Mark Edson and his wife Shannon, hoping exercise would induce labor, was out walking near C-470 and Bowles Avenue when lightning struck.

Shannon, who is 40 weeks pregnant, went to the hospital as a precaution. But all three are expected to be okay.

"I got hit in the back of the head," Mark said. "It felt like someone coming up and punching me in the back of the head. I felt electricity all through my body. My wife screamed, and she was holding her head. She felt... like she had been slapped on the back of the head."

It wasn't a direct hit, because there was no entrance or exit wounds on either of them, but meteorologists say the Edsons could have received an indirect hit from a strike nearby.

Their doctor told them their son is doing fine and has a normal heartbeat. Shannon did have minor contractions but not serious enough for them to stay at the hospital.

Mark is a deputy with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office and says he's been tased a few times, but this was different.

"Being hit with a taser, 50,000 volts of electricity, kind of the same sort of feeling," Mark said. "You can feel your muscles constrict. You can feel that electricity travel through your body."

9NEWS talked with science expert Steve Spangler. He says lightning is the number one life-threatening weather hazard in Colorado. He says our state is ranked 11th for lightning deaths in the U.S.

Spangler says if there is only 10 to 15 seconds between the lightning flash and the thunder bang, you are about two to three miles away from the lightning, which is not a safe distance. That's when you should seek shelter immediately.

"Lightening is extremely dangerous," Mark said. "My wife and I are extremely lucky to be standing here today."

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