Fetal Positions for Labor and Birth

By Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE, About.com Guide

The position that your baby is in during the last weeks of pregnancy and the early part of labor will give you a lot of information on how to best handle your discomforts and pain as well as how to speed labor once the time comes.

The begin to understand how the baby maneuvers out of the pelvis you will need to know a bit about the fetal skull. The bones of your baby's head are not yet fused, this allows the bones to overlap as your baby makes it's way through the pelvis at the end of pregnancy and labor. The lines are called suture lines and also show the fontanelles or soft spots of the baby's skull. The front of the baby's head is the anterior portion and the back is the posterior portion.

Previous

• The Fetal Skull
• Left Occiput Anterior (LOA)
• Left Occiput Transverse (LOT)
• Left Occiput Posterior (LOP)
• Right Occiput Anterior (ROA)
• Right Occiput Transverse (ROT)
• Right Occiput Posterior (ROP)
• How to Tell Where Your Baby Is Located - Leopold's Maneuvers
• How You Can Tell Where Your Baby is Positioned

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