For most women, pregnancy and childbirth go along without a hitch. But for some women there are complications. Unfortunately, medical science has yet to discover exactly why things go wrong. Growing another life inside our bodies is a pretty major deal. Yes, women have been doing it for centuries and there is a mythical, miraculous aura surrounding childbirth, but I think there is a lot more that we need to know about the whole process in order to identify and treat complications. Some women may think that medical science has intervened too much, with all the advances in fertility treatments and even the cloning of DNA. We are able to screen for genetic disorders and are left with the burden of making a major decision about a potential life. Premature babies are kept alive through heroic measures. Fetal material is being used to treat disease.

The potential of medical science is amazing and, some think, needs to be controlled. But what about just trying to understand more about the basics of pregnancy and childbirth and how it affects the mother? For example, what causes contractions and why do they sometimes begin prematurely? What impact do the tremendous hormonal changes antepartum and postpartum have on the mother? How does carrying a baby affect a mother's body? Being pregnant and giving birth are life changing experiences for a woman, but sometimes the process is taken for granted until things go wrong.

I began having contractions during week 20 of my second pregnancy. They weren't major contractions, more like Braxton-Hicks contractions (mild contractions of the uterine muscle which prepare it for labor), but they were starting much too early. They really heated up while I was visiting my parents for Christmas. I wound up in the emergency room and was put on a drug called Terbutaline, which is used to treat asthma by relaxing muscle. Therefore, it is supposed to relax the uterine muscle and reduce the contractions. Unfortunately, it also speeds up your heart rate and makes you feel like you're going to jump out of your skin.