Libera

I'm a new fan of the South London-based boy's choir Libera and I totally regret not going to their previous concerts or meet and greets here in Manila, esp. during their very first visit in 2009. I'm very thankful to über fans like Yuki from Japan (DearLibera on social media) and Lexi from the US (Mini-Angels on Blogger) who have literally followed the group around the world and/or have religiously blogged about them and carefully documented the group's journey.

My favorite member, like many other fans, is Josh Madine. His beautiful voice, eyes, smile, laughter, funny antics and natural charm never fail to brighten up even the most dreadful of days. I watch The Loose Moose Show almost every day. I truly look forward to seeing him and the other super cute / very talented boys next time the group goes to Manila, which I hope will be very soon. I hope Josh is still part of the staff when that time comes.......

MARAMING SALAMAT, LIBERA!!! Hope to see you soon!!! :)

A FETUS IS NOT A BABY!

So goes the cry of "prochoicers" including one "Yale-educated physician", mind you. She actually believes a baby isn't human until it is born, human DNA and all. Ridiculous!


Here I go again with yet another list of definitions from various medical sources refuting the unscientific claim that a fetus is not a baby/child/human:


ACOG
Fetus: a BABY growing in the woman's uterus.
http://www.acog.org/~/media/For%20Patients/faq060.pdf?dmc=1&ts=20120519T1251211855


Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Fetus: A developing HUMAN, usually defined as three months after conception to birth. This stage of development follows the embryo or embryonic stage.

http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/service/f/fetal-care/patients/glossary/



Johns Hopkins Medicine
Fetus: an unborn BABY from the eighth week after fertilization until delivery.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/adult/pregnancy_and_childbirth/glossary_-_pregnancy_and_childbirth_85,P01219/




University Center for Fetal Medicine (University of Mississippi)
Fetus: an unborn BABY after the eighth week post fertilization.
http://www.umhc.com/Health_Care_Services/Womens_Care/Adult/Fetal_Medicine/Fetal_Medicine_Glossary.aspx



Yale Medical Group
Fetus: an unborn BABY from the eighth week after fertilization until birth.
http://www.yalemedicalgroup.org/stw/Page.asp?PageID=STW023795



Lastly, please watch this amazing video from a Yale scientist, Alexander Tsiaras, Chief of Scientific Visualization, Department of Medicine, Yale University


http://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized.html

Now to those insisting that these were written so lay people can understand them, I say, the authors would not have used the terms BABY or HUMAN if they were inaccurate. They would have restricted the use of the word BABY to refer to newborns or neonates and likewise, the word HUMAN to refer to those already born depending on whatever criteria for personhood one has, whether age, ethnicity, etc.

Online Medical Notes That Refer to the Unborn BABY

I came across @JessicaSideways' tweet:

Is she correct?

Let's see if I can find medical school class notes & material online that use the word BABY or UNBORN BABY [s. or pl.]:

Human Reproduction and Development

"Week 9 - Week 40: (Fetus):

After 12 weeks or so, the baby's development is largely "finished" - except brain and lung development"

"A great website: Teratogens: Protecting your Unborn Baby

• The early processes of development all need to occur at a precise time and place - that is why poor maternal nutrition, fever, drugs, alcohol, (particularly in the 1st trimester) all have potentially serious effects of the developing baby."

http://www.biology.iupui.edu/biocourses/n100/2k4ch39repronotes.html

Prenatal Development and Its Influence on Children's Development

"Examine prenatal attachment from the historical perspective to the current understanding of the unborn baby’s prenatal life"

"Identify a relationship-based model of prenatal education and specific interventions to support parents’ awareness of the emotional needs of their unborn baby from pregnancy into the first three months of life"

"I have come to have a fuller understanding of prenatal development and the relationship between the parents and their unborn baby. "

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/profdev/onlinecourses/prenatal.htm

Genes . . . The Nature of Human Development

"...alphafetoprotein (AFP), a substance produced by the baby and passed into the mother’s blood and the amniotic fluid."

"

The baby can be transfused in utero or immediately at birth."

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/7/82.07.04.x.html

Fetus to Newborn: The Perinatal Period

Both nicotine and carbon monoxide can reduce the size of the baby of a smoking mother. The immature liver of the fetus is unable to clear these drugs very fast and the effects may be profoundly damaging in the developing baby.

The baby stores reserves of glycogen in its liver and muscles preparatory to birth. After it is born it rests and lives on these reserves (and an occasional bottle of sugar water) until the mother�s colostrum and then the milk come in a few days later.
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/7/82.07.08.x.html

Before the Beginning

"A formidable force is changing the way prenatal diseases and birth defects are viewed by pioneering ways to help babies before they are born."

"One of the few perinatologists in the country to offer surgical interventions for a baby in utero..."

http://www.usc.edu/hsc/info/pr/hmm/07winter/begin.html

Fetal Development [PowerPoint]

"38 weeks: the baby may be more than 20 inches;

the baby is full term and ready to be born."

http://cte.rockhurst.edu/s/945/images/editor_documents/content/John%20F.%20Morris,%20Ph.D.%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Associate%20Professor%20of%20Philoso/ME17-Fetal%20Development.pdf

CDE 232 - Introduction to Human Development

"Stopping smoking can help the baby, even in the third trimester."

http://www.public.asu.edu/~wcree/cde232/aug__30_lecture_notes.htm

Biological Effects of Radiation

"There are many chemical agents (such as thalidomide) and many biological agents (such as the viruses which cause German measles) that can also produce malformations while the baby is still in the embryonic or fetal stage of development."

http://www.bluefieldstate.edu/Schools/nursradt/Fall2009/RADT225/BiologicalEffectsofRadiation.pdf

Prenatal Effects of Radiation

"...it is important that you have a basic understanding of potential biological effects to an unborn baby associated with prenatal radiation exposure."

"Unborn babies are less sensitive to radiation during some stages of pregnancy than others. Unborn babies are particularly sensitive to radiation during their early development, between weeks 2 and 15 of pregnancy. However, since the baby is shielded by the mother's abdomen, the radiation dose to the unborn baby is lower than the dose to the mother for most radiation exposure events."

"Unborn babies are especially sensitive to the cancer-causing effects of radiation. However, the increased risks depend on the amount of radiation to which the baby was exposed and the amount of time that it was exposed."

http://ehs.umc.edu/documents/RadiationExposureandPregnancy.pdf

Ultrasonography

This is a non-invasive procedure that is harmless to both the fetus and the mother. High frequency sound waves are utilized to produce visible images from the pattern of the echos made by different tissues and organs, including the baby in the amniotic cavity.
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/TUTORIAL/PRENATAL/PRENATAL.html

Parvovirus B19 and pregnancy?

"Usually there is no serious complication for a pregnant woman or her baby following exposure...

Likewise, her unborn baby usually does not have any problems attributable to parvovirus B19 infection.

Sometimes, however, parvovirus B19 infection will cause the unborn baby to have severe anemia and the woman will have a miscarriage.

Other physicians may increase the frequency of doctor visits and perform blood tests and ultra-sound examinations to monitor the health of the unborn baby."

http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/Defect/parvovirus.htm

Some Medical/Obstetrics Books That Refer to the Unborn BABY

Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies

by Steven G. Gabbe MD, Joe Leigh Simpson MD, Jennifer R. Niebyl MD, Henry Galan MD

"It is helpful to ask the woman to mark on a calendar the first time she feels the baby move and to report this date." (page 121)

"Mercury in high levels may harm the unborn baby or young child's developing nervous system." (page 206)

"...of a three-point restraint across the maternal pelvis, provide the greatest protection to the mother and unborn child." (page 622)

"...management of the syphilis-infected gravida and her unborn child." (page 1194)

Case Files Obstetrics and Gynecology, Third Edition (LANGE Case Files)

by Eugene Toy, Benton Baker III

"...both the mother and baby have an excellent prognosis if a cesarean delivery is performed." (page 132)

"...usually necessitating delivery of the baby regardless of gestational age." (page 217)

"...the likelihood that their unborn baby will have sickle cell disease?" (page 260)

Hacker & Moore's Essentials of Obstetrics and Gynecology

by Neville F. Hacker MD, Joseph C. Gambone DO

"Caring for a pregnant woman creates a unique maternal-fetal relationship because the management of the mother inevitably affects her baby." (page 8)

"When the test is positive, the baby should usually be delivered." (page 90)

"MECHANISM OF LABOR. Six movements of the baby enable it to adapt to the maternal pelvis: descent, flexion, internal rotation, extension, external rotation, and expulsion." (page 101)

Ultrasonography in Obstetrics and Gynecology

by Peter W. Callen MD

"...and seek support systems before the baby arrives." (page 46)

"...to significantly improve the health outcomes of pregnant women and their babies." (page 711)

"...often showing baby faces in utero." (page 826)

"...survival of the pregnancy, and sex of the baby." (page 1006)

Clinical Sonography: A Practical Guide

by Roger C. Sanders, Tom C. Winter

"Quickening. The time when the mother first feels the baby move-about 16 to 18 weeks." (page 92)

"It can be difficult for the clinician to tell which part of the baby is going to be delivered first. Most babies are delivered head first (cephalic or vertex presentation)." (page 93)

"Studies have shown that parents who see their baby on ultrasound undergo a sort of prenatal bonding experience..." (page 98)

"A split screen with a good abdominal circumference from each baby shows comparable growth at a glance and can document the position of both fetuses. How is baby B relative to baby A? Or C?" (page 132)

"Noise-emitting device placed on maternal abdomen to buzz or wake up baby." (page 177)

"If the baby appears to be in a resting state, there are several things the observer can do to enhance fetal activity." (page 178)

"Often the mother can tell you which positions the baby does not 'like.'" (page 179)

Ob/Gyn Sonography: An Illustrated Review

by Marie DeLange, MD Glenn A. Rouse

"If a baby is in breech position, c-section is often performed." (page 109)

Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

by Juri W. Wladimiroff, Sturla Eik-Nes

"If a mother has a temperature, her unborn child is already at risk of maldevelopment as a result of the elevated temperature." (page 31)

"Parents might even consider this their baby's first physical examination." (page 79)

Fetal Echocardiography: A Practical Guide
by Lindsey D. Allan, Andrew C. Cook, Ian C. Huggon

"...and then up towards the head end of the baby, to the inlet of the thorax." (page 7)

"It is only by understanding the relationship of the image slice to the whole baby that the operator can know if he or she is viewing a normally positioned heart..." (page 9)

Textbook of Fetal Abnormalities

by Peter Twining, Josephine M. Mchugo, David W. Pilling

"...in order to allow informed choices to be made by the parents of the unborn child." (page 273)

"The surface-rendered image gives parents the opportunity to see a 'photograph' of their unborn child. Seeing a 3D picture of the fetal face... is an unforgettable experience for parents." (page 489)

Manual of Obstetrics (Spiral Manual Series)
by Arthur T. Evans

"A feeling that the baby is 'balling up' that lasts more than 30 seconds..." (page 12)

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