Fetal Fibronectin- positive

[BabybttcNo1]

Hi, just looking for some re assurance, advice, experiences ect
i was taken to hospital on Sunday due to upper gastric pains which has since resolved but whilst I was there I had a fetal fibronectin test (for pre term Labour within 7-10) days and it was, to my shock, positive. They also found a UTI which I had no symptoms of
I have had no warning signs of this and the other pain was completely unrelated.
the nhs wouldn’t undertaken a scan or admission as I was not 24 weeks so I paid for my own privately on Wednesday, the findings were good in that I had no bulging waters, my cervix is 59mm long, no funnelling and closed.
despite this all being good signs, I can’t shake the anxiety that something bad is about to happen and we could risk losing our baby, I suffer from anxiety disorder and have coped pretty well this far but this has made me take a turn for the worse.
I just want any advice from anyone who’s had the test or heard about it ect and can offer some guidance or re assurance, I’ve seen that women who have this and test positive after 24 weeks would be admitted, given steroids ect but I’ve just been left and I understand it’s because I’m a week less than viability, but I’m just so worried.
any response appreciated

I have no experience with this but how pregnant are you?

This happened to me I think I was 25 weeks at the time, had a few pains so went in to get checked, fetal fibronectin test was positive but no other signs. I was admitted for a couple of days and given steroids, everything seemed ok so they let me home on day 3, they said just to take it easy and that baby would most likely come early but hopefully we could go another few weeks to increase viability. Little rascal stayed put til 40+5 😆
i’ve no idea why the test was positive or whether the few days of bed rest made any difference but the rest of the pregnancy was completely uneventful, hopefully yours will be too xx

Hi thank you both for your replies, @Orangebadger i am 23 weeks

I was told when I had mine that if I had sex in the 72 hours leading up to it the test could give a false positive.

@Orangesandlemons82 thanks for your reply! They told me sex could affect the reading but we hadn’t had sex within that window of time

@Bagofweasels did they give you a scan or anything?
honestly I’m petrified and feel like they won’t help me because I’m under 24 weeks. I weren’t offered steroids or admission as I’m under viability. Which begs the question, why bother testing in the first place

@BabybttcNo1 no they didn’t scan me, I think I was only just 25 weeks, what is viability? 24??
they seemed fairly certain baby was on its way just based on the test but it’s obviously not that reliable! Interesting pp said about sex affecting the test, I can’t remember if that was the case for us or not. The only other thing they found was that I was carrying group B strep (not sure if this was relevant) so they said I would need antibiotics during labour but baby came too fast in the end so no time for them and all was fine

Viability is apparently 24 and that’s why they wouldn’t do anything, I didn’t go in with any presentation of pre term Labour either, it was more of a crushing pain between my breast bone.
I guess I’ll just have to sit tight and pray the test was wrong and he will come on time

Is it at all possible for you to have bed rest like pp said she did?

It really sounds very stressful. I really feel for you. It does seem odd to do the test before 24 weeks if they're not going to do anything.

Every day is honestly hell, I’m just crying constantly, and I know this doesn’t do me or baby any good but I’m so frightened.
i have rested since I got the result, I’ve not left the house, I’ve been laid or sat on sofa but now my back in hurting and that’s meant to be a warning sign but I don’t know if it’s cos I’ve literally not moved.

From my limited understanding, it is very accurate if you get a negative result, but it has a low predictive value if it’s positive - only 40% go on to deliver following a positive swab and that’s if you are symptomatic for preterm labour. Given you didn’t have symptoms of preterm labour, I would think that your odds of NOT going into preterm labour are even higher especially combined with your scan results. If you Google fetal fibronectin test there is an NHS fact sheet with this information (it’s a PDF so I can’t link to it).

Just to reiterate what @Leaf86 said, the test is not hugely accurate when positive. I had one at 27 weeks with my twins which was positive and didn't then have them until 3 weeks later.

I know how worrying it feels thinking you're about to go into early labour but try to be reassured that you aren't displaying any actual signs of this (I was getting contractions at 27 weeks). So hopefully this test is just a false negative and you will have an otherwise stress free pregnancy.

We know lots of babies from neonatal that were born preterm (one was 23+4) that have grown into healthy happy children. So, whilst it's a terrifying prospect, I hope that offers a tiny bit of reassurance that if you do deliver early, you have ever chance of a positive outcome. Sending love.

From reading on here I really hope it's a false positive, sounds like they are pretty common. Try and rest as much as possible and sending you lots of hugs.

Thank you everyone, it’s just worrying when I’ve literally no signs at all! I’m on high alert waiting for something but nearly a week on and nothing, I’m just hoping it’s one of those random false positive things and baby stays put a while longer yet!