Poster Presentation
Monday, November 5, 2007
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Monday, November 5, 2007
1:45 PM - 3:00 PM
Chiasm: The lived body experience of pregnancy
Nancy Kotkowski Stein, BA, MSN, RN, Nursing Department, Saint Joseph College, Bethlehem, CT, USA
| Learning Objective #1: indentify 2-3 themes associated with prenatal mother/infant interrelatedness |
| Learning Objective #2: describe the comlexity of interaction between mother and infant beginning early in pregnancy |
This thesis was a phenomenological study of the lived body experience of pregnancy. A convenience sample of five women was used. The women were asked the question: what is or was your experience of pregnancy? During the analysis of the texts of the interviews, the following themes emerge about the experience of pregnancy: Experiencing Body Astonishment, Awakening to a New Depth of Feelings about Oneself, Recognizing the Other, and Engaging One Another. The complete phenomenological analysis revealed that the experience of pregnancy is chiasmic, meaning the intertwining of two in relationship, a concept introduced by Merleau-Ponty. For the study participants, the shared body experience of mother and unborn child affected the being of each other. The complexity of this interaction was as unique as each human being.