No drugs...no multiple births...I had just a little something that's called pre-eclampsia. They don't know why. Prior to that, bedrest due to bleeding. Why? They don't know. Instead of continually laying the blame on who is at fault, why do we never look at just what we can do to help? Candace Hurley started Sidelines to help listen to women on bedrest. If only more of the medical community and the government would take that tact and if only we would give access to quality medical care to everyone. What a concept. A foreign concept I grant you, but still good. Is it so far-fetched to believe that less medical care would cause more pre-term births?

While viability is considered 24 weeks in the state where I live, that does not mean that your child will survive. I think it is important to acknowledge that many children born prematurely die. I had serious complications in my pregnancy. I had preterm premature rupture of Membranes (pPROM)at 16 weeks. Doctors don't know much about this condition. I managed to carry my child to 24 weeks and 6 days, when I woke to find myself in preterm labor and bleeding from placental abruption in the middle of the night. I had to have an emergency c-section and my son died several hours after his birth. What are my chances of this happening again? THEY DON'T KNOW, and they won't even treat me as high risk even though there is evidence that it does happen again. All I know is that I had premature rupture of membranes (PROM) with my daughter, so I personally think MY chances are HIGH. And there are many others out there, you have to have this happen to you SEVERAL times before they start looking for answers! Otherwise we are all told, it was a fluke...

Hello, I am 33 years old woman with 2 missing experience, 1st in 20 weeks and 2nd in 30 weeks gestation . The gyns told the first was due to IC and the second due to IC and unknown reasons .
Now , I am worried tired and glommy because of my sad story and the horrible memories but hopefule that a day , I will able to have a healthy baby . Amen

My name is Sara and I live in Oregon. My son was born at 32 weeks due to severe eclampsia. I think that more research needs to be done on the factors of preterm birth, like medical conditions, and even if it happens for no 'known' reason.

What defines a premature birth?

I have to ask if it is possible that the statistics indicating that premature births are on the rise are skewed in some way. I do not believe that it is premature births that are on the rise, it is the fact that we now have the technology to save these babies that makes the issue newsworthy. Only a few years ago, saving a 23 week old baby would have been impossible. We are now saving babies born at earlier gestations and as a result these early births are more noticeable. This makes it appear that premature births are increasing drastically. Previously these children would have died prior to or shortly after birth and quickly been forgotten by all but their families. Not so with the preemies that we are now saving and watching grown into adulthood.

So we are left with the question regarding the burden to society. What is the option? Now that we have to technology needed to save these babies,not to mention early pregnancies that present at risk, should we not use it? Or should we let them die? If society does not want to support the long term health problems of these children, then the onward march of medical technology must be questioned. It is not ethical to have the technology to save these children, but stand back and allow them to die because we are concerned about the burden they may be in the future.

My son was born at 35 weeks gestation. He was critically ill and would have died the night of his birth had it not been for the life saving interventions he received. Obviously this skews my thoughts on the subject a tad. I honestly do not care what kind of burden he may or may not have placed on society. He is my son and I would want him to survive regardless. This issue cannot be discussed at a general "societal" level because it is so intensely personal to the people it touches.

P.S. I was on Matria's service and I credit it and their amazing staff with helping me get to 31 weeks of my pregnancy and giving my daughters a fighting chance. I was regularly impressed with this service and its staff and at times, felt they were more dependable than my own OB. I feel so strongly about Matria that I booked a FL Matria rep on a South FL news program (I'm a publicist) for free just to help promote this wonderful company. I'll always be indebted to Matria.

I am the lucky mother of twin daughters, now 3-years-old. I went into preterm labor at 26 weeks and after 5 weeks in and out of the hospital combined with weeks of strict bedrest at home, I was able to make it to 31 weeks. My daughters spent 5 weeks in NICU and it was and always will be the hardest thing I have ever gone through. I was a "perfect" pregnant person -- got prenatal care and did everything by the book...Today my daughters are all caught up and are totally fine and healthy little girls. I'm the luckiest person in the world but would never consider having more children. I have two healthy girls and quite honestly, am not willing to risk having another preemie again. My husband and I started a 501 c3 foundation and are raising funds to place new state-of-the art incubators in NICU's in South FL. It is our way of paying it forward to show our extreme gratitude over the health of our children.

My daughter was born last year at 32 weeks gestation, after a complicated pregnancy involving 4 months of bedrest. Despite all of our medical advances, doctors could tell me very little about what was causing my complications or what caused the preterm labor. I consider myself one of the lucky Americans with private health insurance, which allowed me excellent health care during my pregnancy, including weekly doctor visits, advanced ultrasounds, and home nursing care. My daughter spent 6 weeks in the NICU and received around-the-clock care. I cannot imagine how we would have gotten through that incredibly stressful time if I also had to worry about how I was going to pay for the costs. It is infuriating to me that in a society as progressive as the United States thinks itself to be, that we still do not have decent medical coverage for all of our citizens. If we want to lower premature birth rates, we need to consider prevention efforts that begin with providing every citizen affordable and excellent health care coverage. Although this different make a difference in my case, I know for many of the other NICU families, it would have made all the difference in the world. I believe the care my daughter received before, during, and after my delivery made a difference in how healthy of a preemie she was and how great she is doing today!

As the mother of twins born at 28 weeks gestation in 1991, I am fortunate. I had access to quality medical care, and now both of my children are normal, healthy teenagers.

The experience with my high risk pregnancy led me to work with Sidelines Support Network as On-line Director. Every day I hear from women across the United States who need support, good medical care, and answers.

With all of the advances in medical technology, there is no reason that the United States should allow women with high risk pregnancies not to receive the treatments they need to allow their babies to be delivered at term.

I am the Executive Director and Founder of Sidelines National Support Network, and in our 15 years we have supported over 100,000 women with complicated pregnancies. With my own two high-risk pregnancies I received fantastic proactive perinatal care including home uterine monitoring and tocolytic medication. It was fully covered by insurance and I naively thought that Sidelines’ role would be one of simply addressing a woman’s emotional roller coaster ride that accompanies her high risk pregnancy.

What I didn’t bargain for was the fact that not everyone receives the kind of medical care I did. That women without access to interventions were more likely to deliver prematurely, sometimes so prematurely that their babies require life-long medical interventions, special schools, and therapies of all kinds. It’s ridiculous; it should make all of us furious.

While the question as to “why there is preterm birth” is in the forefront of the news, the immediate need of these mothers to receive interventions prolonging their pregnancy is often ignored. Please let your listeners know that they can and should ask what can be done NOW when they find they are at risk for preterm birth.

Hello My name is Stan Watson. I am a state representative in Georgia. When I am not in the Legislature I work for Matria Healthcare. We provide a subcutaneous tocolytic pump therapy using the drug terbutaline. This therapy benefits pregnant women who are remote from term but at a significant risk of delivering prematurely. These patients are referred to us by their physician to be serviced by Matria at home in lieu of costly hospitalization. It is clinically safe and cost effecttive and we have data that indicates that it prolongs pregancy therfore, helping with preterm births, low birth weight babies and infant mortality. Please call me at 770 767-8047, or email me at stan_watson@matria.com or visit our web site at www.matria.co. I would love to give you a tour of our facility and let you review our data and work in this area....

The rise in multiple births due to medical interventions to conceive has contributed to preterm birth, as well as the rise of drug addicted babies.
The statistics have always been there, you only hear about it more now because they are saving babies earlier and earlier all the time and labeling them "Miracle Babies".
In Massachusetts a pregnancy is considered viable at 23 weeks gestation.
This was not the case when my daughter was born at 28 weeks 19 years ago.
Some doctors in the medical community have been rather naive and have reassured many women like myself that the chances of having another preemie were pretty slim. When in actuality once you have had one preemie your risk becomes higher and the next preemie is apt to be born even earlier.