Premature birth : It refers to the cases when the baby arrives before its scheduled date. It is found that around 7% of the pregnancies, babies arrive earlier that can’t be avoided. Medically the baby born before the completion of 37 weeks of pregnancy is considered to de premature delivery. The cases of premature labor are increasing in today’s environment. Here are explained the symptoms of premature birth.
Symptoms of premature birth : When the baby might be born prematurely then woman experiences an unusual discharge of blood, clear watery liquid or blood–tinged mucus or she may have period like back pains or thigh pain for more than half of the day. Woman can even experience abdominal pain or a burning sensation which can be a sign of urinary tract infection. Some women can also see signs of pre-eclampsia such as distorted vision, flashing lights, severe headaches or pain & sudden swelling.
From the 20th week, many women may experience Braxton-Hicks practice contractions. In this, the womb can harden for almost 1 minute within every 15 minutes. In other words, if there are more than four uterine contractions within an hour, it can be a sign of pre-mature delivery. When the contractions are rapid & continuous, it can be a sign of labor then woman has to be rushed to hospital.
First of all it is checked why labor has started early by measuring woman’s heart rate & blood pressure. The symptoms that show an infection then it can be treated too. The woman has to be checked for any sign of pre-eclampsia. The vaginal swabs have to be taken along with a urine sample. The woman may also have to go through an ultrasound.
The doctors may give the woman steroids, if the pregnancy is of less than 35 weeks to mature the baby’s lungs. The baby must be given time to develop the lungs & normally after the steroids there can be a delay of 48 hours for the baby’s lungs to develop. The drugs can’t be given for long as they have side-effects too. So by seeing the above said symptoms, it is therefore required that the presence of any of the above signs, must not be taken lightly & immediate medical attention is sought.
