English Vocabulary: Having a BABY

Are you or someone you know expecting a baby? If so, you will need this lesson on vocabulary and expressions relating to childbirth. You will learn words such as “trimester“, “embryo“, “midwife“, “stroller“, and more. There are also a few important expressions that need to be clarified. For example, “going into labour“ does not mean you have a job interview. And no, an “OBGYN“ is not some sort of cocktail. Having a baby is an exciting time! This lesson will help prepare you for that special day. Go to to take the quiz: TRANSCRIPT Hi. Welcome back to . I’m Adam. Today’s lesson is a special one. We’re going to talk about having a baby. Everybody loves babies, everybody wants to know: How does this happen? Well, maybe not how it happens, but what happens along the way. So, we’re going to talk about having a baby, we’re going to talk from the beginning right till you’re ready to take the baby home. So, what happens first? You “conceive“ a baby. “Conceive“ is the verb. What happens is “conception“. At this stage, the “sperm“, the male sperm goes into the female “egg“. Okay? You’re on a vacation somewhere, you don’t... You know, you’re having fun on your anniversary, you’re celebrating, and you conceive a baby. It happens. A cold winter night, too cold to go outside, nothing on TV, you don’t know what to do - you conceive a baby. It happens this way, too. So, most people don’t know when they conceive their baby, but they know roughly when. Eventually, the woman will miss her period, you know, which happens every month, and then she will take a pregnancy test with one of those sticks, or she will go to the doctor, and she will find up... Find out that she was “knocked up“. “Knocked up“ is a very slang expression to mean pregnant. Or, you could say: “She has a bun in the oven.“ Okay? So, these are two idioms, slang, for “pregnant“. So, the woman is pregnant, what happens next? So, now, she has... She goes to the doctor. The doctor, by the way, is the “OBGYN“ for short. “OBGYN, that’s what most people say.“ The “OB“ is the obstetrician; the GYN is the gynecologist. These are female doctors. Not... The doctors themselves are not necessarily female. They’re doctors for women. Okay? The obstetrician is the one who delivers the baby; the gynecologist is the one who checks the woman’s body, makes sure everything’s okay, the baby’s okay, the woman’s okay, everything is set to go. After the visit to the doctor, you will... The woman will get, or the couple will get a “due date“. So, the baby is due, generally, roughly nine months later. Okay? Nine months later, the woman will “give birth“ to the baby, or she will “deliver“ the baby. Just before that happens, she will “go into labour“. So, all of these... All these expressions are basically the same time. She goes into labour... I forgot to mention a word, here. She has “contractions“. This is when she feels that pain in the stomach or wherever it happens, that it’s very quick, very sharp pain. It comes, it goes. The closer the contractions, the closer she is to giving birth. So, she goes into the... Into labour, she goes to the hospital, and that’s where the OBGYN will help deliver the baby. Now, over the course of the nine months, there are three “trimesters“. Now, this might sound familiar. Maybe you know “semester“ from high school, you have semesters; one’s fall semester, winter semester, and then summer vacation. In a pregnancy, you have a “trimester“, so about three months, three months, three months. During that time, the... The sperm and the egg, basically they come together, and then they start developing. The first stage is called a “zygote“, the baby or the zygote is, like, tiny, tiny. Then it becomes an “embryo“, this is another stage of the development process. Then it becomes a “fetus“, another stage. And finally, it comes out as a “baby“. Okay. So, now, the OBGYN will have to help deliver the baby. It could be a “natural birth“, and in which case everything just happens naturally. Maybe the woman will want an “epidural“. Okay? “Epidural“ is a needle, it’s a big needle they stick in her spine, basically it relaxes all the muscles so she has less pain and it’s a little bit easier to push the baby out. Sometimes and in some situations, the woman will have a “caesarean“ or sometimes called a “C-section“. This is when the doctor has to cut the stomach and pull the baby out that way. Okay? Sometimes it’s by choice, sometimes it’s by necessity. Now, one other way... Another person, by the way, who can help with the baby is a “midwife“. Some people don’t like to go to the hospital to have the baby; they want to have the baby at home. The OBGYN will not come to your house, but there are people who are trained to deliver babies at home naturally, no epidural, no C-section, no medicines, no machines. Just you, your bed, and the baby coming out. Okay?