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| Pregnancy Terms |
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Pregnancy terms starting with S
Get quick definitions of many of the most common pregnancy terms here! From fertility
treatment terminology to common pregnancy conditions to the stages of labor, find
out more about the hundreds of new words you will be hearing.
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Stillbirth
Category:
High risk/Complications
An infant delivered without signs of life after 20 or more weeks of gestation.
Surfactant
Category:
Baby's health
Fluid secreted by the cells of the alveoli that reduces the surface tension of pulmonary
fluids; it contributes to the elastic properties of pulmonary tissue.
Scrotum
Category:
Conception and fertility
The pouch that contains the testes and their accessory organs on the human male.
Small for gestational age
Category:
General pregnancy
An infant weighing less than the 10th percentile for gestational age using a standard
weight-for-age chart.
Station
Category:
Labor and birth
The measure of the baby's descent through the birth canal in terms of the station, or the
point it has reached. There are eleven stations, measured in centimeters, measured upward
and downward from the middle of the pelvis that is assigned station 0. The five stations
above are referred to in minus numbers (-5, -4, -3, -2, -1), because at these stations, the
top of the baby's head (or whatever part comes first) hasn't yet reached the midpoint; the
five stations below are referred to in positive numbers (+1, +2, +3, +4, +5) because the
leading part has passed the midpoint.
Stimulated cycle
Category:
Conception and fertility
An ART cycle in which a woman receives drugs to stimulate her ovaries to produce more
follicles.
Stretch marks
Category:
Mom's health
Pink to reddish indentation like marks usually found around the legs and stomach that result
from rapid weight gain and are very common in pregnancy.
Sudden infant death syndrome
Category:
Baby's health
SIDS is a term used to describe the sudden, unexplained death of an infant that remains
unexplained after a thorough case investigation that includes a complete autopsy, an
examination of the death scene, and a review of the clinical history. SIDS is the leading
cause of death of children 1 month to 1 year of age. In the United States, 5,000 to 6,000
infant deaths are attributed to SIDS each year. Many of these occur in the childcare
setting. The cause of SIDS is unknown, but it is not contagious, nor is it caused by
vomiting, choking, or minor illnesses such as colds or infections. Deaths due to vaccine
reactions or child abuse are not classified as SIDS deaths. While we don't know what causes
SIDS, four factors have been associated with increased risk of SIDS: (1) placing a baby on
the stomach (prone position) to sleep; (2) being exposed to tobacco smoke during pregnancy
and after birth; (3) using soft surfaces and objects that trap air or gases, such as
pillows, in a baby's sleeping area; and (4) not breastfeeding a baby. However, risk factors
alone do not cause SIDS, and most babies with one or more of the above risk factors do not
succumb to this syndrome.
Surrogate
Category:
Pregnancy/Birth/Other
A woman who carries an embryo that was formed from the egg of another woman; the surrogate
is expected to return the infant to its genetic parents.
Syndactyly
Category:
Birth defects
Fused or webbed fingers and/or toes.
Sperm
Category:
Conception and fertility
The male reproductive cell.
Spontaneous abortion
Category:
High risk/Complications
Also known as a miscarriage, this is the clinical term for a pregnancy ending in the spontaneous loss of the embryo or fetus before 20 weeks of gestation.
More definitions
Click on any of the letters below to read more:
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
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