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You searched for preterm-birth-risk
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Pregnancy
While it is true that we don’t completely understand why labor really begins, there are some things that can make your chance of giving birth preterm — or before 37 weeks gestation — much more likely. Here’s a list of issues that can lead to...
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Pregnancy
A preterm birth happens when a woman gives birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy. With this issue complicating about 12 percent of all pregnancies in the United States, many parents wonder how it could affect their future pregnancies. For the woman...
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Pregnancy
As of 2015 in the United States, about 9.5 percent of all babies are born preterm, meaning they were born at less than 37 weeks gestation. We know that being born preterm can lead to multiple complications for a new baby, such as problems with...
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Pregnancy
Experiencing a preterm birth for the first time can be a scary, stressful experience. Whether you delivered at 24 weeks or 34 weeks of pregnancy, bringing a baby into the world sooner than you were mentally prepared for can really make thinking...
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Pregnancy
The cervix is the narrow, lower part of the uterus that should remain closed (or close to it) until it’s time to give birth. However, it isn’t only the dilation — or how open the cervix is — that matters when it comes to worrying about giving birth...
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Pregnancy
By now, almost everyone has seen or heard of the MTV show 16 and Pregnant, which documents the pregnancies and deliveries of teen moms. The show demonstrates the reality of teen pregnancy and has actually been credited with some of the recent...
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Pregnancy
At some point after your baby is born, your doctor or midwife will place two clamps on the umbilical cord. He or she (or your partner, if they want to) will then use scissors to cut between the clamps and separate your baby from the placenta. If...
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Pregnancy
A cervical exam tells your doctor or midwife a few things about your cervix. However, the number most pregnant women focus on is how open, or dilated, the cervix is. Sometimes it can be confusing to know exactly what this number really does (or...
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Pregnancy
Like miscarriages, elective abortions can be managed medically (with medications) or surgically. When done surgically, a procedure called a dilation and curettage (or “D&C”) is performed. Women who have experienced a miscarriage or undergone an...
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Pregnancy
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Blog
On Jan. 6, a very special delivery happened at The Medical Center of Plano in Texas: a grandmother, who was acting as a gestational carrier (the more updated version of what we used to call a surrogate) for her very own daughter, delivered her...
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Pregnancy
A cerclage is a stitch that is placed around the cervix to help hold it closed. It can be placed at different times in pregnancy, but is usually removed once a women is early term or full term. A cerclage can be used to help a few different...
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Pregnancy
The most common procedure done on labor and delivery in the United States is electronic fetal monitoring, or EFM. This is when a monitor is applied on your abdomen in the form of a belt so that your baby’s heart rate can be heard and recorded. An...
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Pregnancy
As your due date nears, you might be wondering how your body decides one day that it is time to give birth. What exactly kicks things off, and why do some women give birth on their due date while others seem to stay pregnant forever until they are...
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Baby
Having a premature baby in the NICU is a difficult situation for any parent — and it’s unfortunately common. Approximately one out of every 10 babies are born prematurely each year, keeping the NICUs around the country very busy. While it’s natural...
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Pregnancy
Unfortunately there is no one thing that always happens to all pregnant women when they go into labor. In fact, what a woman experiences as her body prepares to give birth can vary greatly between different women and even different pregnancies. But...
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Pregnancy
If you are pregnant with your first baby, your doctor or midwife has likely told you that contractions can be a sign of labor and that at a certain point, you should come to the hospital to be seen. But how exactly do you time them, and how do you...
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Blog
The CDC released its annual “Mortality in the United States” report in December, and it offered some good news for infants. According to the report, the infant mortality rate decreased 2.3 percent in 2014 to a new historic low of 582.1 infant...
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Pregnancy
Streptococcus agalactiae, otherwise known as Group B Strep (GBS), is a bacteria that approximately 20-25 percent of pregnant women have in their vagina and rectum. Carrying this bacteria does not mean that you acquired a sexually transmitted...
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Pregnancy
While a vaginal delivery is often the goal for most mothers-to-be, there are a few scenarios where that just isn’t possible. Sometimes this only becomes obvious in labor, when a baby is not fitting through the birth canal or his heart rate shows...
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Pregnancy
With the various types of obstetric providers that can care for you during your labor and delivery, some women choose to be seen by a midwife. Different categories of midwives exist, but the bottom line is that they all care for low-risk women....
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Baby
You did your homework: you took the breastfeeding class, and you read the books. The message seemed simple enough: “Just keep nursing! Of course your body knows how to make milk. After all you, are a mammal.” After your baby is born you wait for...
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Pregnancy
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Pregnancy
From the moment you get the big news you are pregnant, you spend time preparing yourself mentally and physically for “labor day.” While this big event will come in good time, be aware there may be a few false starts before the actual day arrives....
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Pregnancy
Once you get a positive pregnancy test, you will probably start wondering how your new baby is going to affect all the aspects of your life. For women who work outside the home, many start to think about when to tell their bosses they are pregnant...
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Pregnancy
Prescription painkillers are a class of drugs that are used to treat pain. Among the most popular prescription painkillers is the group of medications known as opioids. Common opioids include morphine, oxycodone, and codeine, among others. These...
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Pregnancy
With approximately 26 percent of American teens and young adults infected with genital herpes, herpes is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. That means 1 in 4 pregnant women may potentially carry the virus, and since it can...
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Blog
As a busy pediatrician and mother of a very active 20-month-old toddler, I was shocked to learn that I had an incompetent cervix at 22 weeks of pregnancy. When my OB told me I had to stop working and spend the rest of my pregnancy on bed rest or...
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Pregnancy
Sickle cell anemia is a disorder where a certain type of hemoglobin — a compound found in red blood cells that is responsible for helping transport oxygen — is abnormally formed. This changes the shape of a person’s red blood cells from a circular...
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Pregnancy
Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, is when a person subjects their partner to a pattern of threatening or controlling behavior. This may include emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Sadly, 1 in 3 women in the United States...
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Pregnancy
After giving birth to your baby, the placenta naturally separates from the wall of the uterus as it is no longer needed. However, this sometimes occurs before your baby is born. This premature separation of the placenta from the uterus is called...
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Parenting
After the initial shock of being told you are pregnant with twins wears off, many moms wonder how this will affect their pregnancy and delivery. While each twin pregnancy can vary, there are some general similarities worth reviewing. From the...
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Pregnancy
Opioids include prescription medications like oxycodone, morphine, and fentanyl. While these may be prescribed for treating problems like kidney stones or for recovery after surgery, in general the goal is to use these drugs for a brief period of...
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Blog
Just like we’ve given you a glimpse into the mind of your pediatrician, here are a few tips your OB/GYN might want you to know: I can’t tell you when you’ll have your baby. While I may be able to provide a really good guess, short of you having a...
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Pregnancy
There are few things as exciting for an expectant parent as seeing the first ultrasound images of their developing baby. Ultrasound is a simple and safe technology that uses sound waves to visualize the baby in the uterus. Ultrasounds are routinely...
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Pregnancy
Fibroids are non-cancerous solid tumors that grow in the uterus. They are extremely common, with up to 70-80 percent of women having them by the time they are 50 years old. Most of the time they cause no problems and are only discovered because an...
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Pregnancy
Medicine is rarely so straightforward that it can offer a “one size fits all” pattern. In fact, there is a reason it is called the “practice” of medicine or the “art” of medicine — because oftentimes a doctor or midwife needs to carefully consider...
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Pregnancy
Your thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland that is located in the front of your neck. Its job is to produce thyroid hormones that help regulate your metabolism, and these hormones affect many organs in your body. Having too much or too little...
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Pregnancy
Approximately 35 percent of adult Americans, or 1 in 3 people, are now obese. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above. While we know many complications associated with obesity, being pregnant and obese has its own...