obstetrics

/ˈɑbstɛtrɪks/

/ˈɒbstɛtrɪks/

In medicine, obstetrics is the specialty that focuses on pregnancy and childbirth. A pregnant woman usually chooses a doctor or midwife who works in obstetrics.

Doctors who care for patients before, during, and just after the birth of a baby are called obstetricians, and their field is obstetrics. Many of these doctors also practice as gynecologists — specialists in all women's medicine. The earliest definition of obstetrics is "the science of midwifery," from the Modern Latin obstetricus, "pertaining to a midwife," which has the root word obstetrix, "midwife," or literally "one who stands opposite."

Definitions of obstetrics

1. noun

   the branch of medicine dealing with childbirth and care of the mother
   synonyms: OB, midwifery, tocology

   types:

   fetology, foetology

   the branch of medicine concerned with the fetus in the uterus

   perinatology

   the branch of obstetrics concerned with the anatomy and physiology and diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the mother and the fetus or newborn baby during late pregnancy and childbirth and the puerperium

   type of:

   medical specialty, medicine

   the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques