Ask the Expert

 
Ask the Expert is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your physician or other qualified health provider because of something you have read here.

Submit your question >
Visit the Ask the Expert archive > 

Preterm labor: What dads can do 

Q: My partner is expecting for the first time and I'm trying to be prepared for any circumstance. How can I recognize the signs of preterm labor?

A: Preterm labor is labor that occurs before the 37th completed week of pregnancy. (Most pregnancies last 38-42 weeks; your partner's due date is 40 weeks after the first day of her last menstrual period.) Preterm labor can happen to any woman: In nearly half of all cases, we don't know why a woman delivers prematurely. About 12 percent of births (1 in 8) in the United States are preterm. Babies who are born preterm are at higher risk of needing hospitalization, dying, and having long-term health problems than babies born at the right time. Health problems include cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness and chronic lung problems.

Preterm labor may sometimes be slowed or stopped with a combination of medication and rest. More often, birth can be delayed just long enough to transport the woman to a hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While the birth is being delayed, the woman receives antibiotics to prevent infection and steroids to help speed up her baby's lung development.

What Dad can do to help
Learn the signs of preterm labor listed below, and encourage your partner to learn them, too. Your partner should call her health care provider or go to the hospital right away if she thinks she is having preterm labor. The signs of preterm labor include:

• Contractions (the abdomen tightens like a fist) every 10 minutes or more often
• Change in vaginal discharge (leaking fluid or bleeding from the vagina)
• Pelvic pressure--the feeling that the baby is pushing down
• Low, dull backache
• Cramps that feel like a period
• Abdominal cramps with or without diarrhea
  

The health care provider may tell your partner to:

• Come into the office or go to the hospital
• Stop what she's doing and rest on her left side for one hour
• Drink 2-3 glasses of water or juice (not coffee or soda)

If the symptoms get worse or do not go away after one hour, your partner should call her health care provider again or go to the hospital. If the symptoms go away, she should relax for the rest of the day. If the symptoms stop but come back, she should call her health care provider again or go to the hospital.

A woman doesn't need to have all the symptoms to have preterm labor. You and your partner should take action even if she has only one.

Other ways to help your partner have a healthy pregnancy:

• Encourage her to get regular prenatal checkups. If she agrees, go with her to see her health care provider.
• Remind her to stay away from alcohol and cigarettes.
• Help her avoid stress (for instance, take care of the children or pitch in with household chores).
• Keep her health care provider's phone number handy in case of emergency.
• Learn more about the March of Dimes campaign to reduce preterm birth.
  

Why women deliver early 

Q: What causes premature delivery?

A: In nearly 40 percent of premature births, the cause is unknown. However, researchers have made some progress in learning the causes of prematurity. Studies suggest that there may be four main routes leading to spontaneous premature labor.

Infections/Inflammation. Studies suggest that premature labor is often triggered by the body's natural immune response to certain bacterial infections, such as those involving the genital and urinary tracts and fetal membranes. Even infections far away from the reproductive organs, such as periodontal disease, may contribute to premature delivery.

Maternal or fetal stress. Chronic psychosocial stress in the mother or physical stress (such as insufficient blood flow from the placenta) in the fetus appears to result in production of a stress-related hormone called corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH).  CRH may stimulate production of a cascade of other hormones that trigger uterine contractions and premature delivery. 

Bleeding. The uterus may bleed because of problems such as placental abruption (the placenta peels away, partially or almost completely, from the uterine wall before delivery). Bleeding triggers the release of various proteins involved in blood clotting, which also appear to stimulate uterine contractions.

Stretching. The uterus may become overstretched by the presence of two or more babies, excessive amounts of amniotic fluid, or uterine or placental abnormalities, leading to the release of chemicals that stimulate uterine contractions.

These four routes are not the only things to consider. Other factors, such as multiple pregnancy, inductions and cesarean sections, can also play a role. But knowledge about these four routes may help scientists develop more effective interventions that can halt the various chemical cascades that lead to premature birth.

You must be a registered community member of YourBabyYourWay.com to submit a question to one of our experts. If selected, your question will be answered by one of our experts and be published on YourBabyYourWay.com. Join now >

Read more Q&As

Preconception Questions >
Postnatal & Parenting Questions >

Visit the Ask the Expert archive >