or premature, labor. A normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks after the first day of the last period (38 weeks after fertilization). The danger of preterm labor is that it will lead to the birth of ...

Infants are born preterm following spontaneous labor with intact membranes (45% of cases), preterm membrane rupture (30%) and after labor induction or cesarean delivery for maternal or fetal ...

Doctors can treat women in preterm labor with medicines known as tocolytics, which might slow down or inhibit labor for two to seven days. That buys enough time for them to receive corticosteroid ...