Baby engaging?

[saraho29]

I'm 36 +6 and at my last appointment baby was not engaged at all.
The last couple of nights I've had quite painful braxton hicks, every 10- 15 minutes or so and lasting for a couple of hours. As soon as I go to bed I sleep. So they definatly don't keep my awake!
Same is happening tonight... i've been sat in the cinema tonight and its happening again.
Maybe it's baby engaging??
But a bit strange that it's just between the hours of 7 and 10?!?!?
Can you feel baby engaging?
and does baby have to be engaged before you go into labour?????
Thanks

my midwife said bh help baby's head engage - i had been having loads and head was gradually moving down. not sure if that's the case for everyone tho. don't think head has_ to be engaged before labour. hopefully someone with more experience will be along (i'm just sitting feeding 2 wk old DS so new to all this!) lots of luck

BH help your womb get a all fit and ready to go, they can help the head engage but in some cases the baby doesn't engage until labour is actually happening. At the stage you are at MW seem to use the engagement as a kind of barometer to help you and them understand where abouts things are!

If the head engages early it can come back up again, it is not really anything to worry about too much. You should be able to feel it when he/she does engage as you can feel the head right down into the pelvis. You will also feel a bit more roomy at the top of the bump, an advantage is being able to breath a bit more easily than you probably have for a while!

The MW will measure it in degrees (5ths) so you will get some sor tof idea what is going on!

BTW, I am not a MW, I am a mother with a few years experience under my belt so it is possible I am a little outdated but I think I am still fairly accurate