Preterm Labor – Overview

Transcript

People often ask me and my patients often ask me, “What is preterm labor?” The clinical definition is labor that begins at any point before a woman reaches 37 weeks of pregnancy, at which time, normally a pregnancy is considered to be full term. A full term pregnancy is vital to development of a baby and lets the baby develop its lungs and its organs completely. Early contractions, which can open your cervix before 37 weeks, can allow the baby to be born before this period of time.