Can changes in barometric pressure actually induce labor?
Heather Niederjohn was a month away from her due date when she went into labor as Hurricane Harvey approached Texas last year.
Now, she's warning other expectant mothers to "be prepared" in the event of a storm like Harvey or Florence, which made landfall in North Carolina early Friday.
"It was chaos, basically," Niederjohn told InsideEdition.com of the moment she realized she was in labor. "The first thing that came to mind was, 'What's going on? My body is not ready.' I didn't even have my final doctor's appointment. I hadn't dilated. It was kind of like, 'OK, what do we do here?'"
Niederjohn later welcomed her son Cayden without issue.
Some believe that changes in barometric pressure, which drops during a hurricane, can induce early labor.
Dr. Diana Racusin, M.D., a maternal-fetal medicine physician at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, who also sees patients at UT Physicians and Memorial Hermann, told Inside Edition.com it's not clear whether that's the case.
"I don't think we really know," she said. "When we look at the research about whether changes in temperature or barometric pressure induce labor, the results are inconclusive."
As for Niederjohn, she's offering advice for moms-to-be.
"Expect the unexpected," she said. "Make sure you have everything in your home you could possibly need things to take care of yourself afterward."
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