Primiparous Women’s Experiences of Normal Vaginal Delivery in Iran: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: Childbirth is considered as the most challenging psychological event in a woman's life. It has a major effect on women’s lives with long-term positive or negative impacts. Cultural, religious, and socioeconomic differences can affect women’s perception about normal vaginal delivery (NVD) experience. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the primiparous women's perception about it.Methods: This qualitative study, with a descriptive content analysis approach, was conducted in Kashan, a city in the center of Iran. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants of the current study. Data was gathered by semi-structured interviews during 24 hours after normal vaginal birth among primiparous women. The sampling started from June to October in 2016. Interviews continued until data saturation which was achieved in the 14th interview but for assurance, it continued until the 17th one. Results: The following three main themes were extracted "immersion in stress", "pain, the essence of NVD" and "strategies for situation management". Furthermore, seven subthemes were obtained including 'loss threat’, ‘stressful context', temporary impairment in physiologic harmony, paradoxical emotions, self-management, emotional support, and spiritual support. Conclusions: This study showed that stress and pain were two highlighted issues in NVD process. Increasing women's awareness about NVD process, familiarizing the primiparous women with the simulated delivery room, accompanying these women for emotional support, and providing spiritual support can be effective in situation management to make the child delivery a pleasant and satisfying experience.

Percepción de las vías del parto de mujeres en edad reproductiva: una revisión de la literatura

“…Se identificaron 20 estudios [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] , de los cuales cuatro fueron realizados en Irán 19,26,29,35 , dos en Suecia 21,27 , dos en Israel 16,20 , dos en Ghana 22,33 , dos en Turquía 30,34 , uno en Bangladesh 25 , uno en Uganda 17 , uno en Chile 18 , uno en Brasil 23 , uno en España 24 , uno en Países Bajos 28 , uno en Pakistán 31 y uno en tres países (Egipto, Líbano y Siria) 32 .…”

“…Del total de los estudios, 11 se centraban en el parto vaginal y la cesárea 17,21,[23][24][25]27,28,30,32,34,35 , cinco solo en la cesárea 18,22,26,31,33 y cuatro solo en el parto vaginal 16,19,20,29 .…”

Effect of Hypnobirthing Training on Fear, Pain, Satisfaction Related to Birth, and Birth Outcomes: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…However, pregnant women and their partners want pregnancy to be problem-free, and the childbirth to be painless and to provide a sense of satisfaction. They also experience a combination of complex feelings, such as anxiety, fear, and excitement during this process (Khamehchian et al, 2020; Tabib et al, 2021). FOC is generally caused by the idea having an episiotomy during vaginal delivery, the thought that the chamber may tear during childbirth, and the anticipation of the pain that will be felt during labor (Bolsoy & Nurseven, 2019; O’Connell et al, 2021; Sluijs et al, 2020).…”

Primigravida Women's Fear of Childbirth and Its Effect on Their Decision Regarding Mode of Delivery

“…God has gifted humans with normal vaginal delivery from the beginning of Adam's creation, to have children for continuation of the humanity. Vaginal delivery is a spontaneous process that needs no intervention, while cesarean section (CS) is done only when natural delivery is contraindicated to save mothers and infant's health and life (1)(2) .Pregnancy is especially a personal experience that inspires a wide range of reactions that varies from very positive to negative ones due to complexity of this process.…”

“…The birth of the first child is mainly categorized as an extremely psychosocial stressful. Consequently, primigravidas are more prone to childbirth fear and may experience more adverse pregnancy outcomes than women who have given birth before (2,12) .…”