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When call your health care provider: Preterm laborPreterm labor is labor that starts before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. This can be dangerous because your baby may not be developed enough to live outside the uterus. He or she can have serious health problems if born too early.
Delivery can sometimes be prevented or delayed, giving your baby more time to grow.
It can be difficult to tell the differences between true and preterm labor. Your health care provider can tell of you have preterm labor by giving you an exam and finding changes in your cervix.
Warning signs of preterm laborIf you have any of these warning signs, call your health care provider right away:
- change or increase in vaginal discharge
- ruptured membranes (a slow leak, steady trickle, or sudden gush)
- six or more uterine contractions in 1 hour in a regular pattern
- menstrual-like cramps for more than 1 hour
- dull backache below the waist for more than 1 hour
- increased pelvic pressure for more than 1 hour
- throbbing in the vagina, cramps in the thighs, or feeling your baby pushing down
- intestinal cramping with or without diarrhea or indigestion for more than 1 hour
If you think your water has broken, or if you are having heavy bleeding, call your health care provider or the hospital birth center at once.
If you are having cramps or pain, drink 2 to 3 glasses of water or juice, empty your bladder (urinate), and lie down on your left side and rest. Recheck your symptoms. If you still have signs of labor, call your health care provider.
How contractions work and feel Prenatal care Allina pregnancy care Second trimester
Source: Allina Patient Education, Beginnings: Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, fourth edition, ISBN 1-931876-14-2; Allina Patient Education, Preterm labor, ob-ahc-12617
First published: 10/04/2002
Last updated: 02/01/2006
Reviewed by: Allina Patient Education experts
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