DISCUSSION OF DISCOMFORT DURING PREGNANCY
AND ULTRASOUND SCANNING EXPERIENCES IN THE ANTENATAL CLINIC
Annegrethe Nielsen, MA (communication), ph.d. (education), lecturer at University College of North Jutland, Department of Midwifery, Aalborg, Denmark, e-mail: ann@ucn.dk
METHOD
As a spin-off of a communication training project involving video recordings of antenatal consultations, the interactions between midwives and women were analyzed to see how midwives handle
complaints about discomfort and discussions of prenatal screening when these issues are brought up by the pregnant woman.
REFERENCES:
1. Bruschweiler-Stern N (2004): A Multifocal Neonatal Intervention, In Treating Parent-Infant Relationship Problems, Sameroff et al. (eds.)
2. Parr M (2009): ‘First Steps in Parenting’, In Keeping the Baby in Mind, Barlow et al.
(eds.)
3. Stern, DN (2004): The Motherhood Constellation, In Treating Parent-Infant Relationship Problems, Sameroff et al. (eds.)
4. Svanberg, PO (2009): Promoting a secure attachment through early screening and interventions, In Keeping the Baby in Mind, Barlow et al. (eds.)
THE ANTENATAL HEALTHCARE SERVICE IN DENMARK
A pregnant woman is offered a number of (4-7) prenatal consultations with a midwife during pregnancy. The goals are to monitor and advise the pregnant woman and her family throughout pregnancy in order to prevent threads to the health of the baby and the mother-to-be and to create an
informative and secure environment for the family to make the psychosocial adjustments related to parenthood which is called for during this time.
In order to do so the midwife must handle communication related to psychological and social conditions as well as physiological.
A critical analysis of some of the conditions for doing this efficiently under the current circumstances is the topic of this project.
CONCLUSION AND PERSPECTIVES
There seems to be an unexploited potential in the antenatal clinical communication for midwives to explore and discuss the psychological and social implications of the transformation to motherhood undertaken by the pregnant women.
By obtaining an interested attitude towards complaints of benign discomfort and by recognizing the significance of the ultrasound experience, the midwife can enhance her support of the woman in her psychological development during pregnancy.
How should midwives prepare themselves for this challenge? What seems to be needed is:
• Patience
• Knowledge about the tasks involved in helping the psychological process during pregnancy
• Good communication skills to be able to interact with the woman and family in an effective and empathic manner
HANDLING OF COMPLAINTS OF DISCOMFORT IN THE ANTENATAL CLINIC
Midwives mainly look for possible pathological conditions when communicating about discomfort, and the midwives tend to minimize the significance of women’s complains of discomfort during pregnancy when these are believed not to be signs of pathological conditions.
The midwives have a role of trying to advocate birth being a natural life process and want to encourage the women to endure the pregnancy by discouraging what is considered an excessive vigilance in the pregnant woman towards the risks of pregnancy.
But as stated by Stern (3) is this vigilance an important part of the psychological pregnancy and thereby preparation for motherhood. By experiencing the first impacts of the fact of pregnancy and parenthood on her daily life the woman enters a mental state of reflection and preparation for establishing a sound
relationship to her baby. In this process support and involvement by professionals can play an important positive role (2,3,4).
DISCUSSING ULTRASOUND
SCANNING IN THE ANTENATAL CLINIC
When the result of the ultrasound scanning reveals nothing abnormal many pregnant women and their families consider the scanning experience a
significant incident in pregnancy. Midwives tend to decline invitations to discuss parents scanning experiences and do not encourage the parents to show pictures of their unborn.
The midwives focus on ultrasound scanning as being risk oriented and are afraid that focus on the scanning experience interfere with a view of
pregnancy and birth being natural life processes.
But it is well known (1) that as well as feeling the movement of her unborn baby, the ultrasound experience and the visual representation of the baby can for some women be an important contributor to maternal preoccupation
during pregnancy and thus assist the psychological pregnancy as best as
possible. In this process the professional’s recognition of the representation of the baby can be supportive.
OF NORTHERN DENMAR K
