To describe symptoms, self-care for symptoms, and lay consultations of African American women later diagnosed with a likelihood of preterm labor (PTL). Design: Qualitative descriptive study. Setting: Two sites within the United States, one urban and one suburban high-risk maternity referral center. Participants: Twenty-five African American women presenting for emergent care and subsequently diagnosed as 'rule out PTL.' Five of the women later delivered before 37 weeks gestation, of whom 4 had a preterm low-birthweight infant (