Find a Midwife Should I be scared if I feel contractions before
my due date? Most midwives and obstetricians feel that, if good
dates have been established, it is safe to give birth anytime
between 37 weeks gestation (three weeks before your due date)
and 42 weeks gestation (two weeks after your due date. Labors
before or after this window of time tend to involve higher risks
for the baby. Babies born too early or too late can be very
sick. If you smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or use other
street drugs during pregnancy, if you are carrying twins (or
more), if you have had premature babies before, if you are
younger than 18 or older than 40, if you were thinner than
average before becoming pregnant, or if you have certain vaginal
infections, you may be at higher than usual risk for premature
labor. However, most premature babies are born to women who have
none of these risk factors, so every pregnant woman needs to
think about the possibility of premature labor. So, if it is
more than 3 weeks until your due