Bridget's Pregnancy Blog

As I posted on my Facebook page this week “The doctor told me my baby is engaged. I think he should at least wait until he’s born to get involved in serious relationships.”

“Engaged” in pregnancy terms means something quite different, of course, but many women aren’t sure exactly what it does mean. So here is a little Q&A about the process and what it means.

What does “The baby is engaged” mean?

Basically, when the baby becomes engaged, he or she has dropped into the pelvic cavity and is getting ready for birth. Before that point, the baby is floating around in the womb, with head above the pubic bones, bouncing along merrily as mom goes about her daily activities.

Can you feel when the baby engages?

I didn’t really notice much difference, but it depends on the woman. Most people don’t seem to feel the actual engagement and need to be told by their doctor that it’s happened. Some moms-to-be notice a feeling that the baby has dropped down lower than before, giving a little more room in the upper abdomen that allows for easier breathing (which is why it is also sometimes called “lightening”.) I didn’t really have any breathing issues, so I didn’t notice that. I DID notice that this past week I’ve been having less heartburn, which is probably because baby is not pushing up on my stomach so much. And I’ve also noticed more need to go to the bathroom, probably because of a bit more pressure on my bladder.

Does the baby engaged mean the baby will be born early?

Nope. There’s not really any correlation. In first-time moms, the babe can drop down and become engaged anytime from a month before labor starts up til the day of birth. For subsequent pregnancies it is usually a little later, so it’s not uncommon for second and further babies not to engage until they are ready to be born.

What are the numbers the doctor gives?

The doctor will usually assign numbers- also called stations- to measure engagement. These take the form of +2, _1, 0, -1, -2.  The positive numbers mean the baby is dropping lower and lower, with +2 being when you have baby’s head pushing down on your cervix. Station 0 is the earliest stage of engagement, when the baby is in the middle of your belly with head dipping just down past your pelvic bones. Anything in the positive numbers means the baby hasn’t engaged yet and is still floating above the pelvic bones.

So there it is, an explanation of engaged that doesn’t require grounding your baby for starting to date before out of the womb!