1/5 engaged?

[CrazyAlien06]

Hi there,
I saw mw for my 37 wk appt yday and when I got home I noticed she has written 1/5 engaged on my notes..... does this mean it has aother 4/5's to go before it is fully engaged ?

thanks

Noooo it means you're almost fully engaged. 5/5 is head above pelvis going down to 0/5 fully engaged.

oooooo how exciting!! on the wonderful world of google there is so much conflicting advice - some saying it needs to go 5/5 s before it is ready to arrive!

thanks paschaelina

Not sure Crazy. Here the mws measure it one way, the hospital do it the exact opposite way, but can't remember which does which!!!! It makes it very confusing!!!! Hope it means you're nearly there, but give them a ring and ask if you want to (or ask someone you know who has the same mw?).

hmmm thats whats confusing me! i havent seen the same mw at all during my pregnancy so will wait until my next encounter with a mystery mw next week I think :) and ask her to tell me how far engaged she think baby is... im 37 +4 today and have no idea where 'ideally' baby should be. My sisters DD didnt engage until her waters broke then she arrived very quickly!

I am getting impatient now lol

See I thought 1/5 engaged meant only a fifth of the baby's head was engaged, whereas 1/5 palpable meant that 4/5s of the head was engaged and the 1/5 could be felt above the pelvis...

'fraid it doesn't give you much clue as to when you'll pop - my ds (dc1) was 3/5 engaged at 33 weeks, fully engaged at 38 and born at 42! I was like walking with a bowling ball between my legs! My dd (dc2) wasn't remotely engaged at my 41+10 appointment even though I was having contractions, but she was born about 18 hours later!

Yes, actually Phlossie's post has reminded me! The mw measured how engaged the head was, the hospital measured the palpable part, but both just wrote */5 in the notes so you had to remember which was which!!!

I don't think there is an ideal amount you should be engaged at the moment. My friend engaged early, and she was so uncomfortable - couldn't close her legs at all, which made sitting kind of embarrassing, and walking a nightmare! I've also known people to be measured as a certain amount engaged, then the baby pops back out again. And I've know people to be assessed differently by different mws. It's encouraging to know the head is engaged, but not actually indicative of when you will go into labour.

Hope you don't have too much of a wait anyway! :)

Hey!

I'm 39 weeks, and just looking back at my notes I was 3/5ths engaged at 36 weeks, and then at 38 weeks 4/5ths engaged - so as long as I'm moving in the right direction, I'm pretty sure 5/5ths is fully engaged.

crazy, I am also getting impatient! I also don't think there is an "ideal" when you are expected to engage. Everyone is different. I definitely felt a difference from about 38 weeks. Started to get the pregnany lady waddle after keeping it at bay for all this time!

thanks everyone, I think ill probably take after my sis and my baby wont engage until very late. Am glad that I haven't got the waddle yet but it is rather uncomfortable to walk now so have retired from daily dog walks but missing them like crazy! May go for a swim... if I can find some energy from somewhere lol. I have only put dishwasher on, washing on line and put more washing in and im shattered :(
and to top it off its a beautiful day and im too hot to enjoy it :( rant over lol. roll on babys arrival where we can both enjoy the days :D and I can have my body back !

www.preg.info/pages/notes1213.pdf

and

community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a5290335/head_35_engaged_-_what_does_it_mean

at -5/5 the head is high in the pelvis, -1/5 the head is almost fully engaged, 0/5 the head is fully engaged, then +1/5 to head crowning at +5/5

Either way, +1 or -1 your baby is pretty deep down.

Bugger, that second link was just supposed to be the <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.sweethaven02.com/ObsNewborn/921les10_img_2.jpg&imgrefurl=community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a5290335/head_35_engaged_-_what_does_it_mean&h=464&w=850&sz=40&tbnid=TH1qu1V2UAkiuM:&tbnh=64&tbnw=118&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbabys%2Bhead%2Bengaged%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=babys+head+engaged&docid=TpLh1CxrywlJJM&sa=X&ei=m-hxTszKOImAhQfD4LC7CQ&ved=0CGIQ9QEwBg&dur=43" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">diagram

thanks again Paschaelina
looks promising! wonder whether this little baby will arrive early, on time or decide to be a little late lol. If it takes after its mother it will be late!