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Giving Birth in a Hospital

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 207, “Giving Birth in a Hospital.”

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 207. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Be sure to visit our website at eslpod.com. There you can find a complete Learning Guide for this podcast. This is an eight to ten page guide that gives you all of the words and definitions that we will discuss today. It will also give you some additional new definitions and words that we don’t talk about on the podcast, as well as a cultural note related to today’s topic.

Today’s topic is having a baby in a hospital. Let’s get started.

[Start of story]

It was 2 o’clock in the morning when my wife woke me up. She is eight-and-ahalf months pregnant and she told me that her water had broken. She said that she was having contractions and she was sure that she was in labor. I paged our doctor and drove to the hospital.

When we arrived, we went straight to the maternity ward. I went to the reception desk, and told the clerk that my wife was in labor and needed to be admitted right away. The nurse asked me for my insurance card and gave me three forms to fill out. She said that someone would take my wife into the birthing suite soon.

The doctor arrived and she examined my wife. She told us that this wasn’t false labor and that my wife was pretty far along. After a lot of pushing, the baby came out head first, not breech, and it was healthy.

I was so relieved, I couldn’t stop hugging my wife. Then, I hugged the doctor, and the nurse, and the janitor!

[End of story]

This podcast is called, “Giving Birth in a Hospital.” To give birth, “birth,” is when a woman has a baby. When the baby comes out of the woman that is to give birth.

Well, the story here is that it was “2 o’clock in the morning” - 2 a.m. - “my wife woke me up.” I was sleeping. “She is eight-and-a-half months pregnant.” To say someone is pregnant, “pregnant,” means that they are expecting a baby, that a baby is going to be born, usually after nine months. We use the expression to describe how long a woman has been pregnant. So you may say, “She’s five months pregnant,” means she’s been pregnant for five months.

My wife “told me that her water had broken.” What happens when a baby is born - and I’m not a medical doctor, but I did watch a television show once - what happens is that there is a thin, almost like a skin around the baby before it is born, and in order for the baby to be born that skin has to break. And, when it breaks, certain liquid - certain fluid, we call it water here - has to come out. So, when a woman’s having a baby and she says that her water broke or her water had broken, that means that the baby is close to being born.

My wife “said that she was having contractions.” A contraction, “contraction,” is when the muscles tighten, when they become tight, before a baby is going to be born. These are the woman’s muscles that are in the lower part of her body.

They start to tighten; it can be somewhat painful I hear, and that is a contraction.

Well, when a woman starts having these contractions, these muscles tightenings, then she is often close to giving birth. When a woman is in…having contractions, when she is ready to give birth, we say that she’s in labor, “labor.” To be in labor means that you are going to be giving birth very soon. Usually it happens you start to go in labor maybe two, three, four, sometimes 10 or 15 hours before the baby is born, so you’re having those contractions. That is when a woman is going to give birth to the baby.

Well, “I paged our doctor and” we “drove to the hospital.” To page, “page,” means to send, usually, a telephone number or a text message to someone.

Pagers are the little electronic devices that receive a page. They used to be very popular. Pagers are not as popular in the United States since everyone now has a cell phone, or a cellular mobile phone, but some doctors still have pagers so that you can send them a message electronically.

“When we arrived” at the hospital, my wife and I “went straight to the maternity ward.” To go straight to means to go directly to. We didn’t stop anywhere else.

We went straight to the maternity ward. Maternity, “maternity,” refers to those who are mothers. The word mater in Latin means mother, and maternity is related to a mother, a woman who has or is going to have a baby. A ward, “ward,” is a section of the hospital. We usually just use that word in talking about hospitals. So, you can have the maternity ward, that’s where women who are having babies; you can also different wards with different names for different medical procedures.

“I went to the reception desk.” When you go into a hospital, the desk where the person takes your information is called the reception desk. That’s where they receive you. And, I “told the clerk that my wife was in labor,” she was going to give birth, “and she needed to be admitted” to the hospital immediately. To be admitted means that she was going to stay at the hospital. So, you fill out some forms - you have to give them some information - and that will allow that person to stay usually overnight at the hospital, meaning you’re going to spend at least 24 hours there. If you go into the hospital and you are not very sick or your condition is not serious, you will probably not be admitted. You are only admitted to the hospital, meaning you are going to stay overnight, if you have something serious wrong with you.

“The nurse asked me for my insurance card.” Insurance, “insurance,” is when you pay money to a company and the company will pay your medical bills when you need them to be paid. The nurse asked for my insurance card, which is proof that I have insurance; it’s a card that the insurance company gives me.

She also “gave me three forms to fill out” - three pieces of paper to put information on. “She said that someone would take my wife into the birthing suite soon.” A birthing, “birthing,” suite, “suite,” is a room where women who are in labor give birth to their babies. So, it’s a special room where the woman is actually going to give birth.

“The doctor arrived,” “she examined my wife” and she told us that my wife was not in “false labor.” False, “false,” labor is when you are having those muscle contractions, but you are not ready to give birth yet. You’re not actually ready to have the baby born. Well, this was not false labor, it was truly in labor and “my wife was pretty far along.” To be far along means to close to the point, in this case close to the point of giving birth, close to the time of giving birth.

“After a lot of pushing,” by my wife, not me, “the baby came out head first, not breech.” When we say the baby came out head first, we mean that the first thing that came out of the woman was the baby’s head. If the baby’s feet come out first, we call that breech, “breech.” So, if the baby comes out breech that means that the feet came out before the head.

Well, the baby “was healthy,” and “I was so relieved I couldn’t stop hugging my wife.” To be relieved, “relieved,” means that you are no longer in pain. You stop being in pain or you stop worrying about something. Someone gives you good news about something, you say, “Oh, I’m so relieved,” because you were worried about it. “I hugged the doctor,” and I hugged the nurse and I also hugged the janitor because I was so happy. The janitor, “janitor,” is the person that cleans the hospital, that cleans the floor and so forth.

This podcast was about giving birth in a hospital, where the woman pushes and the baby comes out. There are other ways that a baby can be born, and in our culture note for this podcast we talk about something called a “C-section,” and that is another way a baby is born. You can read about that in the Learning Guide.

Now let’s listen to the story, this time at a native rate of speech.

[Start of story]

It was 2 o’clock in the morning when my wife woke me up. She is eight-and-ahalf months pregnant and she told me that her water had broken. She said that she was having contractions and she was sure that she was in labor. I paged our doctor and drove to the hospital.

When we arrived, we went straight to the maternity ward. I went to the reception desk, and told the clerk that my wife was in labor and needed to be admitted right away. The nurse asked me for my insurance card and gave me three forms to fill out. She said that someone would take my wife into the birthing suite soon.

The doctor arrived and she examined my wife. She told us that this wasn’t false labor and that my wife was pretty far along. After a lot of pushing, the baby came out head first, not breech, and it was healthy.

I was so relieved I couldn’t stop hugging my wife. Then, I hugged the doctor, and the nurse, and the janitor!

[End of story]

Today’s script was written by Dr. Lucy Tse. That’s all we have time for on today’s podcast. Remember, if you have a comment or question, you can email us at eslpod@eslpod.com.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.