Baby in the Right Place: Blog 3 of 3
Fetal Positioning, Daily Movement, and Why It’s Never Too Early to Prepare for Birth
This blog is the third in a three part series. Check out the previous posts: Creating Space in Pregnancy, 1/3 & Round Ligament Pain, 2/3
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Choosing to purchase through my links helps me continue to provide free educational content like this blog post.
You’ve probably heard someone say, “Baby flipped at the last minute,” or “They had to try and turn the baby before labor.”
But what if I told you that how you move throughout pregnancy plays a major role in how your baby positions themselves for birth—and that you don’t have to wait until 38 weeks to do something about it?
Fetal position is influenced by posture, breath, daily movement, soft tissue tension, emotions stored in your tissues, and the energetic messages your body carries—not just genetics or chance.
This is exactly what we explore in my prenatal yoga classes: creating space in the rib cage and pelvis, balancing the nervous system, and cultivating both functional movement and deep emotional release that supports you and your baby.
🧠 Why Haven’t I Heard This Before?
Until the 1990s, pregnant people were largely excluded from research studies. The NIH didn’t require inclusion of women in federally funded clinical trials until 1993—that’s shockingly recent.
Since it takes an average of 17 years for research to filter into standard practice, there’s a good chance your OB or midwife didn’t learn about fetal positioning, fascia, and functional movement in their original training.
To this day, understanding how posture, breath, and stored tension in the body influence fetal positioning is still considered optional continuing education—not core knowledge.
So while providers may be quick to recommend a procedure if baby is breech or posterior in the final weeks, many don’t teach proactive strategies that could support positioning much earlier.
But I do.
✨ Fetal Positioning Is Physical and Energetic
“Fetal positioning isn’t just physical——it’s emotional and energetic, too.
”
Fetal positioning isn’t just about biomechanics. It’s also about the emotional and energetic messages held in your tissues.
Here’s why:
Fascia, your connective tissue, is part of the nervous system. It transmits signals before your brain registers them—like pulling your hand back from a hot stove before you even “feel” the burn.
Fascia stores trauma and tension. Just as adhesions can form physically (like a knot in your hair), emotions and pain can also “stick” in the fascial web.
If you’ve experienced abdominal pain, a previous cesarean, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, or tension from stretching bellies, your fascia adapts. You change your movement patterns to avoid pain—and baby often adapts too, moving away from that area of tension or energetic discomfort.
This is why yoga is so different from other “methods.”
They often stop at the physical body.
Yoga integrates mind, body, and spirit.
For over 5,000 years, women have practiced yoga to prepare their bodies, hearts, and spirits for birth. Modern science and fascia research are just beginning to confirm what yogic wisdom has always known: the body holds memory, energy, and intelligence far beyond muscles and bones.
😬 What Happens When Baby Doesn’t Turn?
If baby is breech at 36+ weeks, your provider may suggest an External Cephalic Version (ECV)—a manual procedure to turn the baby head-down by pressing and rotating the belly.
Here’s what that actually involves:
It’s performed in a hospital with fetal monitoring, often using ultrasound guidance
The provider applies firm, sustained pressure to manually turn the baby
Many people describe the procedure as uncomfortable or painful
Risks, though rare, include fetal distress, placental abruption, or emergency cesarean
The success rate hovers around 60%, depending on baby’s size, uterine tone, and other factors
“Your fascia remembers what your brain forgets. Baby responds to both.
”
Manual techniques may sometimes be necessary, but they often treat symptoms rather than root causes. Supporting alignment, breath, fascia release, and nervous system balance throughout pregnancy creates a foundation that makes those procedures less likely to be needed.
Helpful support tool: A pregnancy support belt like the NeoTech Care Maternity Belt can gently stabilize the pelvis and ease ligament strain during daily movement.
🌞 What About “Sunny Side Up”?
The term “sunny side up” refers to the occiput posterior (OP) position—when baby is head-down but facing your front instead of your back.
While still vaginally deliverable, OP babies are more likely to cause:
Longer, more painful labors
Intense back labor due to the baby’s head pressing on the spine
Higher rates of interventions like forceps, vacuum, or cesarean
More perineal trauma
Encouraging anterior positioning is not about controlling your birth—it’s about supporting your baby’s ability to find the best path out by creating the physical and emotional space for your baby to settle into their best position while inside your womb.
🧬 What Is Uterine Tone—and Why Does It Matter?
Uterine tone refers to the natural resting tension or firmness of the uterine muscles. Healthy tone allows the uterus to expand with baby’s growth and contract effectively during labor. When uterine tone is too high, it can restrict baby’s movement and contribute to malposition. When it’s too low, it may lead to inefficient contractions or a sluggish labor pattern.
This is where my prenatal yoga plays an important role.
Through intentional breathwork, functional movement, and postural awareness, we can support balanced uterine tone. My approach helps regulate intra-abdominal pressure, soften tension patterns, and engage the core and pelvic floor in ways that encourage spaciousness and stability—creating optimal conditions for baby’s movement and your comfort.
Emerging evidence also shows that prenatal yoga supports uterine health and tone by improving uterine artery blood flow and maternal-fetal circulation. Studies have found that yoga-based breath and visualization practices significantly improve uteroplacental and fetoplacental circulation in high-risk pregnancies, enhancing the uterus’s ability to function effectively during pregnancy and labor.
How the Diaphragm and Breath works
You can’t control every variable in pregnancy, but you can absolutely create a body that’s more adaptable, more aligned, and more ready for birth.
🚫 Why I Don’t Teach “Methods”
You may have heard of branded programs that promise to “turn your baby” or claim their technique is the only path to good positioning. These programs are based on the same evidence—functional movement, fascia, posture, and nervous system regulation—that yoga has been teaching for millennia.
Here’s the difference:
Many methods focus on short-term drills or practitioner interventions.
Some treat pregnancy like training for a marathon, prescribing exhausting workouts.
Others position themselves as the one “fix,” leaving parents feeling broken or unprepared without their program.
“Methods stop at the physical body. Yoga reaches the emotional and spiritual body as well.””
But yoga is not a trademarked method. Yoga is a lineage.
My approach is holistic and ongoing—not just for the final weeks, but for your entire pregnancy and beyond. We focus on:
Gentle, functional movements that relieve discomfort and create space
Nervous system and fascia release practices that help body and baby adapt
A supportive community where you feel safe and connected
Sustainable practices that support not just birth day, but motherhood as a whole
Each birthing person deserves to feel safe, supported, and comfortable—not only in their physical body, but also in their emotional body and energetic body.
And that includes where you choose to birth, who supports you, and how you honor your body’s wisdom.
“For 5,000 years, yoga has supported women through pregnancy and birth—long before modern ‘methods’ existed.”
🧘🏽♀️ Why My Prenatal Yoga Makes a Difference
“Yoga prepares the body, mind, and spirit—not just the muscles.
”
Let’s be clear: not all prenatal yoga is the same.
Some general yoga teachers offer prenatal modifications without understanding the physiology of birth. Others take a performance-based approach—or suggest they can “fix” you.
That is not my prenatal yoga.
I teach a practice rooted in:
Evidence-informed, functional movement
Pelvic balance and breathwork
Trauma-informed care and personal agency
Deep respect for your intuition and lived experience
My prenatal yoga helps you:
Encourage optimal fetal positioning
Ease round ligament pain, back tension, and hip pressure
Prepare your core, fascia, breath, and pelvis for labor
Build self-trust and confidence in your body's wisdom
Whether you come to group classes or meet with me privately in your home, my focus is always to help you feel supported, knowledgeable, and connected to your own power.
Helpful support tool: A pregnancy journal like the Bloom Pregnancy Journal can help you track your journey and reflect on the changes you’re moving through.
🤍 You Are the Expert on Your Body
Yes—chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists can be amazing support people. But no matter what modality is involved, it should never take power away from you.
It’s not the work that disempowers—it’s the approach and methodology.
Anyone who supports your pregnancy should do so in a way that centers you—not themselves. The right support helps you feel more in charge, more connected, and more informed.
That’s exactly what my prenatal yoga practice is here to do.
Pregnancy isn’t happening to you.
Pregnancy is you.
Your body is not broken. Your body is wise. Your baby is listening. And you deserve practices that remind you of that daily.
Let’s Move Together
I offer:
Weekly group prenatal yoga classes
Private in-home or virtual sessions tailored to your body and goals
Birth preparation rooted in breath, biomechanics, fascia, and reclaiming your power
Postpartum education to support healing and recovery
You don’t have to wait for someone else to fix things.
You can begin now—by moving with intention, breathing with purpose, and reconnecting to the deep inner knowing that’s been yours all along.
This is your body. Your baby. Your birth.
And I’m here to support you—on your terms, with deep care.
📖 Coming Soon: My Book
This blog is part of a much bigger project—my upcoming book, She Births Herself: A Yoga-Based Guide for Pregnancy, Birth, Postpartum, and the Discovery of Self.
It’s a paradigm-shifting work designed to reframe how we approach pregnancy and postpartum—not as performance, not as a medical event alone, but as a profound human experience.
I’m currently seeking publishing partners who share my vision for making maternal wellness accessible, evidence-based, and holistic. If you’re an agent or publisher, I’d love to connect.
This blog is the third in a three part series. Check out the previous posts: Creating Space in Pregnancy, 1/3 & Round Ligament Pain, 2/3
Affiliate Disclosure
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you choose to purchase through the links shared here, I receive a small commission—at no additional cost to you. Your support helps me keep offering free resources, education, and support for mothers and families.
All content © Anne Catherine Yoga. This blog and any affiliated handouts is for personal use only. Please do not distribute or reproduce without permission. Yoga practices are offered as general education and are not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Always consult your provider before beginning any new movement practice.
