Presenting part

[loving2]

Besides cephalic and footling, what are some other presenting parts you've felt? I've heard chin, ear, double footling, scrotum, lady parts and even rectum (the nurse actually put her fingers right inside baby's rectum on exam)!Have you ever had a pt get to "complete" before you/doc realized baby was not vertex? Obviously I've had this happen and I guess I'm looking for reassurance that it does happen (even to the most experienced nurses).

[jodyangel, RN]

Walked by a labor room with mom ringing bell and screaming...I have to Push!! I checked her. Complete and breech. Stat csection

[klone, MSN, RN]

I've felt a frank breech (didn't stick my finger in the baby's orifice, however).

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

I'm a midwifery student doing clinicals with a homebirth midwife for my final semester. We just had a face presentation--took some time to figure out that presenting part that were felt on exam were the baby's huge, extremely puffy swollen lips! Technically the position would be called "mentum anterior," since the chin is what is considered the landmark. Luckily mom was fully dilated at that point and she was able to push the baby out in 20 minutes. Crazy experience!

[nocturnalnurse]

We had a case not to long ago, FP doc was in-house and did all the vag exams, didn't realize the baby was frank breech until it was dang near crowning after 1hr of pushing. stat c-section. a shame too because this G1 worked for HOURS in hard labor to go all natural and was going to do it too. personally, I've felt hand or arm quite a few times (some that resolve, some that delivered lady partslly, and a few that had to be sectioned), face presentation once...nurse before me had put the scalp electrode on the side of the nose , shoulder presentation once (c/s), and frank breech a couple of times (c/s). I've never felt a footling breech or compound breech on a live or full term fetus. The only transverse I've had there just WASNT a presenting part to be felt at all and caught it by the subsequent US. I've felt an ear on a very asynclitic vtx presentation once but some creative positioning got that baby to straiten out and deliver lady partslly.

[monkeybug]

Face a couple of times (baby SUCKED on my finger, I nearly fainted). Footling breech a couple. We had an external version that sort of worked. I say "sort of" because I went to check her and was surprised to find a little hand protruding from the lady parts. I took a picture with mom's camera (per her request) of that one so mom could see it. That one ended up in the OR, we were all disappointed because we really wanted the version to work.

When I was still fairly new, I had a labor patient on nights on a travel assignment. MD had ordered, Epiural when patient is 4 cm, no more checks after that until patient feels urge to push. I knew something didn't feel right, and I asked another nurse to check behind me. She refused, saying we were both RNs and she wasn't going to do my job (typical behavior for this hospital, they treated the travelers like poo). MD gets there in the AM and patient was complete and breech. I cried in humiliation in frustration. Now it probably wouldn't bother me. It happens.