Every word your midwife uses, in plain English
HealSoul Health Services provide patients with choices to ask for the conducting and analyzing of several lab tests on-site at no cost for prioritized patients or at 70% for people with an insurance. Additional testing can be ordered off site; those costs are the responsibility of the enquirers.
Who’s who
- Midwife — the health professional who leads your care through pregnancy, birth and the first weeks, if your pregnancy is straightforward.
- Obstetrician — a doctor who specialises in pregnancy and birth. You’ll see one if you need extra care.
- Sonographer — the professional who performs your ultrasound scans.
- Health visitor — a community nurse who supports you and your baby once midwife care ends, usually for around 10–14 days.
- Doula — a trained non-medical companion who gives emotional and practical support before, during and after birth.
- Anaesthetist — the doctor who gives an epidural or spinal, and anaesthetic for a caesarean.
- Labour ward coordinator — the senior midwife in charge of the ward. You can ask to speak to them.
At your appointments
- Antenatal — before birth; your care during pregnancy.
- Postnatal / postpartum — after birth; usually the first 6–8 weeks, though recovery takes longer.
- Booking appointment — your first main midwife appointment, ideally by 10 weeks.
- Trimester — one of the three roughly 13-week stages of pregnancy.
- Dating scan — the scan at around 11–14 weeks that confirms how many weeks pregnant you are.
- Anomaly scan — the detailed scan at 18–21 weeks that checks your baby’s development.
- Fundal height — the measurement from your pubic bone to the top of your womb, used to check your baby’s growth.
- Gestation — how many weeks pregnant you are.
- Screening — tests offered to check the chance of a condition. Screening is your choice, always.
During pregnancy
- Braxton Hicks — practice tightenings of the womb; irregular and usually painless.
- Cervix — the neck of the womb, which opens (dilates) during labour.
- Placenta — the organ that feeds your baby in the womb; delivered after your baby (the ‘third stage’).
- Pre-eclampsia — a condition involving high blood pressure and protein in urine. It can be serious and needs monitoring.
- Gestational diabetes — diabetes that develops in pregnancy; managed with diet, monitoring and sometimes medication.
- Anaemia — low iron in your blood, which can make you very tired. Common and treatable.
- Breech — when your baby is positioned bottom or feet down rather than head down.
- Group B Strep (GBS) — a common bacterium that is usually harmless, but can occasionally affect newborns. Tell your team if you’ve had it before.
- Reduced movements — any change in your baby’s usual pattern of movement. Always call your maternity unit straight away.
Labour and birth
- Induction — starting labour artificially with medicines or other methods. You can ask why it’s being offered, what the alternatives are, and you can decline.
- Membrane sweep — a procedure to try to start labour naturally. You can say no.
- Waters breaking — the fluid around your baby releasing. Tell your unit when it happens.
- Dilation — how far the cervix has opened, in centimetres. 10cm means fully open.
- Monitoring / CTG — recording your baby’s heartbeat. Continuous monitoring keeps you attached to a machine; intermittent lets you move around.
- Gas and air (Entonox) — pain relief you breathe in yourself.
- Epidural — an anaesthetic injection into the back that numbs the lower body.
- Forceps / ventouse — instruments sometimes used to help your baby out.
- Episiotomy — a cut to the perineum to make more room for your baby. Should always be explained and consented to first.
- Perineum — the area between the vagina and back passage, which can tear or be cut during birth.
- C-section (caesarean) — an operation to deliver your baby through a cut in the tummy. Planned is ‘elective’; unplanned is ’emergency’.
- VBAC — vaginal birth after a previous caesarean.
- Third stage — delivering the placenta. Can be managed (with an injection) or physiological (natural).
- Skin-to-skin — holding your baby against your bare chest straight after birth.
- Delayed cord clamping — waiting before cutting the cord, so more blood passes to your baby.
After birth
- Lochia — the bleeding after birth. Normal, and can last up to six weeks.
- Colostrum — the first thick, golden milk your body makes. Small amounts are exactly right.
- Latch — how your baby attaches to the breast. A poor latch causes most early feeding pain, and can be fixed with help.
- Meconium — your baby’s first, very dark nappies.
- Baby blues — tearfulness and mood swings in the first two weeks. Common, and usually passes.
- Postnatal depression — low mood, anxiety or hopelessness that lasts longer or feels intense. Common, treatable, nothing to be ashamed of.
- Pelvic floor — the muscles supporting your bladder and womb. Leaking or heaviness is treatable — ask for a physiotherapy referral.
- NICU / SCBU — neonatal intensive care or special care baby unit, for babies who need extra help.
- Six-week check — your own postnatal appointment at around 6–8 weeks, separate from your baby’s.
Still not sure what something means?
Ask—every time. “What does that mean?” and “Please explain that again in plain words” are complete, reasonable sentences.
And if a decision is being suggested: “What are the benefits, the risks, and the alternatives? What if we wait?”