My friend recently delivered a baby boy, but she encountered a lot of back pain during the course of pregnancy. She was part of a C section and the main reason was it was told that a sunny side up delivery was the reason behind it. Most of us would have heard about the concept of breech birth, but what does sunny side up baby mean would reveal a different side of the story. In the medical world it goes by the name of occiput position or OP. In simple terms it means that the head of the baby happens to be turned the wrong way. Here the occiput or the back portions of the head the posterior where you find that the face of the baby is pressed against the pubic bone. The situation is hardly heard off when the baby extends out the head and this is under the public bone. It does point to the fact that the labor could be more difficult, longer and cumbersome as well.

More facts about the OP position?

A lot of studies have been subject on OP position. What it would mean for delivery and how you can go on to prevent it are the main topics of study. Now what the studies will show mean

  • In the starting phase of labour the OP position does appear to be common. This is the case in close to 30 %of the pregnancies.
  • It is expected that the babies are going to have a normal position by the delivery happens. It has been seen that in case of 5 % of babies there is only recurring OP
  • When there is persistent OP it could lead to a longer labour process or assisted form of delivery like C section. Studies once again point to the fact that if you have recurring OP nearly 20 % of babies is known to be delivered by OP.
  • The chances of an OP position do increase if it happens to be your first pregnancy. In numerical terms the risk turns out to be around 7 %.

 

What could be done if the baby does go on to have an OP position?

There is some good news as well.  This is even when the baby starts the delivery with the sunny side up position; the chances are that they would get back to normal position by the time of delivery. If any form of posturing could go on to work towards the odds it does prove to be a great feeling. But till date on the basis of evidence it has not been of much help.

Do discuss with your doctor on how their experience has been in dealing with OP positioned babies. It would be better if you discuss with them the options of delivery if the baby happens to be sunny side up. Ideally the more educated you are it is going to happen the better you can combat the situation as well.