Back Labor?! I'm afraid I'll have it again ... can't decide between a birth center or a hospital.

So I'm 6weeks pregnant now and am trying to pick a birth center or a regular ob group. I had HORRIBLE back labor with my DS1 and my contractions were only 1 minute apart when they started so I never got any breaks. For his birth I was in a hospital with a doc who wouldn't let me try different positions or a shower or anything. I held out for 7 hours and then got an epidural, which at least allowed me to have a vaginal delivery even if it wasn't med-free. My mom and all her sisters and my grandma all had back labor so I think there is a genetic connection with the shape of the pelvis (being more triangular than round). I'm just convinced this baby will be face-up again and I'll have the same back labor. I want to try to achieve a med-free delivery but I'm scared because that kind of unrelenting pain is intolerable. Is there anyone out there who had back labor with one baby and didn't have it with another? Is there anyone who has any tips on how they managed their back labor? Were you in a hospital or a birth center? I'd like to give the birth center a try -- its only 1/2 a block from the hospital mother/baby center -- so I could go there if I ended up needing an epidural after all and the midwives have privileges so they would still finish the delivery. I just don't know though, a friend of mine had her baby die in a birth center last year so I'm a little paranoid. But I feel like I won't be able to cope with back labor in a hospital setting very effectively. I want to be safe but I want to have more ways to manage the pain than I had the first time. I just can't decide!!!!!

My friend had back labour with her first and not with her other two...
Maybe look into other pain management... There are these water shots they put in ur back to help ease back labour and you can also look into the tens machine

I can't speak of birthing centers b/c I've only ever delivered at a hospital but I had HORRIBLE back labor with my first DD but didn't have it at all with my next 2 children(I labored in front with those). Honestly, the back labor was awful but the actual delivery was easier with that pregnancy. Each one of my deliveries were so so different than the others. My water broke with my last baby and the first 2 it never broke! Anyway, you get have a very different experience the next time around. Good luck!

I had back labor with my 3. I have heard it is most likely from them being posterier which also leads to longer births since it takes them more time to turn into the correct position. My last babe decided to come flying into the world(a lot shorter labor and ZERO pushing) and I credit that all to my chiro. I started seeing her when my back went out on me and she said my hips and everything were all misaligned(yeah you get that from carrying a babe on your hip lol) and I think her adjustments just ligned baby up perfectly. Might want to give chiro a call. Also being up and active and yoga are good also.

also just wanted to say that they can not make you do anything. everything is a "suggestion" or "question" even though they don't word it that way
were just going to put in your iv.
is really
do you mind if we put in this iv??
and you can say "NO" or I would like a hep so I can move around more freely. My 1st and only hospital birth I was young but I knew this and ignored what I really thought was dangerous and let some other things go. It was a fight and who wants to fight while giving birth rrr. If you do decide to go to hossy then labor at home up and walking/squatting as long as possible. Then when I got to hossy instead of getting hooked up and monitored I took a long shower lol. Good thing though cuz after that I was stuck to the bed. Like I said I didn't fight everything but I have never been stuck in bed for another birth:)

sorry about your friend that is heartbreaking. sometimes children pass in hospital,birth centers, home and there is nothing we can do:(

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Originally Posted by Wanting-a-girl

My friend had back labour with her first and not with her other two...
Maybe look into other pain management... There are these water shots they put in ur back to help ease back labour and you can also look into the tens machine

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The birth center I'm looking at said that they do those water shots. I've also thought about trying a tens... I work at a chiropractic office and they have a really cool wireless one. Thanks! Its encouraging to know that some people don't always have back labor.

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Originally Posted by 2boys1girl

I can't speak of birthing centers b/c I've only ever delivered at a hospital but I had HORRIBLE back labor with my first DD but didn't have it at all with my next 2 children(I labored in front with those). Honestly, the back labor was awful but the actual delivery was easier with that pregnancy. Each one of my deliveries were so so different than the others. My water broke with my last baby and the first 2 it never broke! Anyway, you get have a very different experience the next time around. Good luck!

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Again, so relieved to know there are some people who don't always have back labor. I'd like to know what normal front labor is like :).

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Originally Posted by Atsaukina1

also just wanted to say that they can not make you do anything. everything is a "suggestion" or "question" even though they don't word it that way
were just going to put in your iv.
is really
do you mind if we put in this iv??
and you can say "NO" or I would like a hep so I can move around more freely. My 1st and only hospital birth I was young but I knew this and ignored what I really thought was dangerous and let some other things go. It was a fight and who wants to fight while giving birth rrr. If you do decide to go to hossy then labor at home up and walking/squatting as long as possible. Then when I got to hossy instead of getting hooked up and monitored I took a long shower lol. Good thing though cuz after that I was stuck to the bed. Like I said I didn't fight everything but I have never been stuck in bed for another birth:)

sorry about your friend that is heartbreaking. sometimes children pass in hospital,birth centers, home and there is nothing we can do:(

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Yea...the first one was definitely a fight. And it was awful. Who can speak up for themselves when they can't even move?! Lol. That alone makes me want to go to the birth center. I work for a chiro and I did with my first do so I have always had tons of adjustments. Maybe the chiro I work for now has different techniques. I guess I'll just keep hoping for an easy front labor and maybe I'll get it. Thanks for all the advice.

I had back labor with both of mine and wanted to die. No advice from me, just here to say I know your pain and I hope to avoid it too. I went to the chiro and will keep going, hoping it helps align the baby!

All of my kiddos were posterior. With my twins I had an epidural, but the back labour was so strong I could still feel it near the end. With ds3 I worked through the pain of the back labour and had a medication-free birth. With dd I had yet another back labour but I'd had 72 hours of labour with no sleep that whole time and had an epidural at about 8cm because I couldn't take it anymore.


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Originally Posted by smbarnett11

Again, so relieved to know there are some people who don't always have back labor. I'd like to know what normal front labor is like :).

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Oh front labor has it own "fun" things that come along with it...definitely not a cake walk. I'm currently pregnant with #4 and was told the placenta is posterier again this time. I immediately perked up when the doctor said it and realized back labor is probably in my future again with this one...sadness.

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Originally Posted by Mochagirl

All of my kiddos were posterior. With my twins I had an epidural, but the back labour was so strong I could still feel it near the end. With ds3 I worked through the pain of the back labour and had a medication-free birth. With dd I had yet another back labour but I'd had 72 hours of labour with no sleep that whole time and had an epidural at about 8cm because I couldn't take it anymore.

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So when you 'worked through the back labor' with DS3 ... was it worth it? Lol. And how did you work through it? Where were you, what did you do? Just looking for any pointers I can get :). I had the epidural at 8cm too with DS1 and he came out facing the left and I could still feel it in my left hip even above the epidural. I remember thinking I couldn't imagine what that would have been feeling like without it.

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Originally Posted by 2boys1girl

Oh front labor has it own "fun" things that come along with it...definitely not a cake walk. I'm currently pregnant with #4 and was told the placenta is posterier again this time. I immediately perked up when the doctor said it and realized back labor is probably in my future again with this one...sadness.

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Back labor can be related to the position of the placenta? I haven't heard this before. How does that work, do you know?

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Originally Posted by smbarnett11

So when you 'worked through the back labor' with DS3 ... was it worth it? Lol. And how did you work through it? Where were you, what did you do? Just looking for any pointers I can get :). I had the epidural at 8cm too with DS1 and he came out facing the left and I could still feel it in my left hip even above the epidural. I remember thinking I couldn't imagine what that would have been feeling like without it.

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That's a hard question to answer. I'm happy that I had one unmedicated birth so I could experience it, but I have zero regrets about having an epidural with dd. My twins ended in a c-section after 27 hours in labour, so ds3 was a VBAC. I gave birth to him in a hospital with a midwife - I didn't see a single doctor the whole time I was there and I was home 2 hours after giving birth. I did hit a wall around 8cm, but the particular mw I had convinced me to keep trying. I was fortunate that my labour was relatively quick - I had my first contraction at 1am and had him at about 10:30, but I pushed for a long time and in the end my mw decided to give me a very substantial episiotomy then reached in, turned him and pulled him out then had to rush him off to give him oxygen before I could hold him. Not exactly fun, and the recovery was worse than my c-section.

With dd3 I'm convinced that my decision to have an epidural and the resulting relaxation (I went from screaming to snoozing in minutes) allowed her to turn on her own. They waited until she had descended all the way before having me push - I could literally feel her working her way down and it felt like she was going to slide out on her own. The birth was beautiful and peaceful - I pushed for 5 minutes and had only the teeniest microtear, and they let me pull her out of me and put her on my chest immediately. Even my mw agreed that I had made the right decision even though it meant she had to sign over my care to a doctor for the actual birth. I think I would have had a longer labour without the epidural since I was soooo tired and tense and wasn't dealing well with the pain. I was working against what my body was trying to do and I was simply too tired to do otherwise.

AAAAAH, I had exactly the same with my DD. Piggy-backing contractions, she was sunny-side up and to top it off, her arms were above her head (doc kept telling me she was pushing back!). I was trying to go the natural route, so no epi, but after 6 hours they said she was simply "stuck". They couldn't get her arms down. So I ended up having a c-section after all that! It was a nightmare... and the pain was SURREAL. Funny though, I hadn't really though about that in so long...it's all a little grey now.

Anyway, I didn't have the back labour with DS, he was in perfect possession, had him VBAC.

Good luck!

coping w/ back labor-
not laying in bed THAT IS THE WORST
I have had all 4 natural 1 in a hossy 3 at home
3 back labors
w/ my hossy birth I just tried to sit up(stuck to bed/monitors) and rub my back and ignore the world
with other births I walked the whole time and or leaned over birthing ball, stood in shower. Whether it's front or back you know the contraction is going to end and just try to go with it and not fight it that is really all you can do BREATHE
I was lucky that the long labor had them turn before they were born and I id not push for more than a few pushes w/ all of them. I think the key is to try to get them well postioned before you go into labor. Look at spinningbabies or exercises ect. to do while prego-

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Originally Posted by Atsaukina1

coping w/ back labor-
not laying in bed THAT IS THE WORST
I have had all 4 natural 1 in a hossy 3 at home
3 back labors
w/ my hossy birth I just tried to sit up(stuck to bed/monitors) and rub my back and ignore the world
with other births I walked the whole time and or leaned over birthing ball, stood in shower. Whether it's front or back you know the contraction is going to end and just try to go with it and not fight it that is really all you can do BREATHE
I was lucky that the long labor had them turn before they were born and I id not push for more than a few pushes w/ all of them. I think the key is to try to get them well postioned before you go into labor. Look at spinningbabies or exercises ect. to do while prego-

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I will look at those exercises. DS1 was actually in the perfect LOA for several weeks prior to going into labor. Somehow, labor made him want to be posterior. And since the contractions were literally on on top of another (doula said she'd never seen them like that before), I never felt like they were going to be 'over.' If I had had even 1 or 2 minutes between contractions, I think I could have coped. I just want to be armed with every piece of knowledge I can get about a) dealing with back labor and b) getting the baby to turn during labor. My doula was able to turn DS1 to the left but not totally anterior using a bed sheet technique where she had me on all fours while she and a nurse had a bed sheet under my belly rocking back and for.

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Originally Posted by The Anchor

AAAAAH, I had exactly the same with my DD. Piggy-backing contractions, she was sunny-side up and to top it off, her arms were above her head (doc kept telling me she was pushing back!). I was trying to go the natural route, so no epi, but after 6 hours they said she was simply "stuck". They couldn't get her arms down. So I ended up having a c-section after all that! It was a nightmare... and the pain was SURREAL. Funny though, I hadn't really though about that in so long...it's all a little grey now.

Anyway, I didn't have the back labour with DS, he was in perfect possession, had him VBAC.

Good luck!

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Thanks for the encouragement!! Nice to just know someone else out there had 'piggy-backing' contractions with back labor and knows how surreal that unrelenting pain is!!!! Hopefully my next one will be in the perfect position like yours!

my mw had me on all 4's trying to get babe in good postion or lying on my side both of those were very painful. like I said I need ot be up and and moving lol

I also had back labor with all 3 of my births.