Signs of Going Into Labor: Lightening or Dropping

Video Transcript

"Another sign that labor is getting closer is lightening. Lightening is when your baby actually drops deeper into your pelvis. It also is called engaging or dropping. So this can occur a few weeks before you go into labor, this can occur a few days, or a few hours. In some women it actually happens while they're in labor. But for most women, it starts sooner. Usually women can know that their baby is dropping because they feel very different. When your baby is high up in your stomach, it's closer to your stomach and your chest and so you have trouble eating because when you eat, your stomach feels full really fast because your stomach is pushed up higher into your body. You also might have more indigestion and more heart burn because there's less room for your intestines. So once the baby drops, you get more room in there. So you can eat more at a time because you've got room in your stomach. It's easier to digest your food because there's more room with your intestines there. And also you can breathe easier because there's more room in your lungs. Now, how you really know even more than that is, as that baby drops, that baby is going to drop right onto your bladder. So you already probably feel like you have to urinate all the time, now you feel like you have to urinate even more. And that's because the baby's head really, literally is right on your bladder. So that is a sign that labor is coming soon when your baby drops or is engaged deeper in your pelvis. So, this is actually what's going on when your baby is lightening or dropping. This is what your body looked like before you got pregnant and this is what it looks like now. So if you see your stomach is right up here in your chest, these are your intestines right here and this is your bladder. Before you got pregnant, you had a lot more room here because there wasn't a baby in here. Now that you've got a baby in here, everything is pushed up or everything is pushed down. So before your baby drops or is lightening, this is way up high in your chest. So when your baby drops, the bladder, which is right here, the baby's going to drop into your pelvis deeper in there and put that pressure on the bladder. But that then is going to give you more room up top. So that's what it looks like when your baby drops or lightenings."