According to a new study, women who were themselves born before their due date, were also more likely to give birth to a preterm baby. Also if you have siblings who were born early, this raises your chances of delivering early even if you yourself were not born early.
Dr. Siladitya Bhattacharya, senior author of the study and a professor of reproductive medicine at Aberdeen Maternity
Hospital, in Aberdeen, the premise was that preterm births are somehow linked with previous instances of this in the family.
It was a Scottish study that spanned nearly 60 years that found that women who had been born preterm were more likely to give birth to a pre term baby; particularly if it was their first pregnancy. This risk lowered for second or subsequent pregnancies.
So it may be a good idea to find out from your mother (if you don’t already know) if you were yourself a preterm baby. A preterm baby is one born between 24 and 37 weeks gestation.
This could help you prepare yourself mentally and otherwise, for a possible early delivery. Armed with this information, your health-care provider can decide whether more frequent prenatal visits or other special attention or treatment would be needed in your particular case.
