29. Pregnancy and childbirth PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE FOR MEDICINE

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE FOR MEDICINE

29. Pregnancy and childbirth

A	Childbirth The expected date of delivery (EDD) is the date on which a woman is expected to give birth to the child she is carrying (pregnant with). It is calculated by adding 280 days or 40 weeks to the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP). Childbirth is also referred to by doctors as parturition. Delivery is the process of helping the child to be born. A spontaneous vaginal delivery (SVD) is a normal delivery. If there are complications, the baby may be delivered by caesarean section (surgically removed). A full term pregnancy is 40 weeks, divided into three trimesters. A baby who is born before this is premature, and one born after 40 weeks is postmature. A baby who is born dead, for example because the umbilical cord is around the neck, is stillborn. A pregnancy may end before term spontaneously, with a miscarriage (spontaneous abortion), or be deliberately terminated with an induced abortion (termination of pregnancy) Note: the term induce means to cause something to happen.
B	Labour The process by which the fetus and placenta are pushed out of the uterus is called labour. It is divided into four stages. Some words which are combined with labour are:
C	Presentation and lie Fetal lie is the position of the fetus in the uterus. The normal lie is longitudinal, and the abnormal is transverse. Fetal presentation refers to ‘the part of the fetus which occupies the centre of the pelvic canal and which the examining finger feels on vaginal examination’ (Butterworth). The normal presentation is with the head (vertex presentation). Breech presentation means the buttocks are presenting (breech is an old word for buttocks). Abnormal presentation may require delivery for forceps.

EXERCISES

29.1	Complete the sentences. Look at A, B and C above to help you. 1 A baby that is born a week before the EDD is ____________. 2 A ____________ of pregnancy may be necessary for medical reasons.
29.2	Complete the table with words from A above.
29.3	Dr Bennett, an SHO, is presenting a patient at a weekly meeting in the obstetric unit of a hospital. Complete the presentation with the correct forms of verbs from 29.2 above. This is Clara Davis. She came to the antenatal clinic at nine weeks. In her past obstetric history, she had a pregnancy when she was 18, which was (1) ______________ and another one a year later, which spontaneously (2) ______________. Since then she has had three pregnancies. In the first, the baby was (3) ______________ normally at 40 weeks. In the second, she had an (4) ______________ of labour at 39 weeks because of fetal distress. The third baby (5) ______________ as a breech and was (6) ______________ by caesarean section.

Answer key