Why the belly drops before childbirth and how to understand that this has happened?

Numerous physiological changes that occur in a pregnant woman indicate the impending arrival of labor. When the belly "drops" or lowers, that is one obvious difference. This normal process may be a joyful indication that a baby is almost here.

However, what does it mean and why does the belly drop? The term "lightening" refers to a change in the baby’s position as they descend into the pelvis. This can provide some relief from the pressure on the lungs and ribs and is a crucial step in preparing for delivery.

Expectant mothers may feel more prepared and knowledgeable about the stages of labor if they recognize the symptoms of a dropped belly. Let’s discuss how to identify this shift and what it implies for the impending birth.

What is happening?

In medicine, the term "formation of the fetus" refers to what women refer to as the lowering of the belly. Put another way, the baby inside the pregnant woman starts to position himself to make it as easy as possible for him to pass through the birth canal at a specific moment. Nature herself determines the process of fetal formation. It typically begins with the extensive preparation of the female body for childbirth in the middle of the third trimester.

For the baby, the birth process is no easier a task than for his mother. He has a difficult path ahead, and therefore nature has taken care in advance that the baby is ready for it. The development of the fetus consists of the fact that the baby"s head, if it is in the cephalic presentation, is tightly pressed against the exit to the small pelvis. It will be most convenient for him to be born from this position, when the cervix opens completely during contractions. During labor, the baby"s movements will also be subject to the biomechanisms of labor. He will turn his head exactly as needed to pass through the birth canal and not harm himself. Biomechanisms of labor are also conceived and implemented by nature itself.

During the long months of pregnancy, the fetus grows, turning from an embryo into a real, but still small, person. The uterus also grows with it, providing the baby with enough space for development. Over three trimesters, a woman"s uterus grows 500 times compared to its original size. The doctor regularly measures the height of the fundus of the uterus – the so-called VSDM indicator. With intensive growth, the child rises upward, so the VSDM increases from week to week. And only in the later stages the doctor can draw the attention of the expectant mother to the fact that this indicator has frozen and then decreased. This means that the formation of the fetus has occurred. From its upper position, the baby has moved down, prepared for birth.

When this happens?

It is difficult to say what signals the baby receives to begin its downward journey. It is believed that the formation of the fetus is its reaction to changes in the mother"s hormonal background. With blood through the placenta, the baby begins to receive a qualitatively different composition of hormones. As labor approaches, the woman"s production of the hormone progesterone, which was responsible for maintaining pregnancy from its very first day, decreases. It is replaced by oxytocin, which is produced by the placenta and pituitary gland, and the concentration of estrogens increases. Changes also occur in the uterine tissue, which is still the abode of the child – its structural cells myocytes begin to produce more of the special protein actomyosin, which will allow the cells of the uterus to contract and stretch during contractions and pushing.

Having noticed all these changes, the child"s body intuitively understands that it is time to get ready. Everything will change soon. When this happens depends on many factors – on how timely the preparatory processes are in the mother"s body, how many births the woman has had before, what condition the muscles of the uterus and abdomen are in. In primiparous women, the abdomen usually drops earlier – about 2-4 weeks before childbirth, sometimes earlier. In multiparous women, the formation of the fetus occurs almost before the very birth – a week or several days. Obstetricians are widely aware of examples when the abdomen during the second or third birth drops only with the onset of labor contractions. The descent of the child in the uterus and the uterus itself after 36 weeks during the first pregnancy is considered optimal. If the formation of the fetus occurs before this time, the doctor may suspect a threat of premature birth.

This condition should not be disregarded in any case; instead, the woman should be placed under special supervision in order to allow for the possibility of taking appropriate action to delay the birth of the child.

The terms listed are merely averages, based on statistics. They can’t serve as a manual for all women in the "position" to follow. Given that every woman is unique, the actual time of the expectant mother’s stomach prolapse may occur later or earlier. Their bodies differ in terms of muscle tissue condition, fetus size, and pelvic size. Furthermore, even though this is how the child is located in the great majority of cases, it is not always in the cephalic presentation.

Diagnostic signs, sensations

Contrary to popular belief, prolapse is not as difficult to detect in expectant mothers—especially those who are expecting their first child and have no prior experience as mothers. Not only can the woman notice visual cues, but everyone in her vicinity can also. The abdomen changes shape; it used to resemble a basketball, but as the fetus develops, it starts to resemble a rugby ball or a torpedo melon, and the uterus gets more oval.

You can determine whether your belly has dropped by carefully examining your own figure in the mirror. The task has been made much easier by the recent fashion of taking belly selfies in the mirror at different stages of pregnancy. This is how expectant mothers track the rate of belly growth and keep a kind of photo report. After the fetus has formed, the shape of the belly will be strikingly different, and the belly itself will look smaller in size. A measuring tape will also come to the aid of the expectant mother. With its help, you can measure the height of the fundus of the uterus – this is the highest point, almost under the breast. After the belly has dropped, these values ​​​​become smaller than a week earlier. You can find out about the previous values ​​​​of the VSDM from the exchange card, this indicator is measured at each appointment with the doctor and entered there.

You can check your assumptions with a simple manual test. For this, a woman will only need her own palm. If it fits between the bottom of the uterus and the lower line of the mammary glands, the abdomen has dropped and there is no doubt about it. You can also guess about the development of the fetus by a number of changes in your well-being. In the later stages, a large uterus with a baby, a placenta that weighs about 500 grams, and waters enclosed in the amniotic sac, takes up almost all the space in the abdominal cavity. As a result, the internal organs, which were usually located there quite comfortably, begin to experience significant discomfort. The abdominal cavity, unlike the uterus, does not increase or expand during the course of bearing a baby. Therefore, the organs have to make room. The intestinal loops are compressed, which is why the woman suffers from constipation, sometimes turning into diarrhea, and accumulation of intestinal gases. The uterus presses the stomach from below, which leads to the reflux of gastric juice into the esophagus in the opposite direction. Because of this, belching and heartburn develop.

It also reaches the gallbladder, pancreas, and bladder. The woman experiences frequent urination and impaired bile flow. Even the smallest physical activity or stroll can result in heavy breathing and dyspnea due to the uterus’s pressure on the diaphragm. The woman feels relief both literally and metaphorically following prolapse. She can now get out of bed more easily because the large uterus’s weeks-long compression of numerous organs has eased their function.

• The diaphragm is released — normal breathing is restored. The woman gets the opportunity to breathe deeply again. Shortness of breath does not disappear completely, since it is partly associated with the weight gained, but it becomes less noticeable.
• The ribs, which were somewhat “diverging” due to intra-abdominal pressure disorders, stop hurting painfully. With the prolapse of the uterus, the child no longer knocks on the ribs with its legs, as it did before, but activity is manifested mainly in the lower abdomen, the movements themselves become sharper and less painful for the expectant mother.
• The only organ that does not feel better is the bladder. The pressure of the lowered uterus on it increases, the urge to urinate increases, becomes more frequent.

• Symphysitis may appear for the first time or its course may worsen — there is aching in the pubic symphysis, which intensifies when changing body position, when walking.
• Constipation increases and they are no longer connected with the diet of the expectant mother—the intestinal loops continue to suffer discomfort.
• The gait becomes even more awkward, walking becomes more difficult and harder.

Training contractions—short-term, erratic uterine contractions—often worsen concurrently with the prolapse. The stomach turns into a "stone," but the uterus relaxes and the contractions soon stop when you shift positions, take a warm shower, or take No-Shpa tablets. Such contractions do not signal the start of labor or the fetus’s development.

Going to the maternity hospital is not necessary if the belly has dropped. It might start labor in a few days or a month.

Many expectant mothers experience their belly dropping as delivery draws near, which is a normal indication that the baby is positioning itself for delivery. When the baby descends into the pelvis, it causes a "dropping" or "lightening" sensation that frequently results in increased pelvic pressure but easier breathing. Knowing when this has occurred can assist expectant mothers in sensing the approaching labor. Symptoms include a noticeable lower abdomen, increased bowel movements, and altered gait as a result of increased pelvic pressure. Being aware of these symptoms aids in getting ready for the last phases of the pregnancy and the impending birth.

If prolapse does not occur

What to do if the belly has not dropped is a common question on women’s forums and in doctor’s offices. Does this imply that labor will start later than expected and that labor cannot start if the belly has not dropped?

There is not a single medical obstetric manual that states that a pregnant woman’s belly always drops. In certain cases, prolapse does not happen at all, but labor starts on schedule or even a little early. The time remaining before labor and the fetus’s "starting" position within the uterus do not follow a set pattern.

There are a few situations where the belly does not typically drop before labor.

• A woman is carrying a multiple pregnancy. If there are two or three babies in the uterus, it is physically difficult for them to descend to the exit from the abdominal cavity into the small pelvis. The option of a slight prolapse, almost indistinguishable visually, is permissible only if the woman is carrying twins, one of which is located above the exit head down. If the twins are identical and located inside the same amniotic sac, there is no prolapse at all.

• The woman is diagnosed with polyhydramnios. The excess amount of amniotic fluid in the amniotic sac makes the uterus larger in size, and therefore the baby may not descend down or it will be almost imperceptible to the expectant mother.
• A pregnant woman is carrying a large or giant baby. The estimated weight of the child, according to ultrasound data, exceeds 4 kilograms or approaches 5 kilograms. It will be difficult for such a giant to press his head against the exit to the small pelvis.
• The child occupies an abnormal position in the uterine cavity. He sits on his bottom, lies crookedly or across. If the fetus has not turned before 34–35 weeks, you should not count on this happening — the chances are slim. In pregnancy with an abnormal presentation, a planned cesarean section is most often recommended, and therefore the timing of the prolapse of the abdomen does not matter. The abdomen itself does not descend during such a pregnancy for physiological reasons.

Maintaining a close eye on your own health will help you avoid missing the sign that labor is about to begin. In addition to these symptoms, a woman may experience increased training contractions, mood swings, restlessness, elevated anxiety, diarrhea, insomnia, and jelly-like mucus discharge from the genitalia (a sign of the mucous plug coming off). The cervix’s ripening signifies something objective.

One of the body’s natural signs that labor is about to begin is the belly dropping before childbirth. It occurs when the baby descends into the pelvis to prepare for the impending birth. This shift typically elicits a range of feelings, from excitement to anxiety, since it signals that the baby’s arrival is approaching.

Every woman will experience this realization in a different way when her belly drops. While some people experience relief from pressure on their stomach and lungs but more pressure in their lower abdomen, others may notice a noticeable shift in the position of their bump. These symptoms typically appear a few weeks to a few days prior to the onset of labor, so it’s critical to pay attention to them and listen to your body.

It is important to pay attention to how your body feels if you are not sure if your belly has dropped. Although it’s a typical indicator of impending labor, it’s not the only one. As you get ready for your baby’s arrival, regular contact with your healthcare provider will help you better understand these changes and feel more at ease.

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