Im 38 Weeks Pregnant and Feel the Baby's Head Is Very Low

by Lorna Marsh | Medically reviewed by Clare Herbert, Senior Midwife and Team Leader | June 2021 |

Your baby'south head engages when information technology moves down into your pelvis ready for labour. Every pregnancy is different, and no one can say for sure exactly when your baby will outset to motion into the position for birth. Generally speaking though, first babies tend to engage in the final weeks earlier birth. If yous've given birth before, your infant may engage a fleck after. They may even motility in and out of an engaged position as yous near your big twenty-four hours. Some babies simply engage once labour starts.

What makes a baby appoint sooner or later on?

Exactly when your baby engages may be afflicted by the following factors:

• If your baby is lying facing your tummy, with their back to your dorsum (posterior position). This makes it harder for your baby to appoint than if they're facing your dorsum (anterior position). It can also make labour more than challenging.
• If your baby has room to movement. This can happen if there'due south lots of amniotic fluid, or you've given birth before. It means your babe may prevarication beyond your tum (transverse) or at an bending (oblique). In these positions, they're less probable to engage before labour starts.
• The shape of your pelvis, the position of your placenta, or a harmless growth (coarse) may affect when your baby engages, or hateful that they don't engage before the showtime of labour.
• If yous're expecting a big baby, they may non engage until contractions beginning.
• If y'all're expecting twins or more, ane infant may engage early, or you may observe that they don't appoint at all.

How tin can I tell if my baby'south caput is engaged?

If yous're not sure whether or not your baby has engaged yet, ask your midwife at your side by side engagement. By gently pressing around the lower role of your bump, they can feel how far your infant has dropped down into your pelvis.

Your midwife will note how many fifths of your infant'due south head they can feel above the edge of your pelvis. And then 5/5 or 4/5 in your notes means that your baby hasn't dropped all the way downwardly notwithstanding, while 3/5, 2/5, or less means that your baby is engaged. Your midwife may also write "NE", "NEng" or "free" for "not engaged", or "East" or "Eng" for "engaged".

If your babe hasn't engaged by the time you go into labour, information technology'south likely that the power of your contractions will soon button them downward towards your pelvis then your cervix ready to be built-in.

Similarly, if your baby's head engages weeks earlier you're due, don't panic. It doesn't mean that you'll give birth early, simply that your baby is getting ready for the large day.

Some babies never appoint completely, for example if they're in a breech position. If your infant isn't head-down by the time labour starts, a c-section may be the safest pick. Your obstetrician volition talk with you lot to work out if a caesarean is the all-time option for you lot and your baby.

What is lightening?

Lightening is the give-and-take used to describe when your babe first starts to move down into your pelvis, as the lower role of your womb (uterus) expands. Their head, or bottom if they're in a breech position, will sit a little lower than it was previously.

When your babe moves down, your lungs will have more room to expand, so breathing should go easier. On the downside, the pressure level of your baby low down on your bladder ways that you'll need to wee more often. You might find information technology feels as though y'all "waddle" when y'all walk, and it may be quite uncomfortable. But it's merely one more step closer to meeting your infant!

Learn more than well-nigh getting your baby into position for birth.

Lorna Marsh is senior editor at BabyCentre. She has more than 20 years' journalism and editing experience, including working for the NHS.

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Source: https://www.babycentre.co.uk/x543054/when-should-my-babys-head-engage