Prematurity Prevention Program

UW Medicine Maternal and Infant Care Clinic offers high-risk obstetrical care for families expecting multiples (twins, triplets, or more) or families at high risk for preterm birth.

Our goals are to provide:

• Early evaluation and treatment of women at risk for preterm birth or preterm labor.
• Client education about prematurity prevention and the special challenges of a pregnancy with multiples.
• Improved outcomes for mothers and babies.

Our high level of prenatal care for these families includes:

1. Frequent clinic visits.
2. Important education about the signs and symptoms of preterm labor, both in a classroom format and informally during clinic visits.
3. Education, resources and classes for the families expecting multiples of twins or more.
4. Evaluation of the cervix using trans-vaginal ultrasound.
5. Specialized screening for bacterial infection.
6. Ready access to a program nurse for consultation and support.

The Prematurity Prevention Program has been a community leader for high level obstetric care in the Puget Sound area for more than ten years. We offer a highly skilled team of maternal-fetal medicine specialists, registered nurses, a nutritionist and a social worker. We also offer a number of specialty classes for families in the community, including our Preventing Preterm Birth Class, as well as our Expecting Multiples Childbirth Class series.

The Prematurity Prevention Program provides complete prenatal care during pregnancy to women who self-refer or who are referred by their primary care physician for consultation. Our Prematurity Prevention team thoroughly evaluates each woman’s specific needs, makes recommendations to her health-care provider, and returns her to her care provider. Patients can give birth in our beautiful Maternity and Infant Center or deliver at another previously selected hospital of their choice. 

Who should receive care in the Prematurity Prevention Program?

• Women who are expecting twins or more
• Women who have previously given birth preterm (prior to 37 weeks).
• Women who have previously had a pregnancy loss in the second trimester (between 13 and 23 weeks)
• Women with an abnormality of their uterus, such as a septated or heart-shaped uterus
• Women with an abnormality of their cervix, such as a diagnosis of incompetent cervix, a history of surgery to their cervix, or a short cervix
• Women who were exposed to the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) when their mother was pregnant with them
• Women who are experiencing preterm labor in a current pregnancy

Why choose UW Medicine’s Prematurity Prevention Program for your pregnancy care?

The Prematurity Prevention Program at UW Medicine serves only families that are at risk for preterm birth. We have been providing this specialized care for more than a decade, helping many clients deliver full-term, healthy infants. For more information about our services, click on the topics below:

• When you are expecting a single baby
• When you are expecting multiples/twins or more

Prenatal Diagnostic Services

The UW Medicine Maternal and Infant Care Clinic at UW Medical Center specializes in comprehensive prenatal screening and fetal diagnostic testing. Our goal is to help our patients make informed decisions about their pregnancies by giving them information about their chances of having children with health problems as well as genetic testing options. The decision to use these services rests with the woman and her partner. We are dedicated to providing patients with the support and information to help them make their own unique choice.

Your doctor may suggest a prenatal diagnostic test if:

• You are 35 years of age or older when your baby is due to be born.
• You have had a child with a genetic condition or Down’s syndrome.
• You have family members with a known genetic condition, like cystic fibrosis or hemophilia.
• You take medicine for seizures (Valproic Acid or Tegretol).
• You or the baby’s father have a unique arrangement of chromosomes.
• You or the baby’s father has had a child with spina bifida (neural tube defect).
• You or the baby’s father carry a gene for cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia or thalassemia.

The services we provide include:

• High-resolution ultrasound
• Genetic counseling
• Consultations with high-risk obstetricians
• Amniocentesis
• Chorionic villus sampling
• The most accurate, non-invasive tests, such as nuchal translucency measurements and integrated screening

Our team also provides complete pregnancy care for women whose babies need to be delivered in a hospital by high-risk specialists. In these cases, we join with experts from Seattle Children's Prenatal Diagnosis and Treatment Program to give the entire family continuous, well-coordinated treatment throughout the pregnancy and afterward. Working with our partners in pediatrics, we provide both high-risk pregnancy care and pediatric specialty care after delivery. Detecting a fetal condition before birth may allow interventions to improve outcomes, either by treating the fetus or managing the pregnancy and birth differently.

Our high-risk obstetricians and genetic counselors have expertise in many fetal conditions that may be diagnosed before birth including:

• Abdominal wall defects (gastroschisis and omphalocele)
• Brain malformations
• Heart defects (e.g. double outlet right ventricle, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect, transposition of the great arteries, AV canal defect)
• Heart rhythm abnormalities
• Cleft lip and palate
• Diaphragmatic hernia
• Intestinal development abnormalities (e.g. intestinal atresia)
• Lung abnormalities (e.g. congenital pulmonary airway malformations)
• Neck masses
• Skeletal defects (e.g. club foot, dwarfism)
• Spina bifida and other neural tube defects
• Urologic defects (abnormalities of the bladder, kidneys or ureters)