Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

There are a lot of women interested in the preterm labor signs. This is because this is a serious complication during pregnancy that means going into labor before the 37^th week.

The bad news is that there are a lot of women who don’t really understand the signs.

Contractions as premature labor signs

The contractions or the cramps could become one of the signs if you have more than 5 of them in an hour.

The practitioners say that you have the signs of the complication if you have at least one contraction every 10 minutes. In this case you should call your doctor.

Fluid

This one of the signs of preterm labor is also known as having the water broken. It actually refers to having a watery fluid leaking from the vagina.

The sign is caused because the water bag surrounding the baby is broken. You have to make sure that it’s not leaking urine.

Cramps

Cramps are similar signs of preterm labor as the contractions. Women say that they are something like the menstrual cramps that can be felt in the lower abdomen.

These could come and go but they could also be constant. If they come and go you should measure the time passed between two cramps.

Backache

Believe it or not this could also be one of the symptoms of preterm labor. Usually the backache is dull and low that is located at the waistline. For sure you know that during pregnancy the back muscles have to work a lot harder, and this is why your back could hurt during labor.

How do you know you have contractions?

As it has been mentioned before, this is one of the symptoms of premature labor. During the contractions the muscles of the uterus contract and you should feel your abdomen hard. After the contraction goes away the abdomen becomes soft again.

You should know about this one of the preterm labor signs that during pregnancy the uterus’ layers tighten from time to time, but this isn’t painful. Actually they are known as the Braxton-Hicks contractions. These don’t open the cervix.

However these contractions could become preterm labor symptoms if they get regular and you experience them every 10 minutes. In this case the contractions could open the cervix. If this happens it is vital for the health of the baby to contact your doctor.

Checking the contractions

In order to check for these signs of premature labor all you have to do is to lie down and to place your fingers on the abdomen to feel the contractions. This process is called palpation and you are supposed to feel the uterus soften and harden. This can be felt all over the abdomen.

Now you know more about the symptoms of preterm labor and you could recognize them when the time comes. No matter which of these symptoms you see, it is very important to let your doctor know about it and to ask for his or her advice.