my daughter is 26 weeks pregnant. She has ectropion cervix and has bleeding and contractions. The contractions have not been painful and up until a few days ago there was no change in her cervix at each exam. Now it has thinned out a little, not enough to be dangerous, but enough that the doctor has doubled her trebutaline. My brother is an obstetrician and wants her to tell her doctor about the newer progesterone shots that are available for stopping preterm labor. She asked her doctor and was told that the shots were only used for patients with a history of preterm labor. She has no history, this is her first pregnancy. My brother says that here in Peoria, IL they are using these shots with first time pregnancies with good success rates at stopping contractions. My daughter is in Carbondale, IL and they obviously have not started using these shots yet except for patients with history of preterm labor. My daughter is getting stressed because my brother is stressing to her that she needs to press her doctor about checking into these shots. She is timid and doesn't want to "offend" her doctor. She says she is comfortable with what her doctor is saying, but I know that she is very worried that she is going to have her baby too early. She will be 27 weeks Monday, Nov. 22. When she is stressed she has more contractions. My questions: What do you know about the progesterone shots being used for first time pregnancies? Obviously here in Peoria, Il it s being used. Are there risks to this shot? Why doesn't Carbondale, IL hospital use these shots for first time pregnancies? What should she be doing about this? Is she safe to just say she trusts her doctor and just keep taking the trebutaline?

Thanks,

Diane