When calculating the expected date of birth, gynecologists suggest a 40-week period. From this period of time, deviations within the normal range are possible. 37.5 weeks is the period from which the pregnancy is considered full-term. If labor starts earlier, it is called premature.
Preterm labor is spoken of if it occurred from 28 to 35, 7 weeks. Modern medical technologies help save the lives of children born between 22 and 28 weeks, but it is more difficult to save such children. If a child born before 28 weeks has lived at least 7 days, they talk about premature birth, if he died earlier - about late miscarriage.
How is preterm labor
With premature birth, the body as a whole and the reproductive organs in particular are not yet fully ready for labor, which can lead to complications: an accelerated course, weak or spastic labor.
With accelerated labor, the intensity of contractions increases too quickly, and therefore the pressure that the walls of the birth canal exert on the head of the fetus. This can lead to increased intracranial pressure and even cerebral hemorrhage.
Weak labor is not enough strong and prolonged contractions with large intervals. At the same time, childbirth lasts too long, and the anhydrous period is delayed. For the fetus, this means oxygen starvation and the danger of various infections.
Spasmodic labor is an abnormally long labor that goes on almost without interruption. Such childbirth also threatens the fetus with cerebral hemorrhages, as well as subcutaneous hemorrhages. Premature placental abruption can occur, which leads to hypoxia (oxygen starvation), which adversely affects the nervous system.
Immaturity of the body
The main danger for a child with premature birth is that he is not yet fully ready for extrauterine life. The border between premature and full-term pregnancy is not accidentally passes through 37, 5 weeks, it is at this time that the maturation of the fetal lungs ends. A premature baby may have trouble breathing spontaneously.
Immaturity of the digestive system creates serious problems: there are few enzymes, intestinal motility is slowed down. Many premature babies do not have a sucking reflex, so they have to be fed with a tube. If the baby is capable of sucking, it may not be coordinated with swallowing.
Due to the immaturity of the immune system, even a minor infection can threaten the life of a child, so premature babies are kept in hospitals under sterile conditions.
Immaturity of the nervous system manifests itself in decreased muscle tone, weakness of physiological reflexes and other neurological disorders.
A premature baby has impaired thermoregulation, it is very easy to overcool or overheat.
From the first day of life, a premature baby should be in the hospital under the constant supervision of doctors. If necessary, it is placed in an incubator. With proper treatment and nursing, such children subsequently do not differ from full-term peers.
