Childbirth, which is also known as delivery or labour, is the ending of pregnancy, where a baby or multiple babies leave the uterus of a mother through the vagina or by a surgery, which is called the Caesarean section.
The process of giving birth is not an easy one, as it involves a lot of pain and medical procedures. Not only that but a lot of changes can be experienced by the mother herself as her body prepares for labour or giving birth.
What are those changes?
Below, we are going to list down some of the changes a woman’s body goes through when getting ready for childbirth.
Here are some of the ways that your body is going to prepare for childbirth:
1. Braxton Hicks Contractions
Days or weeks before you are going to get proper contractions, you are going to experience the Braxton Hicks Contractions, which are a type of false-alarm contractions that might make you think that you are about to give birth.
In this process, your uterus is going to tighten up and relax. Most of the time, they don’t really hurt that much. The main goal of this type of change in your body is that it helps your uterus and cervix to get ready for labor.
Braxton Hicks contractions are regular as you get closer to the time of birth, however, unlike labour contractions, these contractions do not change the shape of the cervix and are sometimes referred to as false labor.
2. Changes To The Cervix
As childbirth gets closer, your cervix is going to soften up and will become thinner. This means that it is getting ready for the dilation, which is going to allow the baby to get out of the vagina.
One of the most common signs that a woman might notice for this is when a pinkish slug of mucus stained with blood comes out of their vagina.
3. Engagement
Your baby is going to move further down as the due date comes closer, this means that the women that are pregnant are going to feel better at this point. Most women say that they feel like they have more room to breathe after the baby has moved down because of the engagement process.
Some pregnant women call this process lightening.
4. Water breaking
This is the sign that you are going into labour.
When your water breaks, women feel a sensation of wetness in their vagina or on their perineum and intermittent or constant leaking of small amounts of watery fluid from their vagina. The watery fluid is clear or pale yellow in color.
