Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to clarify the process of how women perceived the experience of giving birth after maternal transport.
Methods
The study participants were 5 women, approximately one month after childbirth, who had experienced maternal transport in 2 perinatal care facilities. Semi-constitutive interviews were conducted with the participants and data was collected. The data obtained was qualitatively described and analyzed.
Results
From the stories of the 5 women, the results of analysis of the perception process in the experience of childbirth after maternal transport extracted 6 categories and 15 corresponding sub-categories.
Women who gave birth after maternal transport could do nothing but "leave it to the medical staff" when she was feeling anxiety for herself and her child due to unexpected circumstances and treatment from stressed medical staff. The desire to escape from a situation where independent decisions could not be made was "an interpretation of the present situation based on the medical staff's explanations and a past experience". However, by grasping the state of affairs, they understood that it was impossible to return to the situation that they were hoping for and therefore there was only the option of "accepting an unescapable situation". The women used "decision-making that puts the child first" discerning that it was their mission to prolong the pregnancy for as long as possible to ensure that appropriate medical care was available immediately following the birth. After birth, they were "wavering in the unifying experience of childbirth" and interpreting the result of having chosen alternative methods of pregnancy and childbirth that differed from what they had themselves imagined as something worthwhile, and modifying the discrepancies between ideal and reality. The women were "depending on the people around them" such as family, patients in the same ward and medical staff to unify the sense and acceptance of the state of affairs, decisions and the experience of childbirth.
Conclusion
Women who have given birth through maternal transport need support from those around them so that they can understand the circumstances in order to make a reconstruction of the sequence of events surrounding the birth as their own experience. Further, the necessity of a connection in order for the women themselves to give meaning to the situation where they had no other option but to choose an alternative method was suggested.
