have you been told that you have an anterior placenta I know with my first baby that's what
they told me and at the time I had absolutely no idea what it meant and I just received a question
from a family in the birth toolbox class about this topic and I want to answer the most common
questions about anterior placenta I think you're going to be a little bit surprised by what some
research says about who is more likely to have an anterior placenta okay let's dive into it what is
an anterior placenta well it's when the placenta is attached to the front wall of the uterus your
uterus is kind of like a balloon it starts out small and then as the baby grows your uterus grows
here's your uterus if you have an anterior placenta your placenta is located on the
front side here it is on the front if you had a posterior placenta it would be on the back so it's
on the back of you right if you have a lateral placenta your placenta is attached on either
side so I'm turning right to the side so your placenta is attached either here or
here you might have a fundal placenta and that's when placenta is attached right there
now if you have a low-lying placenta that's when the placenta is attached near the cervix at the
bottom that's also called placenta previa and can lead to the need for a cesarean birth more
in another video so we have the placenta is inside the uterus but it's on the side right up against
your abdominal muscles so the baby when they're kicking kicks the placenta first and then you
feel it on in your abdomen so when the placenta forms it is where the egg the fertilized egg
implants in the uterus so it can be anywhere it can be front back top bottom not really sure why
people aren't told the position of their placenta unless they have an anterior placenta which is why
I think sometimes when you get that information you feel like there's something wrong with it
but it is normal and so it kind of frustrates me when I hear people being told that they have an
anterior placenta without that follow-up language like you have an anterior placenta and it's normal
um that would be my immediate follow-up statement but that's okay it's also common so published
estimates are right around 33 to 50 percent of pregnancies have an anterior placenta now
if you're wondering if an anterior placenta will affect your pregnancy that's a great question and
it's going to affect the experience of babies movements so babies kicks baby how baby rolls
around sometimes you'll see people take videos of their stomach like they'll post it on Instagram of
their belly just kind of moving around these huge kicks and movements almost looks like there's an
alien in there if you have an anterior placenta you're not as likely to see those big movements
and feel those big kicks because baby has to be punching through the placenta it's like a buffer
it's a physical buffer from their movements to the way you feel it on your outside abdominal
wall now you might feel the kicks more on the side where the placenta is not so that is a difference
though nothing concerning about that just a little bit of a different experience
you also might see during your visits to your care provider that when they do the fetal doppler to
try to get baby's heart rate that they might have a little bit more of a challenge to try to get to
it because they're having to listen through the placenta now having an anterior placenta you might
have a situation when you're in labor where the anterior placenta leads to the baby being in an
OP position or a sunny side up occiput posterior position and if the baby is in that position you
could experience what's called back labor so that's when contractions are felt really
intensely in the back that's not a guarantee but it could lead to that now there's some like old
wives tales saying that an anterior placenta means you're more likely to have a girl but that does
that research doesn't seem very strong and also do know that because you have an anterior placenta
this pregnancy each pregnancy is different so the fertilized egg implants wear it implants and it's
not always the same place with each pregnancy so I for one had two pregnancies with anterior placenta
and two without so who knows now one study showed that if your blood type is o positive
that you're more likely to have an anterior placenta and another small study said that
sleeping on your stomach after conception may have something to do with the fertilized egg
implanting in the front wall of your uterus leading to the placenta attaching there and
they don't out there a stomach sleeper like me let me know in the comments I think that's pretty
pretty wild but more research is necessary now if you like this rapid answer to your
questions then I know you'll love the videos in this playlist with where I'm answering some
of the most common questions that arise in pregnancy and I'd love for you to subscribe
for more information so I can help you along in your journey and I'll see you next time bye