still-birthn.

1785 W. Cowper Let. 25 June (1981) II. 358 Dr. Johnson laughs at Savage for charging the still-birth of a poem of his, upon the Bookseller's delay.

1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 6 None of it was ever the dreary still-birth of a mind of hearsays.

1880 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 9 Oct. 596/2 Stillbirth—Resuscitation after two hours and five minutes.

1889 A. Newsholme Elem. Vital Statistics 61 Still-births are not registered in England.

1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. II. 980 In other animals still-birth was a constant feature.

1913 R. W. Johnstone Text-bk. Midwifery xxxvii. 397 The infant is born in a state of suspended animation—its heart continues to beat, but it makes no effort to breathe or to move. ‘Still birth’ is therefore not the same thing as the child's being born dead, although death may supervene if prompt treatment is not applied.

1918 R. M. Barclay Midwifery 146 Apnœa neonatorum, or still-birth, occurs when respiration is delayed.

1920 O. St. J. Moses Man. Obstetr. xviii. 269 In the pale or white form of still-birth the chances of recovery are much less.

1940 R. C. Brown & B. Gilbert Midwifery l. 468 In certain circumstances, the fœtus continues to live as a fœtus external to the mother for some time—10 to 20 minutes—and it may die as a fœtus and be counted as a still-birth.

1947 G. I. Strachan Textbk. Obstetr. viii. 699 The term ‘stillborn’ is therefore applied when the fœtus fails to maintain an independent existence, although some authorities..have attempted to make a division into (a) dead birth in which the fœtus is obviously dead and exhibits neither heart beat nor respiration, and (b) stillbirth in which the heart is beating but respiration is never established. It is simpler, however, to employ the term ‘stillbirth’ to cover both these states.

1971 Reader's Digest Family Guide Law 197/2 Even a still-birth—where a child is born dead after at least 28 weeks of pregnancy—must be registered as a birth.

1972 S. G. Clayton et al. Obstetr. by Ten Teachers (ed. 12) liii. 642 If the heart is beating after delivery, even though there is no sign of respiration, the death of a child born after 28 weeks should not be included as a stillbirth but as a neonatal death.

1963 Butler & Bonham Perinatal Mortality 210 Only six of the ‘stillbirths’ weighed 1,000 grams or less and were born before 28 weeks gestation.

1969 M. M. Garrey et al. Obstetr. Illustr. 469/1 A stillbirth is a baby that does not breathe or show any other sign of life after being completely separated from its mother.