👶🏻 Preterm labor occurs when labor begins too early. If this happens before the 37th week of gestation, the fetal organs, especially the lungs, might not be fully developed.⁠
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💊 In these cases, labor can be suppressed with uterine relaxants that relax the uterine muscle and slow down contractions for up to 48 hours. It gives the fetus a few more days in the uterus as a corticosteroid is given to speed up the development of a preterm infant’s lungs. Steroids help the lungs mature and may promote the production of surfactant, a substance that prevents the collapse of alveoli (small sacs in the lungs where the air is exchanged). ⁠
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💊 Uterine relaxants are also called tocolytics (toco = childbirth, lytic = terminate) and include several different types of drugs. ⁠
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