English Vocabulary: Having a BABY

Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. 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?

Now, once the baby is out of the body, of the woman's body, it is connected to the mother

by an "umbilical cord". Okay? That tube that feeds the baby.

So what you have to do then, you have to "cut the cord".

Now, the reason I put "cut the cord" here is because we also

use this as an expression. When it's time to cut the cord, means it's time to disconnect

from your parents or from authority. So when we cut the cord, we set the child free. Okay?

When we send him off to school, or when we send her off to get married, we are cutting

the cord, we are releasing her from the family.

Next, you're ready to go home, the baby's healthy and happy, and you know, beautiful,

I assume, because babies are all beautiful. No? Then you have to get ready to take the

baby home. Before you go home or on your way home, somebody has to go pick up "diapers".

It looks like "dee-appers", but it's "diapers". These are the... Basically, the underwear

for the baby. So, he can or she can do whatever needs to be done, and then it is thrown away.

You need some "formula". If the baby will not "breastfeed", then you have to get formula

in a jar, and give baby food. It's not called "food", because it has... It has special nutrients

in it that are created for babies, that's why it's called a "formula".

Maybe you want to get a "cradle". A "cradle" is like a little box on the ground, and the

wheels are shaped like this, so when the baby is inside, you can cradle it. You can cradle

the baby in your arms, or you can put it in a box and make the box move back and forth.

You should probably get a "crib". A "crib" is a baby's bed. It is small, and it has walls

on all the sides so the baby can't roll off and hurt itself.

You can also get a "stroller". A "stroller" is like a little buggy with wheels. You put

the baby in, and you go for a walk, you know, with your little stroller.

And if the baby starts crying, maybe you need to give it formula, or maybe you just need

to put a "pacifier" in its mouth. A "pacifier" is that little plastic piece with the little

knob thing, I think. You just put in its mouth, and it sucks away, and it's happy, because

it thinks it's eating something. Right?

So, now, you're all ready to have a baby.

How you're going to do it, when you're going to do it, why you're going to do it - that's up to you,

but you're ready to talk about it whenever the time does come.

I wish you the best of luck with that.

If you want to find out more about this,

go to www.engvid.com. You can ask me questions in the comment section.

There will be a quiz to test your knowledge of these words.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and I'll see you again soon. Bye.