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Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate fathers’ experiences of being present at an unplanned birth outside a maternity facility. Materials and Methods This was a qualitative interview study with 12 fathers from six of Norway’s eleven counties. All had been present at an unplanned out-of-hospital birth in 2015–2020. Data were analyzed using systematic text condensation. Results The data analysis resulted in four themes. The first theme described the fathers’ stress and worry and how they managed to keep a cool head and think rationally in a totally unprepared situation. The second theme described the fathers’ need for help and the reassuring feeling provided by contact with health professionals. The third theme described how the birth increased the father’s attachment to his partner and baby, while the fourth theme described fathers’ feelings of exclusion and their reactions following the birth. Conclusion Fathers’ perceived lack of expertise and their fear of complications led to stress, worry and anxiety, but support from health personnel provided reassurance and control. Many fathers experienced mastery, pride and joy after the birth, but when arriving at hospital, they felt rejected and wished that maternity care staff had approached them to talk about the experience.

Our aim with this descriptive phenomenological study was to identify and describe the essential meaning structure in the experience of postpartum depression (PPD). We interviewed four women diagnosed with major depression and analyzed the data with Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method. Our analysis revealed two essential meaning structures of PPD. The first structure describes the mother as thrown into a looming, dangerous world, coupled with a restricted, heavy body that hindered her attunement to her baby. Tormented by anxiety, guilt and shame, she tried to deal with her pain by analytical reflection and social isolation. The second structure describes sudden lapses into intense feelings of alienation from the self, the baby, and from the social and material world. With a distorted primordial self-awareness, the mother no longer felt that she existed as herself in the world. We reflect on these findings using the insights of Fuchs, Van den Berg, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty.

Purpose: New mothers may question the nature of their motherly love after the birth. Most mothers find that feelings of affection come within a week from birth. However, some mothers are still struggling with this after many months. Many studies place strong emphasis on the importance of maternal affection for the development of the child. Few studies look into mothers’ experiences when maternal affection or love remains a struggle. Method:We present an interpretative synthesis based on a systematic analysis of five qualitative studies that report findings related to mothers’ stated inability to exhibit maternal affection. Result:In answer to our question “what characterizes the experiences of women who struggle with, or are unable to exhibit, maternal affection after birth”, we identified the uncertainty involved in imagining the unborn child, birth and maternal future, birth as a disillusionment, and the ensuing process of decreasing agency and increasing alienation. Especially a traumatic birth may lead to disillusionment. Conclusion: Health care workers and research can support a mother’s positive resolution of her struggle by promoting realistic and more open expectations for maternal affection as well as her sense of agency and ownership during birth and the early mother–child relationship.