Results

Results of the fetal fibronectin test are either positive or negative:

• Positive. A positive result means that fetal fibronectin is present in your cervical secretions. If you have a positive result between weeks 22 and 34, you're at increased risk of premature birth within seven days.

  Your health care provider might take steps to prepare for a potentially early birth, such as giving you steroids to speed your baby's lung maturity. Or, you might be given medications to decrease the risk of neurological complications, such as cerebral palsy, in your infant. If you're having contractions, you might be given drugs to temporarily stop them.

• Negative. A negative result means that fetal fibronectin isn't present in your cervical fluid. This indicates that you aren't likely to deliver in the next two weeks. In fact, a negative result might be the most powerful benefit of the test — allowing you and your health care provider to relax a bit with the knowledge that a premature birth isn't imminent.

If you're concerned that you might be going into labor early, contact your health care provider. Don't worry about mistaking false labor for the real thing.

Warning signs of preterm labor include:

• Regular or frequent sensations of abdominal tightening (contractions)
• Constant low, dull backache
• A sensation of pelvic or lower abdominal pressure
• Mild abdominal cramps
• Vaginal spotting or bleeding
• Preterm rupture of the membranes — in a gush or a continuous trickle of fluid after the membrane around the baby breaks or tears
• A change in type of vaginal discharge — watery, mucuslike or bloody