Birth  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Birth (calving in livestock and some other animals, whelping in carnivorous mammals) is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring from the uterus. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world. Different forms of birth are oviparity, vivipary and ovovivipary.

Medical meanings

• Afterbirth is synonymous with placenta, born following the birth of the infant.
• Water birth is a birth where the mother delivers the child in a pool of water.
• Birth canal is the term used for the vagina during birth, as it is the route through which the infant passes during a vaginal birth.
• Birth control methods are devices, medications or behavior patterns employed to reduce the probability of pregnancy.
• Birth doula is the term for a labor assistant who provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, and other assistance to expectant mothers, partners, families, and baby before, during, and after childbirth. A postpartum doula provides support after birth, and specializes in postpartum care for mother and infant, infant attachment, and other newborn care. The term "doula" stems from the Greek doulos, or "one who serves."
• Birth pangs or labor pains are the pains felt by the mother during labor, resulting from contractions of the uterus and pressure on nerves and organs.
• Caesarean section or C-section is surgical birth through the wall of the abdomen.
• Childbirth is the process at the end of a human pregnancy that results in a baby being born.
• Lotus birth is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord uncut after birth so that the baby is left attached to its placenta until the cord separates naturally.
• Midwife is the term for a health care provider who provides at-home health care for expecting mothers, delivers the baby during birth, and provides postpartum care.
• Multiple birth is the birth of two (twins), three (triplets), four (quadruplets), etc., babies resulting from a single pregnancy.
• Natural childbirth is the technique of minimizing medical intervention, particularly anaesthetics, during childbirth.
• Placenta is the organ in most female mammals, formed in the lining of the uterus by the union of the uterine mucous membrane with the membranes of the fetus, that provides for the nourishment of the fetus and the elimination of its waste products.<ref>Dictionary.reference.com</ref>
• Unassisted childbirth (UC) is birth without the aid of medical or professional birth attendants. It is also known as freebirth.

Complications

• A birth defect is a physical or mental abnormality present at the time of birth.
• Birth trauma is a theory in pre- and perinatal psychology and natural medicine which hypothesizes that the baby experiences extreme pain during the birthing process, and that this pain influences the child later in life.
• Complications may cause a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion to occur.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Infertility treatments are devices, medications, or behavior patterns to increase the probability of pregnancy.
• Musculoskeletal disorders: pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain is a significant musculoskeletal disorder that begins in pregnancy and for some women lasts for years.
• Premature birth is the birth of an infant before the full term of pregnancy.
• Stillbirth is the birth of a dead fetus or infant.
• VBAC is a vaginal birth after a caesarean birth.

Legal meanings

• Birth certificate is a legal document describing details of a person's birth.
• Birthday is a day to celebrate that the person has lived a certain number of years. It is an annual event based either on the anniversary of a person's date of birth, or on astrological birthtime calculations.
• A nuclear family comprising the fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters, is an institution where the members are related by birth, marriage, or a similar partnership or spousal relationship.
• In some countries a person is considered of illegitimate birth if the child is born of parents not legally married to one another.

Spiritual meanings

• Astrology is based upon the belief that an individual's life is influenced by the geocentric positions of the sun, moon, and planets in the sky or below the horizon at the moment of birth; a natal chart is calculated using the exact time, date, and place of birth to try to interpret these cyclical influences on a person's life.
• Born again, a term used primarily in Protestant Christianity, is associated with salvation, conversion, and spiritual rebirth.
• Rebirth is a belief that a person is born again after their death based on the karma of their previous births.
• Virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that asserts that Jesus Christ was born to a virgin, and thus that his conception was carried out without an earthly father.

See also

• Childbirth
• Death
• Fertilization
• Home birth
• List of oldest birth mothers
• List of youngest birth mothers
• Miraculous birth
• Posthumous birth
• Pregnancy
• Prenatal nutrition and birth weight
• Storks
• Whelping
• Accident of birth