lexis4u: Pregnancy

Thematic Vocabulary Unit Nº 268 v.04

Main Definitions

pregnancy / gestation |n| the process of carrying or being carried in the womb between conception and birth.
"There are thousands of unwanted teenage pregnancies every year."
"The baby was born prematurely at 28 weeks gestations."
conception / fertilization |n| the action of conceiving a child or of a child being conceived.
"An unfertilized egg before conception"

Terms Related to Pregnancy

fertility |n| the quality of being fertile; productiveness.
"Improve the soil fertility by adding compost."
fetus |n| |pl fetusses| an unborn or unhatched unborn human more than eight weeks after conception.
pregnancy test |n| a test that measures a hormone in the body called human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). HCG is a hormone produced during pregnancy. It appears in the blood and urine of pregnant women as early as 10 days after conception.
blood pressure |abbr. BP| |n| the pressure exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels, especially the arteries. It varies with the strength of the heartbeat, the elasticity of the arterial walls, the volume and viscosity of the blood, and a person's health, age, and physical condition.
"Lower blood pressure is common in early pregnancy."
abortion |n| the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

Mother Body Elements and Parts

amniotic fluid / liquor amnii |n| is the protective liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a pregnant female.
amniotic sac / bag of waters |n| is the sac in which the fetus develops in amniotes. It is a thin but tough transparent pair of membranes, which hold a developing embryo (and later fetus) until shortly before birth.
cervix |n| the narrow neck like passage forming the lower end of the uterus.
"The cervix forms the lower third, connected by a narrow isthmus to the main muscular body of the uterus."
egg |n| a cell that is produced by the female sexual organs and that combines with the male's sperm in reproduction.
embryo |n| an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development.
hormone |n| a regulatory substance produced in an organism and transported in tissue fluids such as blood or sap to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action.
"These gonadotropins in turn stimulate synthesis of steroid hormones in target tissues."
placenta |n| a flattened circular organ in the uterus of pregnant eutherian mammals, nourishing and maintaining the fetus through the umbilical cord.
"Causes of spontaneous abortion may relate to the fetus, the placenta , or the uterus."
sperm / semen |n| a male gamete or reproductive cell; a spermatozoon.
umbilical cord |n| a flexible cord like structure containing blood vessels and attaching a human fetus to the placenta during gestation.
"Stem cells are harvested from bone marrow, umbilical cords , the brain and spinal cord and other tissues."
uterus |n| the organ in the lower body of a woman or female mammal where offspring are conceived and in which they gestate before birth; the womb.
"With their informed consent, their uteruses were carefully examined after operation, and the authors found that a number of them had conceived just before surgery."
vagina |n| the muscular tube leading from the external genitals to the cervix of the uterus in women.
womb / uterus |n| the part of a woman´s body where her baby grows before it born.

Physicians Related

physician |US| |formal| / doctor |n| someone who treats people who are ill, who has completed a long course of study at medical school.
"The American physician, Dr James Tyler Kent."
GP |UK| |n| a doctor who is trained in general medicine and who treats the people who live in a local area.
"My GP told me that I must lose weight."
gynaecologist |n| a doctor who treats medical conditions and illnesses that affect women´s bodies.
obstetrician |n| a doctor who deals with the birth of children.
midwife |n| a person (typically a woman) trained to assist women in childbirth.
"Again, close liaison between obstetrician, midwife , general practitioner, cardiologist, and neonatologist is vital."