Tilted Uterus During Pregnancy – What New Parents Should Know

If you’ve been told you have a tilted uterus during a pregnancy, welcome to the club! In this article you’ll discover what a tilted uterus is and how it impacts pregnancy, but also hear my personal experiences with this condition.

What is a Tilted Uterus?

A tilted uterus is sometimes called a backwards, retroverted, or flipped uterus – they all mean the same thing. The majority of women have a uterus that faces forward towards the bladder or belly. A tilted uterus, on the other hand, faces towards the spine/back.

A tilted uterus is a normal abnormality because as many as 1 in 4 or 5 women have one – most just don’t know! The cause of a tilted uterus is genetic, and most women will never know they have this condition.

Prenatal Appointment Discovery

Some women find out they are one of the “special ones” with a backwards or tilted uterus at a prenatal ultrasound appointment. Others find out at a most inopportune moment – when they’re hoping to hear the heart beat of their new little one for the very first time.

My Experience

Because I feel like we learn a lot when we share our stories, the following are my two stories of how a tilted uterus impacted my pregnancies.

Pregnancy & Tilted Uterus Story #1

My very first prenatal appointment for my very first pregnancy was scheduled for ten weeks and one day at our local birth center. I was so excited and very nervous. I had been feeling depressingly nauseous (I hadn’t learned all the morning sickness tips yet) and tired, but I was looking forward to hearing the heartbeat of my baby. Maybe hearing the rhythmic beats would make my pregnancy feel more real because, other than being sick, I had nothing to show for it.

After going through the standard paperwork and Q&A of the first appointment, my moment was here. I reclined on the exam table and let the student midwife try to find the heartbeat with her handheld doppler.

Silence. And then more silence. Negative thoughts crowded my mind. My husband later remarked that I had a very serious look on my face. The midwife took over for the student and still more silence. My heart sunk. “I probably just wasn’t pregnant,” I thought to myself.

No Heartbeat = No Baby?

My supportive midwife encouraged me and said that many women do not hear the heartbeat at ten weeks and that we would try again the following week.

The next week, at eleven weeks and four days gestation, I stopped in again for a heart tone check. This time I was with a different midwife who was determined to help me hear my baby’s heartbeat. I climbed back up on the exam table and she went to work.

After another failed attempt to hear a heartbeat, and while fighting the thought that “I’m probably not pregnant anymore” I told my midwife that a few years ago an ultrasound technician told me that I had a backwards uterus. I’m not totally sure what made me tell her this, but maybe I was starting to put the pieces together.

Taking Matters In Our Own Hands

She then told me she could try to manually move my uterus forward via a vaginal exam, putting my baby closer to the doppler. I agreed and we began. This procedure was not very fun or comfortable, but my midwife’s hard work paid off and I heard my baby’s heartbeat!

A Baby!

It was a faint sound, but I definitely heard a strong rhythmic 150 beats per minute. I was so overwhelmed and happy! My husband gave me a kiss and I walked out of that appointment knowing for sure that “I was definitely pregnant”.

When Will It Flip Forward?

At some point towards the end of the first trimester or the beginning of the second, the expanding uterus rises out of the pelvis and “rights itself” or “flips forward” towards the bladder and the abdominal wall. However, at eleven almost twelve weeks gestation my uterus obviously had not done that.

When I was fifteen weeks pregnant I started feeling these stretching, full, stabbing pains in my uterus. This lasted a short while, and then it stopped. I concluded that my uterus must have “flipped” forward, but a visit to my midwife would determine if that were true.

At sixteen weeks gestation I had my second prenatal visit and the handheld doppler was used to listen to fetal heart tones again. This time was completely different. We heard the heart beat immediately – strong and loud at 145 beats per minute. I was right! My uterus had flipped!

Pregnancy & Tilted Uterus Story #2

Now armed with information, for my next pregnancy I knew what to expect with these backwards uterus shenanigans. At around 15 weeks, I started to feel this really full, crampy, pressure feelings in my uterus with lots of pelvic pressure too. I assumed that my body was attempting to flip my backwards uterus forwards.

These sensations were so uncomfortable, however, I wondered if I could help the process along. I decided to get into a forward leaning inversion position to see if I could relieve this discomfort. It worked! It helped my uterus flip forward!

Spotting

Prior to my uterus flipping I was noticing that my cervix was really, really low – like 1-2 knuckle lengths up there. I had also been spotting a lot. What I think was happening was that my uterus was getting heavier, and since it was falling backwards, a lot of the pressure and weight was forcing my cervix to go very low. Also, since my cervix was so low, it was making it much easier to bleed, hence the spotting.

After I had the crampy feelings and did the forward leaning inversion, a few days later the spotting stopped. After a few more days of no spotting I decided to check my cervix (at 16 weeks) and guess what? My cervix was more posterior (facing my back) and about a whole finger’s length up there! When my uterus flipped forward it relieved pressure, allowing the weight of the uterus to come off of itself and move forward. This stopped the discomfort and spotting. Yay!