Abstract
The death of a child before birth (or fetal death) represents a great loss for parents and families, constituting a traumatizing, difficult-to-forget, and feared event during the next pregnancy. The complications of the pregnancy jeopardize the dreams and expectations of the parents, who have pinned all their hopes on the birth of their child. Therefore, our objective was to study how women experience and face the situation of pregnancy loss based on the investigation of its cognitive (perceptions and meanings) and emotional (feeling) aspects. We took a sample of 11 women being cared for in conjunct housing in a public maternity ward located in Rio de Janeiro. Verbal reports collected were analyzed according to Bardin’s methodology of content analysis. It was observed that the moment of fetal death is marked among the women by reactions of shock and denial, followed by a state of depressed mood, lack of motivation, low self-esteem, and fear of further losses. We discuss how the support of the family and a healthcare team are essential to the recovery from the experience of pregnancy loss.
Maternity; Grief; Stillbirth; Psychology