Baby Dust

When you are late into your pregnancy, and you are eagerly, and anxiously taking note of every little twinge and pang, you wish there were a “labor test" (like the pregnancy test): a stick you could pee on it and it says, “Yep, this is it. Get your bag and your big belly to the hospital”. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. There are many things the body does to get ready for childbirth, some of them are stealth and you don’t even notice them, while others are impossible to ignore. Here’s a brief, two-part blog on your body’s preparations…

During your pregnancy, one of the hormones your body produces is called relaxin. (No, I didn't make that up, it's really called that). This hormone helps your ligaments stretch and loosen. This increased elasticity is what will allow your pelvic area to expand enough for your baby to pass through it. Towards the very end of your pregnancy, this “loose” feeling can be very unsettling. I began to feel “unsturdy” when I stood up. Not just off balance, front heavy, but like my legs were going to pop out. Remember how you used to be able to pull the legs off of your Barbie doll? I felt like you could easily just pull my legs out of my hip sockets. Useful, I suppose, in getting a large object through your you know what.

You may experience Braxton Hicks contractions. I like to think of these as warm ups. You may get these "squeezing" sensations as early as your second trimester, but they are not the real deal. (I will go into more detail about these in part two).

You will experience “lightening”. No, not electricity, and certainly not a feeling of being lighter! This is the stage when the baby has turned head down, and the its head has settled into the top of the birth canal (or has “engaged”). This can happen a few weeks or a few hours before birth. You may also have heard the expression “the baby has dropped”.  This, I think is a more accurate description, as the baby literally drops down, visably you carry lower, and you have to pee more often, if you can imagine that!

As you get closer to your due date, your obstetrician will want to monitor you and your baby more closely. The OB will be checking your cervix for signs it is preparing for labor. During pregnancy, your cervix is shut up tight, and is thick and hard. Your doctor is feeling for a softening, or thinning of the cervix (when you are about to deliver, your cervix is paper thin). Also, your cervix has to dilate (or open) from zero centimeters to ten centimeters (when you are 10 centimeters dilated, and fully effaced, you can begin pushing!). On one of my lasts visits, my OB said, “You are two centimeters dilated, and 20% effaced”. I was ready to jump off the table and run to the hospital…not so fast. The good news was that the process was under way. What I didn’t understand was that one could (and I did!) walk around like that for weeks before labor begins.  

You will also loose your mucus plug, (charming, I know). This plug develops early in your pregnancy between the uterus and the cervix. It protects your baby by keeping germs and bacteria out of the uterus. Now that you are getting ready to deliver, and your cervix is beginning to open, that plug “falls out” You may or may not notice this event. The plug can be clear, pink or even slightly bloody, (no need for alarm-it's sometimes called "bloody-show)". Again, this can happen weeks or hours before labor begins.

So, while you are putting on the finishing touches on the nursery, your body is doing some preparation of it’s own. These things can take place over the course of a few weeks, leading up to active labor. And how do you know when you are in active labor? Stay tuned to this blog…