Birth Marks: From 1 Different Sources
Birth marks are of various kinds; the most common are port-wine marks (see NAEVUS). Pigment spots are found, very often raised above the skin surface and more or less hairy, being then called moles (see MOLE).
See CONTRACEPTION.... birth control
In 2003, 695,500 live births were registered in the United Kingdom; 38 per cent occurred outside marriage. Overall, total fertility is falling slowly. The number of births per 1,000 women aged over 40 years has been rising, and in 1999 was 8.9 per cent. In Great Britain in 2003, 193,817 legal abortions were performed under the Abortion Act 1967.... birth rate
The passage that extends from the neck of the womb (UTERUS), known as the CERVIX UTERI, to the opening of the VAGINA. The baby passes along this passage during childbirth.... birth canal
See CONGENITAL.... birth defects
See ABORTION; FETUS; PREGNANCY AND LABOUR.... premature birth
A pool of warm water in which a woman can give birth to her baby. The infant is delivered into the water. The method was introduced during the 1980s and is claimed to make delivery less painful and upsetting.... birth pool
Damage sustained during birth. Minor injuries, such as bruising and swelling of the scalp during a vaginal delivery (see cephalhaematoma) are common. More serious injury can occur, particularly if the baby is excessively large and has difficulty in passing through the birth canal. A breech delivery may result in injury to nerves in the shoulder, causing temporary paralysis in the arm. The face may be paralysed temporarily if the facial nerve is traumatized by forceps. Fractured bones are another hazard of difficult deliveries, but the bones usually heal easily. (See also birth defects; brain damage.)... birth injury
see hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.... birth asphyxia
1. delivery of a child by *Caesarean section after the mother’s death. 2. birth of a child after the father’s death.... posthumous birth
(premature birth) birth of a baby before 37 weeks (259 days) of gestation (calculated from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period); a birth at less than 23 weeks is at present incompatible with life. Such factors as *pre-eclampsia, multiple pregnancies (e.g. twins), maternal infection, and *cervical incompetence may all result in preterm births, but in the majority of cases the cause is unknown. Conditions affecting preterm babies may include *respiratory distress syndrome, feeding difficulties, inability to maintain normal body temperature, *apnoea, infection, *necrotizing enterocolitis, and brain haemorrhages. Supportive treatment is provided in an incubator in a neonatal unit; many infants survive with no residual impairment but the shorter the gestation period, the more serious are the problems to be overcome.... preterm birth
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