Left occiput anterior: The head is down, the fetus is facing the pregnant person's back, and they are in the left side of the womb. Right occiput anterior: The position is the same as that above, but the fetus is in the womb's right side. Posterior: The head is down, and the back is in line with the pregnant person's.
Sleeping on your left side is often referred to as the “ideal” scenario during pregnancy.
Uterus (also called the womb): The uterus is a hollow, pear-shaped organ located in a woman's lower abdomen, between the bladder and the rectum, that sheds its lining each month during menstruation. When a fertilized egg (ovum) becomes implanted in the uterus, the baby develops there.
Your doctor or midwife will tell you what position your baby's in during your routine antenatal checks. If she's not sure of your baby's position at 37 weeks, she'll offer you an ultrasound scan. If your baby's in a breech position, your midwife may suggest natural methods to turn your baby.
Stomach pain in the second trimester is often due to round ligament pain. Your womb is expanding and this can cause the ligaments to stretch. This can cause pain in your lower tummy, groin or hips on one or both sides. It is important to get checked by your GP, obstetrician or midwife if you have pain like this.
Where do you feel quickening in your belly? Quickening is typically felt low in your belly, near your pubic bone. Early fetal movements are subtle, and your baby is still tiny. At around 12 weeks in pregnancy, your uterus is low in your abdomen or at your pubic bone.
Experts recommend lying on your left side. It improves circulation, giving nutrient-packed blood an easier route from your heart to the placenta to nourish your baby. Lying on the left side also keeps your expanding body weight from pushing down too hard on your liver. While either side is okay, left is best.
If their isn't room in the pelvis, the wide part of the head may swing towards mother's back turning baby to the posterior position. Another reason that labor can take longer or baby stays on the right side may be when muscles supporting the pelvis are tight.
The uterus is neither on the right side of the body nor the left. It is in the middle, or midline. Attached to the right and left sides of the uterus is a fallopian tube and ovary.
They get softer and stretch as your uterus gets bigger. Sometimes the round ligaments get irritated or too tight. This can often cause pain on your lower right side. You might feel sharp pain or a dull ache.
Your ovaries are on the right and left sides of the uterus in your lower abdomen. Your ovaries are held in place by several muscles and ligaments in your pelvis. The ovarian ligament connects your ovaries to your uterus; however, your uterus and ovaries don't touch.
How does a pregnant belly feel in early pregnancy? For most of your first trimester, you may not feel much, if any, difference in your belly. It will probably be soft and look a little bigger – similar to when you get bloated during your period or after you've eaten a large meal.
If they're transverse, laying across your abdomen, you'll likely feel more kicks on the right or left side, depending on which way they're facing. You'll also feel movements besides kicks — you may feel pressure from the baby's head or back pressed against your belly.
In 2011, a paper attributed to Dr. Saad Ramzi Ismail claimed that when the placenta attaches to the right of the uterus, women were more likely to have a boy. And when the placenta attaches to the left, they were more likely to have a girl.
“The position of an infant on the mother's left side may optimize maternal monitoring, by directing sensory information predominantly to the mother's right hemisphere.”
What does it mean if the baby is on the left side? If the fetus is on the left side of the uterus, doctors call this the left occiput anterior position. Some people have traditionally considered this to be the best position at the start of labor, but a 2013 study found no evidence to confirm it.
Many women experience left side pain during pregnancy. Inital pregnancy pain may be due to your body stretching to make room for your baby or digestive issues. Later pain in pregnancy could be caused by the ligaments in your abdomen stretching, kidney infection or a urinary tract infection (UTI).
Compressing this can disrupt blood flow to your baby and leave you nauseated, dizzy and short of breath. Back sleeping can also constrict the aorta, blocking off the main blood supply to your body and placenta.
While you won't be able to tell that you're pregnant by physically touching your stomach in the early stages of pregnancy, there are some early pregnancy symptoms which you may feel internally in your abdomen area, and these could give you an early sign that you're pregnant.
That'll change as your pregnancy progresses—but exactly when your loved ones and partner will feel baby kick can vary greatly from person to person (and pregnancy to pregnancy). For many, it'll happen sometime between weeks 24 and 28, Twogood says, but that range can be as wide as 20 to 30 weeks.
Head-down babies will kick more strongly on one side and towards the top of the bump. Later on, some babies with their head at the bottom like to stretch their legs every so often and this can feel like something is sticking out on both sides of your bump - one side will be the bottom, the other side will be the feet.
Pregnancy causes a lot of changes to the body. Some of those changes can cause mild discomfort or light cramping in the area around your ovaries. Ovary pain may cause pain on one side of your lower abdominal or pelvic area.
Stretching of the uterus
Symptoms of your uterus stretching may include twinges, aches, or mild discomfort in your uterine or lower abdominal region. This is a normal part of pregnancy and a sign that everything is progressing normally. Watch for spotting or painful cramping.
Typically, your bump becomes noticeable during your second trimester. Between 16-20 weeks, your body will start showing your baby's growth. For some women, their bump may not be noticeable until the end of the second trimester and even into the third trimester. The second trimester starts in the fourth month.
Texture. The texture of the cervix also changes in early pregnancy due to increased blood flow. If the woman has not conceived, the cervix will feel firm to the touch, like the tip of a nose. If she has conceived, the cervix will feel softer, more closely resembling the lips.