Will your baby be late if you haven't "dropped" a week before your due date? Obstetrical Nurse Wanda Steele offers some insight.Your question
This is my first pregnancy, and my baby hasn't dropped yet. I'm due in a week, so will my baby be late? - Erin, Morganville NJ
The expert answers
Ah, once again the million dollar question, when will my baby be born?
I wish I had a dime...
Believe it or not, many people never experience the "dropping" of the baby or "lightening," as it is commonly referred. But to the ones who do, this is a major event. What "lightening" means is that the baby's head has settled deep into the pelvis and you suddenly have room to breathe, since the baby is no longer pressing up under your ribs quite as much.
For some people, it can be a situation that does not occur
until they are in labor -- for others, it occurs in the latter stages
of the pregnancy. It does NOT have any bearing on when the baby will
be born, other than the fact that the body is preparing for the end of
the pregnancy. Many things can make a difference in this event: The
size of the baby, the size of the mother's pelvis, the position of the
baby, and on and on and on.
The most important thing to remember is that "lightening," if it does
happen to you, does not mean that labor is imminent. It is just one of
the many things that is done to prepare you for the birth as the
pregnancy comes to an end. Consider it a wondrous event, and look
forward to the next one. :) Good luck!
