dystocia
/dɪsˈtəʊʃə
/noun [mass noun] Medicine & Veterinary Medicine
Difficult birth, typically caused by a large or awkwardly positioned fetus, by smallness of the maternal pelvis, or by failure of the uterus and cervix to contract and expand normally: the incidence of dystocia or difficult calvings...
- In gestational diabetes, shoulder dystocia is the complication most anticipated at the time of delivery.
- Her last child weighed 4.4 kg at birth and slight shoulder dystocia was noted at delivery.
- Male calves resulting from these matings express a higher incidence of dystocia than heifer calves because male calves are gestated longer and have considerably larger birthweights.
Origin
Early 18th century: from Greek dustokia, from dus- 'difficult' + tokos 'childbirth'.