Delivery presentations

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Breech - series	Childbirth	C-section - series	Delivery presentations
Emergency Childbirth	Emergency Childbirth

Fetal presentation:

Cephalic (head-first) presentation:

Cephalic presentation is considered normal and occurs in about 97% of deliveries. There are different types of cephalic presentation, which depend on the fetal attitude. If the fetus' head is extended back, then the chin, face, or forehead will exit first depending on the degree of extension. This is not considered preferable since this part of the fetal head is not the smallest, thus increasing the difficulty of the birth. Preferably the fetal head is flexed down to the chest resulting in a "vertex" delivery, in which the crown of the head exits first.

A cesarean delivery may be done for any fetal position other than cephalic.

Breech presentation:

Breech presentation is considered abnormal and occurs about 3% of the time. A complete breech birth occurs when the buttocks present first, and both the hips and the knees are flexed. A frank breech occurs when the hips are flexed so the legs are completely drawn up towards the chest. Other breech positions occur when either the feet or knees come first.

Shoulder presentation:

The shoulder, arm, or trunk may exit first if the fetus is in a transverse lie. This type of birth occurs less than 1% of the time. Transverse lie is more common with premature delivery or multiple gestations.

Review Date: 06/06/2006
Reviewed By: Audra Robertson, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.