Steps to Help Reduce Your Risk of Another Preterm Birth

Steps you can take

While there are no guarantees, you can take steps to help reduce the chances of your baby being born preterm.

Step 1. Talk to your healthcare provider to find out your risk for preterm delivery
Speaking with your healthcare provider before you conceive (get pregnant) and during your pregnancy is extremely important. During a visit with your healthcare provider is a good time to talk about your risk for preterm birth, which is important if you’ve already delivered preterm.

Step 2. Maintain healthy nutrition
A healthy diet before and during pregnancy provides essential nutrients that you and your baby need.¹ Your healthcare provider may also recommend you take prenatal vitamins.²

Step 3. Make lifestyle changes
Be sure to get enough rest and relaxation during your pregnancy, especially if you are feeling stressed.³ You may also need to make some lifestyle changes, such as avoiding:^4,5

Smoking
Alcohol
Drugs

Ask your healthcare provider about support programs that can help you quit.

Step 4. Ask about treatment
Now there’s Makena™. Makena is a prescription hormone medicine (progestin) used to lower the risk of preterm birth in women who are pregnant with one baby and who have delivered one baby too early (preterm) in the past. Makena was shown to work based on a lower number of women who delivered babies at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy. There are no studies showing Makena reduces the number of babies who have serious problems shortly after birth or who die. It is not known whether Makena is safe and effective in women who have other risk factors for preterm birth.⁶

Talk to your healthcare provider to see whether Makena is right for you.

Makena™ is a prescription hormone medicine (progestin) used to lower the risk of preterm birth in women who are pregnant with one baby and who have delivered one baby too early (preterm) in the past. Makena was shown to work based on a lower number of women who delivered babies at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy. There are no studies showing Makena reduces the number of babies who have serious problems shortly after birth or who die. It is not known whether Makena is safe and effective in women who have other risk factors for preterm birth.

Important safety information for Makena

Makena should not be used in women with any of the following conditions: blood clots or other blood clotting problems, breast cancer or other hormone-sensitive cancers, or history of these conditions; unusual vaginal bleeding not related to your current pregnancy, yellowing of the skin due to liver problems during pregnancy, liver problems, including liver tumors, or uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Before you receive Makena, tell your healthcare provider if you have an allergy to hydroxyprogesterone caproate, castor oil, or any of the other ingredients in Makena; diabetes or prediabetes, epilepsy, migraine headaches, asthma, heart problems, kidney problems, depression, or high blood pressure.

In a clinical study, certain complications or events associated with pregnancy occurred more often in women who received Makena. These included miscarriage (pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of pregnancy), stillbirth (fetal death occurring during or after the 20th week of pregnancy), hospital admission for preterm labor, preeclampsia (high blood pressure and too much protein in your urine), gestational hypertension (high blood pressure caused by pregnancy), gestational diabetes, and oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid levels).

Makena may cause serious side effects including blood clots, allergic reactions, depression, and yellowing of your skin and the whites of your eyes. Call your healthcare provider right away if you think you have symptoms of a blood clot (leg swelling, redness in your leg, a spot on your leg that is warm to touch, or leg pain that worsens when you bend your foot) or symptoms of an allergic reaction (hives, itching, or swelling of the face). The most common side effects of Makena include injection site reactions (pain, swelling, itching, bruising, or a hard bump), hives, itching, nausea, and diarrhea.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see full prescribing information for Makena.

References: 1. March of Dimes Foundation. March of Dimes^®. Available at: www.marchofdimes.com. Accessed July 21, 2011. 2. March of Dimes Foundation. March of Dimes^®. Available at: www.marchofdimes.com. Accessed July 13, 2011. 3. March of Dimes Foundation. March of Dimes^®. Available at: www.marchofdimes.com. Accessed October 27, 2009. 4. ACOG Education Pamphlet AP087. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Available at: www.acog.org. Accessed October 20, 2009. 5. March of Dimes Foundation. March of Dimes^®. Available at: www.marchofdimes.com. Accessed October 20, 2009.
6. Makena™ (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection) prescribing information, Ther-Rx Corporation, 2011.