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the process of giving birth

the process of giving birth

The function in the female by which the product of conception is expelled from the uterus through the vagina to the outside world.

Normal labor.

Act of bringing forth.

Same etymon as Parturient. The act of delivery of the foetus and its appendages, also the state during and immediately after delivery-Childbed, (Sc.) Gizzen-bed, Gizzen, see Parturient. Labour is the necessary consequence of conception, pregnancy, and the completion of gestation. It does not take place, at the full time, until after nine months of utero-gestation,-the causes producing it being the contraction of the uterus and abdominal muscles. By different authors, the stages of labour have been variously divided. We may, perhaps, admit of four. The first stage comprises the precursory signs. One, two, or three days before labour, a mucous discharge, streaked with blood, takes place from the vagina, which is called the Signum, Leucorrhoe'a Nabothi, Haemorrhagia Nabothi, Labour-show, or Shoio and, along with this, trifling grinding pains, called by the French Mouches, are felt in the loins and abdomen. Second stage :-Peculiar pains, which extend from the lumbar region towards the uterus; tension and dilatation of the neck and orifice of that organ; protrusion into the vagina of the envelopes of the foetus, forming the bag of waters, (F.) Poche des eaux; and rupture or breaking of the waters. Third stage :-Contractions of the uterus and abdominal muscles; forcing pains; the head of the foetus becomes engaged in the pelvis: the occiput being commonly situate above the left acetabulum, passes beneath the arch of the pubis. Fourth stage :-the head now presents at the vulva, the perineum being considerably distended; at length it clears the external parts, and the rest of the body is easily disengaged. The child still continues attached to the mother by the umbilical cord, which has to be divided. In the course of fifteen or twenty minutes, trifling pains occur, and the secundines are expelled. This completes delivery-the birth, (F.) Nuissance of the child. In by far the majority of cases, the head is the presenting part, the occiput directed anteriorly, and the face posteriorly. Labour has received different names, according to the period of pregnancy at which it occurs, and the mode in which it takes place. It is called miscarriage or abortion, prior to the seventh month; premature labour, Omotocia, Partus praecox seu praematurus, between this and eight months and a half; and labour at the full period, (F.) Accouchement a terme, when it happens at the end of nine months. Labours have likewise been variously divided by different authors. Perhaps the one into Natural, Preternatural, and Laborious, is as common as any; - natural Labour meaning that which would occur without manual assistance; preternatural, requiring the assistance of art, but by the hand solely: and laborious or instrumental, requiring instrumental assistance; which M. Capuron calls Accouchement Mechanique. Powerless labour, the Inertie parepuisement of Madame Lachapelle, is that in which the muscular powers from exhaustion are unable to accomplish such delivery. Forced labour or parturition, (F.) Accouchement ou Avortement provoque, is labour or abortion, induced by art. When labour is accompanied with other phenomena of a deranging character, it is said to be complicated. When the child, even when reduced in size, cannot pass, it is termed impracticable, &c. See Dystocia. The French use the term Part, Partus, at times, synonymously with delivery; at others, with foetus, Maieuma, Maeeuma. Suppression de part means concealment of delivery; Part legitime, a foetus which comes into the world with the condition necessary for its enjoying advantages granted by law; and Part illegitime, one that does not fall under those conditions. The laying of eggs by animals is termed, in French, ponte. The term has been applied to the periodical discharge-ponte periodique- of ova, (F.) Chute des Oeufs, which is supposed to take place from the ovaries at each menstrual period.

The act of bearing children.

Labor; childbirth. [Lat.]

n. Act of bringing forth or being delivered of young; delivery.