OB Question, Am Confused!

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With regard to the position of the fetus:

There's right or left (meaning the fetus is looking toward moms left pelvis or ??)

Then there's occiput (head presentation), mentum (face presentation) and Sacrum (butt presentation)...I get this part, easy peasy.

But then there's the whole anterior/posterior thing. How can you tell which one it is? I've been reading my text and staring at the illustrations until my eyes started to bleed, but I still don't get it. The book I'm using is Foundations of Maternal-Newborn Nursing by Murray and McKinney.

I've also checked several OB sites and it's still not clicking. Anyone have a better way of explaining this to me?

This is driving me nuts! :o

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Well, its occiput anterior, occiput posterior, sacrum anterior or sacrum posterior.

So anterior/posterior is the direction the part is facing (i.e. occiput anterior means that the back of the head is facing up or towards mom's front).

Here is a website with some good visuals:

http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/Military_OBGYN/Textbook/AbnormalLandD/fetal_position.htm

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if a baby is in an occiput posterior presentation, that means the baby is facing forward, toward the mom's stomach, with the back of the head against the spine. Those babies don't read the manual. They SHOULD be occiput anterior, facing backward toward the spine. Occiput transverse means the baby is sort of sideways, facing to one side or the other instead of more toward the front or back.

Occiput posterior presentation makes for a very painful labor, typically with a lot of pain and pressure in the back.

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Sarah and Future L&DNurse:

Thank you so much for replying. It's clicking now and I hereby nominate you both to write a nursing textbook that actually explains this, lol.

The website you referred me to is excellent. Now I can understand the difference between LOA, ROA, LOP, ROP, etc.

Again, thank you very much for your help. It is so very much appreciated!

Adri

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Specializes in Obstetrics.

Great link! Thanks! :)

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