This article is a part of a Master's Thesis completed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2006. The aim was to analyze conceptions of care in obstetric nursing, referencing the imaginary of a group of twelve nurses about their care practices. The sociopoetic method and living technique was used, with content analysis applied in order to analyze the data. The results showed two categories - Obstetric Nursing Care as a Source of Expansion and Obstetrical Nursing Care as a Source of Retraction, whose contents revealed a conception of obstetric nursing care technology as relational. From reception and establishing a relationship, obstetric nurses, in a subject-subject perspective, build care with women in an integral approach. We conclude that conceived technologies are structured knowledge, whose application has intentionality and justification, thus characterizing them as technological innovation.
Obstetrical nursing; Midwives; Prenatal care; Parturition; Technology