Pregnancy Maternal Positions  Lifting your arms to grip a shawl (Rebozo)

and standing with your knees “soft”

Some helpful maternal positions in pregnancy are: (slightly bent)

 Sitting with your hips higher than your  It is believed that giving birth in an upright
knees position is beneficial for both mother and the
 Sitting with your back straight and your rib infant for several physiologic reasons. An
cage lifted off your middle upright positioning helps the uterus to
 Sitting on a firm exercise ball that allows contract more strongly and efficiently, the
your hips to be level with your knees or
baby gets in a better position and thus can
higher than your knees
 Laying with your navel aiming towards the pass through the pelvis faster. Upright and
bed, floor or couch/ sofa, if not directly on lateral positions enables flexibility in the pelvis
your belly, then so that eventually an and facilitates the extension of the outlet.
imagined light-beam coming from your
navel would eventually find the floor Spinning Babies® Second Principle is Gravity
 Brief Forward-Leaning Inversions, once a In birth, position your legs and back
day to give room for baby to turn in your pelvis
 Anterior pelvic tilts with knees bent (work and come down. Parents learn smart birth
gradually up to where you can squat with positions with a Certified Parent Educator who
your feet flat on the floor for 2-5 minutes) will help you begin with our video Parent Class
 Holding your shoulders back, and pulling and give one-on-one support via Zoom or in
your chin back so your head is over your person.
hips while you walk briskly
The average fetal heart rate is between 110
Labor Maternal Positions and 160 beats per minute. It can vary by 5 to
25 beats per minute. The fetal heart rate may
Some helpful maternal positions in labor are: change as your baby responds to conditions in
your uterus. An abnormal fetal heart rate may
 All the same that are listed above, plus mean that your baby is not getting enough
 Standing and leaning forward with your oxygen or that there are other problems.
knees “soft” (slightly bent)
 Standing and leaning back (straightening,
even arching your back slightly)
 Standing and flattening your lower back
against the wall while lifting your lower
abdomen during the entire contraction
(See Belly Lift)
 Kneeling
 Kneeling and leaning forward on a bed or
chair or exercise ball (hands and knees)
 Kneeling and lifting your arms to grip a
shawl or rope or bar above you
 Kneeling and resting your elbows on the
mattress or floor in front of you
 Kneeling and resting your shoulders on the
floor or mattress in front of you
 In the deep birth tub, kneeling in a way that
stretches your knees far away from your
hips, so that your thighs are at a diagonal
and your knees are further from your belly
than your hips. This opens your pubic bone
away from your spine and lets a posterior
baby drop into the pelvis (engage). Do this
only in active labor after you’ve tried to
help baby rotate to the Left occiput
transverse and that hasn’t been able to
happen for whatever reason.
 Sitting on a birth stool