So, the past 9 months have been a whirlwind of bodily changes, hormonal mood swings, and one hell of an emotional roller coaster ride. From swollen ankles to raging outbursts that end in tears, pregnancy is all about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Nonetheless, after trudging through the bizarre 9 months where there is so much going on with the body, it is a relief to finally be at the stages of labor. Of course, the journey doesn’t end with just a click of the fingers and labor is done and dusted. Rather, this can be an elongated process with a whole lot of sweating and pushing involved. Oh, joys!

Well, it is almost time to celebrate, right? The baby is pushing its way through the birthing canal and everything is looking good. There's an ideal scenario for you. Unfortunately, sometimes things don’t always go smoothly and pain free during the pregnancy and birth. The reality is that pain is just part of the package deal when you decide to grow a baby inside your womb!

Fortunately, since pain is common in areas of the body, including the birthing canal, it is generally benign.

Now, this article isn’t here to diagnose your specific sudden pain down there. Rather, it is presenting some possibilities of what the pain may be caused by.

If you are concerned about pain and it is severe, contact your doctor immediately!

12 It Could Be “Lightning Crotch"

Really, there isn’t much about this title that sounds pleasant at all! A crotch filled with lightning, perhaps? Sometimes that is what sudden pain in the birthing canal can feel like, and there are many reasons why this happens. Of course, no pregnant woman wants to feel this pain, but it is quite common and goes away quickly enough in the vast majority of cases.

‘Lightning crotch’ is basically the name given to what is best described as a sharp, stabbing pain in the part of the body where pain doesn’t want to be felt. The key area that feels this discomfort is around the vagina. Lightning crotch can happen at any time throughout pregnancy as the baby grows, shifts, and presses on different nerve endings from inside the womb.

11 The Pain Isn't Just In One Place

During pregnancy, there are certain areas of the body that become more sensitive, for obvious reasons. Since the baby is making the uterus grow from the size of a peach to a watermelon, there is bound to be some pain along the way. Of course, any kind of sharp, stabbing pain is always a bit concerning.

Nonetheless, it is really common during pregnancy to experience sudden pain in the areas around the pelvis or vulva. These are directly connected to the birthing canal, the passage from the top of the cervix to the womb, and they take a lot of strain during pregnancy. These pains can be more common as the baby gets bigger and moves around an increased amount. A lot of this pain can be relieved with heat packs or stretches of the hips.

10 It Can Mean The End Is Near

Depending on the person and their individual body, sudden pains in the birthing canal can pop up and be a total bother at any point during pregnancy. Most commonly, however, these pains occur during the final stages of pregnancy. If they have been occurring throughout the first two trimesters, they may intensify in trimester three.

The most obvious explanation for this is because pregnancy is nearing an end and that is one big baby you’ve got inside what used to be a small uterus. In the hours leading up to delivery, the pains can become more frequent, but more of a dull ache. This is because the baby is rolling around and pushing down, which creates a pain reaction in the vaginal area. In this case, the pain is a good thing as it means labor is about to happen at last!

9 Can Indicate An Early Onset Of Labor

There is about a 50-50 chance that pain in the birthing canal at the end of pregnancy means that the baby is ready to start the journey. Sometimes, this sudden pain can mean an early onset of labor is happening and things are getting underway. However, this isn’t always the case.

In other cases, sudden pain around the vagina in the later stages of pregnancy can just mean that the baby is really active. For instance, a swift kick or an elbow to the uterine wall from the baby can hit a bunch of nerves. These nerves, which have been through a whole lot of everything in the past 9 months, are pretty sensitive by this point. Therefore, they respond with a sudden pain reflex that shoots through the birthing canal.

8 The Baby Might Be Kicking Or Punching The Cervix

As the baby becomes more active throughout pregnancy, there is more chance of experiencing a sudden pain in the birthing canal. This is particularly true when the baby begins to drop in trimester three and positions itself nearer to the top of the cervix, which is the beginning of the birthing canal.

While this is happening, bubs is also exploring new movements and trying out different things with the limbs that have been growing over the past 9 months. Who wouldn’t want to try out their arm and leg movements while floating in some amniotic fluid? However, if bubs moves too quickly and puts a foot or hand or other limb near the nerve endings of the cervix, mom is the one who cops the pain. It’s a bit of an unfair deal, really!

7 Round Ligament Pain Can Bring It On

This one comes back to the fact that growing a baby is placing pressure on parts of the body that haven’t experienced such pressure before. During the 9 months of fetal growth, the uterus grows significantly to make a nice and cosy home for the baby. This puts a lot of strain on the rest of the body to support the uterus in turn.

The hips and pelvis are one of the first areas to change to support the uterus. The muscles around the pelvis literally curve outwards so that they can fit the ball-shaped uterus in nicely. Obviously, this kind of movement that the pelvis muscles don’t normally experience can be a shock! It is called round ligament pain and it can lead to sudden pain in the birthing canal.

6 The Baby May Be Tumbling Around

Babies are ready to play and roll before they even come out of the birthing canal. After all, as new muscles and limbs form the baby needs to give them a test run before entering the real world. This is all part of the development process and getting those gross motor skills kicked into gear.

However, as the baby tumbles and rolls in order to shift position, new pressure is put on mom’s body. If this movement happens to brush up against a nerve in the uterus, a light pain will be experienced on the outside. If this movement from the baby pushes on a nerve, well, mom’s going to yelp with some sudden pain in the birthing canal. Get ready for the last weeks of pregnancy as the baby’s head starts pushing on the pelvis nerves!

5 A Lack Of Vitamins Can Cause It

For so many reasons, keeping up a healthy dosage of vitamins and minerals is essential during pregnancy. Since mom needs to support both herself and the growing baby, it isn’t good news if vitamins are running short. Also, not enough vitamins can lead to these annoyingly unnecessary sharp stabbing pains in the birthing canal.

In particular, not getting enough magnesium can lead to issues with how the nerves function. Most of the time, sudden pain in the birth canal comes from the nerve endings playing up. Lack of magnesium can also lead to cramps which can trigger this type of pain. Therefore, ensuring the body has received enough magnesium can help to prevent this. Taking magnesium tablets or soaking in epsom salts are great ways to get magnesium into the body. Epsom salt bath, anyone?

4 Varicose Veins Can Come With Pain

One unfortunate, hard to avoid downside of pregnancy is varicose veins. This is when veins, which are circulating twice as much blood now there is a baby growing inside, start to become swollen and painful, often raising up and pushing the skin out. Varicose veins generally appear on the lower calves, but they can occur around the vaginal area on the thighs.

Even worse, if you do get varicose veins here, they can bring on sharp, sudden pains to the birthing canal. This is because the area is such a sensitive one and the angry veins are putting more pressure than desired around the region. As a result, tingling pain around the pelvis can shoot up suddenly and be really painful. Lots of massage and oils on the veins will help to calm them down!

3 The Baby Is Making Way

In the final weeks of pregnancy, the baby becomes most mobile. While it has been rolling and tumbling in place since developing limbs, there isn’t really any forward motion to the baby’s action. However, now the the light at the end of the tunnel is getting close, the baby is mobilising itself and getting ready to roll on towards the birthing canal.

Since the birthing canal starts at the top of the cervix, the baby needs to get its head into position here. However, since the cervix is jam packed with nerve endings and sensitivities, the baby’s head is going to crush them and it isn’t going to be pretty for mom. How could you not get some sudden pain when bubs rams its head into the top part of the cervix?!

2 Dilation Might Be Starting

Before the baby can burst through the birthing canal and enter the bright lights of reality, the cervix needs to dilate and make the gateway to the passage possible. During dilation, the cervix stretches from the size of a water droplet to the size of a breakfast bagel. Yep, from less than a centimetre to 10 centimetres, the cervix is stretchier than many realise!

Dilate takes a long time (considering how much work the muscles have to do achieve this stretching!) so there are bound to be pains that happen along the way. Prior to dilation starting, nerves and hormones are bouncing around all over the place around the vaginal area, getting things ready to start the fun and games. This can often lead to sudden pains in the birthing canal.

1 Relaxin Is Kicking In

Prior to delivering a baby after carrying it in the womb for 9 months, the body kicks into gear and the miracle of biology does wonders once more. So that it is easier for the big-headed baby to slide through the birthing canal and come into the world, the body releases one last hormone. This one is called relaxin and is designed, as the name suggests, to relax the body.

It actively releases into the pelvic muscles and ligaments, making them soften and relax. While this sounds like a lovely deep tissue massage, it can actually bring on sudden pain in the birthing canal. One minute everything is uptight and squeezing, the next things are relaxing and the muscles are freaking out. The pain can be sudden but may not last long as the pelvis quickly learns to appreciate the relaxin!

Sources: Mamanatural.com, Babycenter.com