Removing babies from mothers at birth: Midwives' experiences

Abstract

It is evident from a review of the literature that looking after the psychological and emotional needs of women who have their baby removed at birth is a vital part of midwifery care in the childbirth continuum. This review reports on the experiences of midwives who have provided care and emotional support to mothers who have had their baby removed at birth and the challenges they have encountered from doing so. BNI, CINAHL, EMBASE, Google Scholar, Maternity and Infant Care and PsycInfo were searched for articles published until January 2014 and findings suggest that providing care and emotional support to women who have had their babies removed at birth remains one of the most challenging aspects of contemporary midwifery practice. It is anticipated that this study will raise awareness of the challenges associated with providing care and emotional support for women whose babies have been removed at birth and contribute to the evidence base for best practice.

Introduksjon

“…En uforberedt separasjon like etter fødsel er dramatisk og traumatisk for foreldre og er også vanskelig for involverte profesjonelle. Hendelsen kommer ofte brått på og oppleves etisk, faglig og personlig krevende (Marsh, Robinson, Leamon & Shawe, 2014). Ikke sjelden oppstår spenninger mellom samarbeidsparter som må løses.…”

Verdimøter som organisert læringsprosjekt

“…Jordmødre som har deltatt i akutt omsorgsovertakelse ved fødsel, rapporter misnøye med arbeidet, sinne, skyldfølelse, frustrasjon og tanker om å gi opp sitt yrke (Marsh et al, 2014). Jordmødre blir involvert i handlinger som oppleves i strid med deres faglige oppgave om å gi pleie og omsorg, og oppfølgingen av foreldre etterpå oppleves som mangelfull (Everitt, Fenwick & Homer, 2015).…”

Involvement in midwifery education: Experiences from a service user and carer partnership

“…One approach has been to work in partnership with people who are experts by experience to share their expertise through digital stories, podcasts, audio recordings and short films (available on our website www.X ). One example in midwifery drew on the work of a midwife and researcher who had conducted a research study using photo-elicitation alongside narrative inquiry to explore mothers' experiences of having a child removed at birth (Marsh 2014(Marsh , 2015(Marsh , 2016. We worked in collaboration with the researcher and two students from the Faculty of Media and Communication (a producer and editor) to combine the stories and the images the mothers shared and create a digital story (a series of images with an audio narrative).…”