When did head engage?

[Reiltin]

I was wondering when your first baby's head started to engage. I'm 37 weeks today and, though baby is low, it's not started to engage yet, which the midwife said was unusual. A midwife friend of mine has had me sitting on a backwards chair for about three weeks now, to no effect. I'm trying a gym ball now in the hopes it'll move things along. Just wondering about other people's experiences.

My baby's head engaged 5 mins before I started pushing!!

Never. Nobody seemed bothered but I did end up having EMCS.

Is baby definitely head down? If so, it'll engage at some point, it has to!

Try doing some pelvic tilts as well as rotating your pelvis on your gym ball. They're good for early labour too, helping baby connect with your cervix.

In case it's not quite in the right position to engage, try kneeling and leaning on the ball or going onto all fours whilst rotating. Should give baby more room to wriggle into the right position.

Leaning back may make baby go back to back so make sure you mix it up with lots of walking to help jiggle him/her down and leaning forward to keep the spine forwards.

Best of luck! It's the best thing in the world! x

After my waters had broken and while I was being monitored...DS was born about 3 hrs later!! I was 39 + 3 when he was born and he had been on the brim at my last midwife check, but she didn't seem bothered by it...and I didn't do any of the gymball/sitting funny/on all fours stuff gymball has just been blown up for the first time and DS is 2.5!

Never.

DC1 refused to shift even whilst i was in labour so ended in EMCS when he got distressed.

DC2 went between breech and transverse ended with an ELCS as i didn't want the baby turned manually

Well I've had five children and none of them were engaged before I went into labour. I'm only small though but had normal vaginal births for four and an ELCS because of breech for the second one.

LO's head engaged about 1 hour after my waters broke. They gushed for ages, then suddenly stopped and I felt him move down the canal. Gave birth about 13 hours later.

My DD head was slow to engage also despite me rolling around on a gym ball for weeks and sitting the wrong way round on chairs. All my NCT freinds had babies whose heads were engaged and I started to worry. 2 weeks before due date but 2 days before DD was born, DH and I went walking round an old castle and stately home, to try and get her into position, which meant I walked up and down about 500 steps in one day. We did it because my midwife said going up and down steps really helped baby get into position. Well next morning my plug went and the day after that I gave birth to the little madam. All the walking up stairs must have really speeded things along! Either that or it was coincidence.

Ds engaged when my waters broke, which was approx 3 minutes before he was born. Midwife had sent me to do a wee to see if emptying my bladder would give him more room to descend. He was almost born on the loo!

2nd child though - I think it's less common for them to engage that late with 1st babies.