Mothers who have experienced back labor generally use expressions like "horrible" or "no break" from the pain when thinking back to the memory of their birth. Back labor is often the kind of labor that no one wants, not only due to the increased pain in the mother's back, but because it can cause labor to be long and grueling.
In many cases, the back labor is caused by the position of the baby's head on the mother's back. However, in some cases, the mother can feel back pain when her baby's position is actually favorable, known as anterior. In other cases, the baby may be positioned "sunny side up", which is known as posterior, yet the mother does not experience back pain. What do we know about back labor?
What is Back Labor?
Back labor is a type of labor in which the mother feels most if not all of her contraction pain in her lower back. Often the back pain not only occurs during the labor contractions, but also in between contractions so that the mother often feel continuous pain in her back throughout labor.
What Causes Back Labor?
The size of the baby can cause the mother to feel discomfort in her back. If the labor progresses and the baby's head moves down, even a baby in an anterior position can cause back pain. It is likely however that the biggest cause of back labor comes from the baby being in a posterior position, where the back of the baby's head is toward the mother's back. This position forces the heaviest part of the baby's head to rest more heavily on the mother's lower back.
The exact medical term for a baby in this position is called occiput posterior since the occiputal bone in the back of the baby's skull aligns itself with the posterior section of the mother's pelvis. A baby who has rotated around to face the mother's back (which is typically a much more favorable position) is said to be in the occiput anterior position.
What are Other Symptoms of Back Labor?
In addition to back pain, mothers who experience back labor (especially when related to a baby in the occuput posterior position) often have the following signs and symptoms that occur with back labor:
- Slow progress of labor - it is not unusual to have slow progress or even a long break in progress during labor with back labor.
- Going into labor after your due date - it is not uncommon to be "late" with a posterior baby.
- No contractions after your water breaks - sometimes posterior babies/back labor causes your labor to start with water breaking but labor contractions do not begin on their own for quite awhile.
- Irregular labor contraction pattern - another symptom of a posterior baby/back labor is a contraction pattern that is not regular, for example labor contractions that "couple" with two together and longer spaces between them.
- Longer time pushing - it is not unusual for a posterior baby to take longer to push out since the diameter of the baby's head in the posterior position is larger as it descends.
Keep in mind that you may not have any of these symptoms if your baby is posterior. Every woman's body acts differently. For example, there is no reason to assume that you will definitely have a longer labor just because your baby is posterior.
What are Ways to Prevent Back Labor?
While there are no guarantees to prevent back labor or a posterior baby with every mother, there are some ways to learn about your baby's position during pregnancy as well as techniques to rotate a posterior baby to anterior even before labor starts.
For more information, check out Ways to Prevent Back Labor.
Brenda Lane - Brenda Lane is a published author, Lamaze certified childbirth educator, DONA certified birth doula and approved birth doula trainer.
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