Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Lightening?What It Feels LikeLightening and Fetal StationTips for ComfortWhen to Call a Provider
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Lightening?
What It Feels Like
Lightening and Fetal Station
Tips for Comfort
When to Call a Provider
In pregnancy, lightening occurs when the fetus’s head moves toward the pelvis to prepare for birth. Thisthird-trimestershift is often called “dropping,” due to the lower position in a pregnant person’s abdomen.
This article explains lightening and what it feels like. It presents changes that pregnant people experience along with lightening, like increased urination (peeing) from the pressure of the lower position, as well as tips to help you feel more comfortable as labor and delivery draw near.
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Lightening occurs when the fetus’s head moves deeper into the pelvis to prepare for birth. The lower position means it’s not pressing on thediaphragm(a key muscle for breathing) and you may feel “lighter.”
Lightening can happen from a few weeks to a few hours before labor begins. During a first pregnancy, dropping usually happens two to four weeks before delivery. In people who’ve been pregnant before, lightening may occur right when labor begins.
What Lightening Feels Like
Since lightening in pregnancy occurs as the fetal head moves into position in the pelvis, it is typically a gradual motion that most people don’t notice at once.
At the same time, it can cause new symptoms like frequent urination. Other physical changes that occur with lightening can include:
Braxton Hickscontractions (pre-labor) sometimes become noticeable around the same time you feel lightening in the third trimester.You also may notice yourmucus plughas been shed.
How Long After Losing My Mucus Plug Does Labor Start?
Sometimes, lightening is called “engaged” position. Healthcare providers use this description because the fetus is now in contact with the pelvis in preparation for birth.
Engagement is part of an overall assessment of position called fetal station. Fetal station is based on 11 different positions during labor, progressing from -5 (minus 5) to plus 5 at crowning.
Usually it describes the head (cephalic) position, but it can refer to a different body part that is emerging first (feet or buttocks inbreechbirth, for example).
The fetus is “engaged” when the largest part of the head enters the pelvis. Head-first birth happens in about 97% of pregnancies.In most cases, fetal station (the position of an engaged fetus after lightening) describes the head position.
Lightening and Tips for Comfort
If you’re taking childbirthpreparation classesor talking with your healthcare provider, you’ve likely learned techniques for staying healthy and managing symptoms during the third trimester. You can rely on these tips as labor and delivery near:
You may want to try over-the-counter pain relief likeTylenol(acetaminophen) but be sure to speak with your healthcare provider before taking any medication.
What Is a Pregnancy Massage?
When to Call a Healthcare Provider
In most cases, you don’t need to call a healthcare provider about lightening symptoms. You may want to notify your obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN) if this is not your first pregnancy, since the lightening can mean labor is beginning.
You also may want to tell your OB-GYN if you are experiencing ahigh-risk pregnancyor have a scheduled delivery. You also should call if you feel lightening has occurred suddenly and too soon, raising a concern aboutpreterm birth.
Seeking Emergency Care in PregnancyLightening is not cause for concern. But you should seek immediate care if:Your water has broken but you have no contractions.You experience heavy vaginal bleeding.You are in severe pain that remains constant.The fetus seems not to be moving.
Seeking Emergency Care in Pregnancy
Lightening is not cause for concern. But you should seek immediate care if:Your water has broken but you have no contractions.You experience heavy vaginal bleeding.You are in severe pain that remains constant.The fetus seems not to be moving.
Lightening is not cause for concern. But you should seek immediate care if:
What Is Bleeding During Pregnancy?
Summary
Lightening means that the fetus has dropped in the abdomen, ahead of labor and delivery. The fetus is changing position to facilitate entry into the birth canal.
While lightening is a normal occurrence during pregnancy, each pregnancy is different. If you’ve been pregnant before, lightening (sometimes called engagement) can occur at the start of labor, but it can occur anytime after 36 weeks gestation.
There aren’t typically symptoms of lightening, though you may notice you’re breathing easier or have to urinate more often. Most people don’t need to contact a healthcare provider, but talk to your OB-GYN if you have questions or concerns specific to your pregnancy.
Pregnancy: Signs, Symptoms, Tips, and Your Body
9 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Johns Hopkins Medicine.The Third Trimester.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.How to tell when labor begins.
University of Michigan Health.Pregnancy: dropping (lightening).
Vazquez JC.Heartburn in pregnancy.BMJ Clin Evid. 2015 Sep 8;2015:1411. PMID: 26348641.
University of Michigan Health.Contractions during pregnancy: what to expect.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.What are the symptoms of labor?
Cohen WR, Friedman EA.Clinical evaluation of labor: an evidence- and experience-based approach.J Perinat Med. 2020 Oct 19;49(3):241-253. doi:10.1515/jpm-2020-0256.
Northwestern Medicine.Staying Comfortable in the Third Trimester.
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