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, “As a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favour. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there.” Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pigsah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, until in the likeness of our Lord, as He is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of burning prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other. (Mornings and Evenings – Morning September 9th)

Yet, all that doesn’t mean that God may not have a reason for answering these prayers with a “No”. And if that is the case, that just means that giving birth may be a bit more character building for me than it has been for some others! After doing a bit more reading since yesterday, here are the reasons that I hope will stay with me and convince me to avoid the temptation of having an epidural:
• In a posterior labour, mobility is really important, by moving around you encourage dialation of the cervix and you allow yourself to move into positions that ease the pain you might otherwise be experiencing. It is especially important to be able to lean forward and use pelvic-rocking. An epidural puts a stop to mobility because it numbs your legs and hooks you up to all kinds of restrictive machines.
• I need my pelvic floor muscles working for me, not having a holiday. If I cut them out of the equation, I’m more likely to need a forceps delivery or vacuum extraction.
• Then there’s all of the other reasons to avoid epidurals…
I’ll be proud of myself if I get through a text-book birth without medical assistance, so how much more proud of myself will I be if I get through a posterior labour without medical assistance!?

And anyway, the thing that I am most convicted of, and I think I’ve said this before, is that it isn’t only this little person inside me who has been fearfully and wonderfully made. My body has also been made by the same wonderful, powerful, sovereign and omniscient creator – it isn’t a dud. This body has been intricately designed to achieve incredible things and I’m not going to go into the most full-on physical thing I’ll ever do expecting my body to be dodgy. Rather, I’m going to go into this most full-on physical thing I’ll ever do praising God for his magnificent creation and trusting in Him to watch over and direct my labour and the birth of this little person.

Now I just need it all to start!