Feb 13

Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.

“Only An OB Can Palpate Baby’s Position.”

“Only an OB can palpate baby’s position.” – L&D Nurse to mother.

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There are 38 comments to this post.

Jane had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 2:41 pm (Quote)

Because OBs use Magic Hands tm. Magic Hands tm are given out on graduation day to all OBs and only OBs may use them! Attend the medical school of your choice for your own pair of Magic Hands tm today!

–

Sheez. After the first pregnancy, I could always tell my babies’ positions. It’s not that hard.

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Heather P Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 6:48 pm Heather P(Quote)

–Sheez. After the first pregnancy, I could always tell my babies’ positions. It’s not that hard.

I was thinking that myself. With my second baby I called my midwives to tell them my baby was breech (around 29 weeks) and asked them how to safely get her to move because I was uncomfortable with her head lodged under my ribs.

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michele Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 9:56 pm michele(Quote)

with my FIRST baby i knew how my son was positioned and they MADE me get an ultrasound to check his position! darn…i should have gone to magic medical school!

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midwife had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 2:43 pm (Quote)

Oh really…..

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Natalie had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 2:47 pm (Quote)

Wow. I didn’t realize only OBs have hands.

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Vy Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 6:54 am Vy(Quote)

*like*

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Selia had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 2:50 pm (Quote)

AKA, “I don’t know how to do it.”

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Details had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 2:51 pm (Quote)

I’m pretty sure you can learn how at http://www.spinningbabies.com. I wish I had learned how 17 years ago.

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Adrienne had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:01 pm (Quote)

*like* I discovered that when pregnant with my youngest and learned more than what the ob’s knew in the past. They usually just said head down and didn’t go anymore in depth than that.

I’m pretty sure you can learn how at http://www.spinningbabies.com. I wish I had learned how 17 years ago.

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Bonita had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:15 pm (Quote)

rreeaallllyyyy… So I guess my midwife was wrong when she was able to tell that my baby was head down…nope, she wasn’t.
My friend who goes to an OB was just told that he couldn’t palpate to tell baby’s position, he needed to order an ultrasound! Yeah… so much for OB’s having “hands on” knowledge of their profession.

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Kate, Ren's Mama Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 6:32 pm Kate, Ren's Mama(Quote)

I was going to say this same thing. My midwife was just telling me how when she sees clients who have had a previous birth with an OB, they are often surprised when she palpates their abdomen, saying that their OBs NEVER did that. She palpates mine at every visit, and once baby is big enough to feel, she’s never been wrong about position.

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Birdflippin' had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:35 pm (Quote)

Right. So my midwife teaching me how to play “name that body part” was just a cheesy game show.

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Katy had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:36 pm (Quote)

And they do SUCH a good job that no one realized my first child was in a wrong/bad position till the 4th day of labor.

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Kristy had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:45 pm (Quote)

And make a tree. Oh wait… that was the other God.

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Dreamy had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:58 pm (Quote)

This has got to be a liability thing. “You *can*, but you *may* not.”

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Melissa Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 11:11 am Melissa(Quote)

That’s what I was thinking. See, kids, English class IS relevant!

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Jessica had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:58 pm (Quote)

Really? You’re not allowed to check? Does this mean you get to keep your hands off me indefinitely?

What she should have said is the she’s not allowed to check. She wouldn’t be able to “diagnose” how the baby was positioned. Which kinda sucks, since many OBs want to trust machines than hands.

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Nikki had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 3:59 pm (Quote)

Bull…sounds like someone didn’t read the chapter in her “Maternal Newborn Nursing” textbook that included Leopold’s Maneuvers! That is one of the books I used in my monitrice course and I am now using in my midwifery training. L & D nurses should know how to palpate, too! Sadly, Ina May covers this in her new book “Birth Matters”…the fact that L & D nurses and OB residents aren’t learning to palpate because they have an ultrasound machine right around the corner. ::sigh::

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Michelle had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 4:07 pm (Quote)

TIL (Today I Learned): My husband is an OB! So is my MIL! Amazing!

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Lisa in Texas had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 4:12 pm (Quote)

I’ve never met an OB who even *tried* to palpate baby’s position. All the ones I know rely on ultrasound. My midwives, on the other hand, always palpated accurately. I never even had any U/S until my 5th pregnancy.

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Ellen Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 5:14 pm Ellen(Quote)

This. Are there any OBs left in the US who try palpating instead of going straight to ultrasound?

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Vanessa had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 5:37 pm (Quote)

Huh, that’s weird. At my OB appointment today, I asked if that little round thing I could sometimes feel jutting out from my abdomen was my baby’s butt. My OB’s response? “Yes! Isn’t it cool when you can feel what position your baby is in?”

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Sarah Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 6:54 pm Sarah(Quote)

This sounds just like my OB. I only had one US to confirm dates because I didn’t bother going in until 25 or 26 weeks because of previous bad experiences. I needn’t have been concerned because my OB, a resident, has a midwife’s heart and palpated me at every visit. I forgot, I did have a quickie US in labor so he could be sure he was right. He was.

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Stephanie P Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 10:50 am Stephanie P(Quote)

The first thing my OB asked before she prepared to palpate me was what position I thought the baby was in. She liked that input as it helped her to only palpate the side/area in which baby was resting. 4 babies in I can tell without palpating how baby is sitting. I recall that she even said to me that if I felt baby was head down and engaged, she believed me completely.

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Judith had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 6:16 pm (Quote)

funny, so few OB’s palpate the abdomen for position and even when they do an internal exam, do not pay attention to position. many more nurses do, IMHO.

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Melissa had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 7:22 pm (Quote)

You know, my OB was a horrible, horrible man, but he always knew (and relayed the info to humble little me) what position my babies were in. Two of the three were easy because their little hinders stuck out constantly.

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Kristin had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 7:40 pm (Quote)

When a mother can feel the hips and spine of her baby through her belly, it makes it easy to tell what the position the baby is in. Does that mean the majority of us are OB’s too?

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Jespren had this to say, Feb 13, 2012 @ 7:43 pm (Quote)

Yeahhh…I had no problem palpating my 1st baby (or my second). My first babe liked to be touched inutero, I used to massage his leg. He would float right up to meet your hands as soon as you put pressure on my womb. Made it really easy to hear his heart via doppler.

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Holley had this to say, Feb 14, 2012 @ 4:43 am (Quote)

I always knew my babies position. One of my OBs wouldn’t listen when I told him that my daughter’s face was sitting on my cervix, instead of her head….and it caused issues.
I did have a L&D nurse walk in while I was in labor with one of my kids, she felt my tummy, gave me an exact weight and position, then walked out lol.
Of course, my midwifes always checked position and also asked me what was where before they checked.

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Nicci P had this to say, Feb 14, 2012 @ 5:16 am (Quote)

Yay! I guess I’m an OB!

Hey, if all you have to do to become an OB is to palpate baby’s position, no WONDER we have some of the quotes on this site.

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Vy had this to say, Feb 14, 2012 @ 6:57 am (Quote)

I could always tell my baby’s position, but would have my midwife and doula confirm it.

Sort of along the lines in the OP – I had friends whose OB/MW would check the baby’s position but always had to check internally.

THAT I never understood, but my baby was anterior, and maybe it is less work to identify an anterior baby?

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Kit had this to say, Feb 14, 2012 @ 7:08 am (Quote)

Not only would my midwife palpate to determine my baby’s position, she would ask me first where he was.

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Kara had this to say, Feb 15, 2012 @ 7:53 am (Quote)

Most OBs I’ve seen rarely palpated, though the midwives I’ve seen did. Even with my twins I could tell what position my babies were in most of the time. As opposed to one OB I saw who couldn’t even get it right with an u/s and told me one was breech when he was obviously head down (with his head by his brother’s and his feet at that moment kicking my ribs). That was the last time I saw that OB.

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Kara Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 7:55 am Kara(Quote)

Oh, and when I went to NSTs with my twins, the nurse would always ask me how the babies were positioned, they didn’t need an OB to come in with his magic hands to figure it out.

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Jen Reply:
February 15th, 2012 at 3:26 pm Jen(Quote)

I wish my nurses had listened as well with my twins. I always said, “Baby A is over here and Baby B is up here today.” Without fail they’d start in the middle, struggle to find the heart beats, and end up exactly where I told them. I finally started hooking myself up to the monitor to save time. (I was on hospital bedrest the final 3 weeks.)

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Serene had this to say, Feb 16, 2012 @ 5:34 am (Quote)

Oh geez I hope this ismore of “only an OB is ALLOWED to palpate baby’s position in this facility”…

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Ani had this to say, Feb 16, 2012 @ 7:18 am (Quote)

Right…so every time we L&D nurses have to put on monitors, we’re not palpating for position. We just pick a random spot to place the toco and ultrasound. I think palpating baby’s position was one of the first things I learned about when I became an L&D nurse.

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