What Does Sunny Side Up Mean?

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What does sunny side up baby mean? As a layman you would want to know more about it. I recently delivered a baby girl, but had a lot of back pain during the course of my pregnancy. I had a C section delivery and one of the main reasons was baby sunny side up as confirmed by medical specialists. Most women would have heard of breech birth but this position has to be an abnormal position for a baby.

The medical term for such a situation is referred to as OP position. The head of the baby is turned down but in the wrong way. The occiput the back of the head is posterior which means that the face of the baby is pressed against the public bone. Because of such position it can be difficult for the baby to extend the head out under the pubic bone and by which the labor can be painful as well as difficult one.

What does the OP position mean in medical terms?

A lot of studies have been conducted on the OP position, what it means in terms of delivery and how can one prevent it. Hereby some of the points which studies indicate are as follows

  • It is more common in the first stages of labor, which occurs up to 30 % of most of the pregnancies
  • Most of the babies will rotate to a normal position by the time the delivery is over. Only 5 % of the babies will tend to have persistent OP
  • If you have persistent OP, it will result in longer labor or emergency C section and one may require a vaginal assisted delivery
  • You are more likely to have a persistent OP positioned during your first pregnancy. The risk works out to be around 7 %.

What needs to be done if the baby has OP?

The options for managing an OP baby in comparison to a C section is to opt for operative delivery. This would mean use of forceps or a vacuum device whereby manual rotation of the baby is done.

Maternal position is a scenario where your knees and hands are in a position with the back stretched out and the chest leaning forward. This sort of position does go on to reduce your back pain but there is not enough evidence to point out that posturing has an impact on OP position.

There is some good news that if even if you start your baby in the sunny side up position, the chances of the baby getting into the right position before delivery are there. It is nice situation if posturing could improve the odds, but till now it has not been of any help.

You could seek the opinion of your health care provider about their experience with OP positioned babies. Discuss with them the options for delivery if your baby is sunny side up. The more you are aware of what will happen the better prepared you will be on what to expect.