You’re pregnant and living your best life when all of a sudden, ZAP! A sharp pain sears through your pelvic area. Surprising? Yes. Uncommon? No. You’ve just experienced what’s known as lightning crotch.
What Is Lightning Crotch?
Lightning crotch is a sharp, sudden pain throughout your vagina or pelvic region. It’s not a sign of labor, and typically isn’t an indicator of anything serious.
Expecting mamas usually experience lightning crotch later in the third trimester, when baby is larger and has moved down into the pelvis. When baby’s head is low in the pelvis, also known as "engaged," the resulting pressure on the cervix and nerves lower in your uterus can cause this sporadic discomfort.
What Does Lightning Crotch Feel Like?
As with most pregnancy ailments, it’s different for every mama. But the symptoms of lightning crotch typically feel like:
- A quick, shooting pain through the vagina or pelvic area
- A stinging or the feeling of pins and needles in the vagina or pelvis
- Brief but intense pain that’s very strong, but quicker than a menstrual cramp
Lightning crotch is not the same as round ligament pain, which often occurs in the second trimester due to your uterus growing quickly. Round ligament pain feels more like a dull pain or ache that begins in your lower abdomen and moves out towards your hip bones.
How Do You Relieve Lightning Crotch Pain?
Unfortunately there isn’t a way to completely stop lightning crotch from happening. If lightning crotch pains are happening often, you can try to change position to get baby to move off of your nerves, or wear a belly support band to help lift baby up off of your pelvis. While it’s not a fun pregnancy symptom to deal with, the good news is that the pain typically stops as quickly as it begins.
If this kind of pain lasts more than a minute or is accompanied by other symptoms like bleeding, fluid from the vagina, dizziness, fever or bad headaches, it’s important to contact your provider right away.