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From ABC: Despite all our medical advances, about 12-and-a-half percent of babies in the United States are born prematurely -- and that rate is rising. That statistic comes from the March of Dimes, which is promoting "prematurity awareness month."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hopes to bring that rate down to 7-point-6 percent as part of its "Healthy People 2010" initiative.The March of Dimes graded each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
With the exception of Vermont, which rated a "B," every state earned a "C" or worse. Among other factors, the March of Dimes blames lack of health insurance, smoking mothers and rising rates of early induction and Caesarean sections.
I think more research needs to be done looking at why women are going into labor early. I was the correct weight, no diabetes, no other health concerns and I went into labor at 27 1/2 weeks. Fortunately, my labor was stopped after I was given magnesium and my son was born on time. However, doctors have no idea why this happened to me. Therefore, there is no real way to prevent this for some people. And there is really no proof that bed rest prevents women from going into labor. It's just one of the only things we can do that might help. Has anyone else had preterm labor?
-NewsAnchorMom Jen
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8 comments:
I was way late, so no preterm labor for me, but my aunt had preterm labor with her first two.
I think there are studies out there with poor pre-natal care (medical and personal) being on top reasons for pre-term labor. Add in uncertainties in due dates, inductions, planned c-sections... seems ripe for pre-term babies to me.
I guess I am just surrounded by people who didn't have the risk factors so it makes me aggravated. Me, my cousin and a good friend-there was no reason for the preterm labor-I would really like to know if it would happen again!
I can understand your frustration. My aunt didn't have the risk factors either, but had two preterm and two full-term babies. Like many things, there is no way to tell, but if those who do exhibit the risk factors were able to bring down their risk, the overall numbers would drop.
Definitely! Thanks!
Be very thankful that the magnesium worked. My wife gave birth to twins at 23 weeks, the magnesium worked for 5 days to get steroids in their system and now we've been in the NICU for 8 weeks. If all goes well we will have them home for xmas
Yes, I am very grateful. It was scary.
I hope this doesn't sound insensitive, but I didn't realize babies could survive at 23 weeks. That is amazing! Are you at OSF? I was there for two weeks. They were wonderful to me. I hope you get to take the twins home for Christmas!
Our twins were born at 35 weeks after 8 weeks of bedrest. No diabetes for me, though blood pressure was an issue. Since I was a high risk due to the twins, we had sometimes twice weekly non stress tests to monitor contractions and boy oh boy did I have lots of those!
Yes, the minimum resusitatioin is 23 weeks. My wife was in the hospital for 5 days and gave birth at 23 weeks and 2 days. The boys are doing well for the situation and yes they are at osf.
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