Posterior placenta is one position of the placenta.
Heres everything you oughta know about how it impacts pregnancy and delivery.
During pregnancy, the placenta provides nutrients and oxygen from your body to your fetus via the umbilical cord.
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Getty Images
But did you know the position of the placenta can reveal critical insights into the health of your pregnancy?
Experts weigh in on all you’re gonna wanna know.
What Does Posterior Placenta Mean?
Shortly after conception, the placenta attaches itself within the uterus in one of four main positions.
Generally speaking, a posterior placenta wont negatively impact your pregnancy and its unlikely to complicate labor or delivery.
How Does Posterior Placenta Affect Delivery?
A posterior placenta is normal and both vaginal andC-section birthsare usually considered safe in this scenario.
There are no major medical concerns or risks with a posterior placenta by itself, explainsKarin A.
If you haveplacenta previa, a C-section is usually recommendedwhether posterior or otherwise.
How Do I Know I Have a Posterior Placenta?
Can There Be Posterior Placenta Complications?
This is why sonographers carefully study the position of the placenta when you get your routine scans.
Dr. Silver agrees that occasionally a posterior placenta can make prenatal diagnosis of placental problems slightly more challenging.
But he says most of these conditions can still be reliably diagnosed using transvaginal ultrasound, if necessary.
What Are Posterior Placenta Benefits?
Pregnant people with posterior placentas may enjoy some benefits that others with placentas in different positions wont.
However, these benefits are minor and uncommon, he says.
Can a Posterior Placenta Indicate the Babys Sex?
Placental location and pregnancy outcome.
J Turk Ger Gynecol Assoc.
2013
Placental location and pregnancy outcomes in nulliparous women: A population-based cohort study.AOGS.
2021
Fetal gender screening based on placental location by 2-dimentional ul-trasonography.TUMJ.
2014
The role of placental location assessment in the prediction of fetal gender.Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology.