What does the word pregnancy mean?
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The state of a female who has within her a fecundated germ, which gradually becomes developed in or out of the uterus. When placed in the cavity of the uterus, -by virtue of the vital principle which animates it, it becomes attached to the inner surface of that viscus, and obtains from it indirectly the nutriment necessary for its gradual development, during the space of ten lunar months or two hundred and eighty days-the ordinary term or duration of gestation, although the period may be protracted to 300 days or upwards, -at the expiration of which parturition occurs. Pregnancy is commonly limited to a single foetus: at times, the uterus contains two or three. -See Reproduction. Occasionally, one or two moles-the degenerated products of conception-alone occupy the uterus :-at other times, a foetus likewise exists. In certain cases, and owing to accidental circumstances, the fecundated ovum remains in the ovarium, or is arrested in the Fallopian tube. Pregnancy has, accordingly, been distinguished into, 1. Natural or uterine, when the foetus is carried in the cavity of the womb: and, 2. Preternatural or extra-uterine, Exfoeta'tion, Concep'tio vitio'sa, Paracye'sis seu Eccye'sis, Ecthysterocye'sis, Echthysterocye'sis, Dysto'cia, Dyscye'sis seu Gravid'itas extra-uteri'na, ( F.) Grossesse contre-nature, -when it occurs in the ovarium, tube, or cavity of the abdomen. During pregnancy, the female experiences remarkable changes in the condition of her organs and functions. The genital apparatus is, of course, most affected. The uterus changes its shape, situation, size, and texture. The usual signs of pregnancy are, -suppression of the catamenia; the abdomen gradually enlarging and forming a hard tumour; the umbilicus prominent in the latter months; the breasts increasing in size; the areola round the nipple becoming darker and the follicles more developed: kyestein in the urine from an early period; a bluish tint of the vagina after the fourth week; about the fifth month, the evidence by ballottement, the placental souffle, and the sound of the foetal heart heard on auscultation; the motion of the foetus perceptible, and the neck of the uterus diminishing in length at the advanced periods.
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