ABSTRACT

We are all born and we all have a conception and birth story. Whilst quantitative research highlights the impact of conception and birth on health outcomes, little is known about how people make sense of their own conception and birth stories. 10 participants took part in a qualitative interview to explore their conception and birth stories and how they have made sense of them. Thematic analysis described three major themes relating to; i) “shaping their sense of self” including feelings of “luck”, an appreciation for being alive and changes to their self-identity; ii) “changing family relationships”, and how their stories had influenced their views of parents and siblings; iii) “feelings about becoming a parent in the future” including their expectations of their own future births and conception experiences. Transcending these themes was the notion of “valence of the story” which illustrated that how a story was told and whether this was with humour or fear could change the impact of this story. Conception and birth stories may become ingrained into family narratives but they are also ingrained into who we become and even negative events can be ingrained in a more positive way if told with humour rather than fear.

摘要

我们都出生了，我们都有一个受孕和出生的故事。虽然定量研究强调了受孕和分娩对健康结果的影响，但人们对人们如何理解自己的受孕和分娩故事知之甚少。10 名参与者参加了定性访谈，以探索他们的受孕和出生故事以及他们是如何理解这些故事的。主题分析描述了三个主要主题：i) “塑造他们的自我意识”，包括“幸运”的感觉、对活着的欣赏和自我认同的改变；ii) “改变家庭关系”，以及他们的故事如何影响他们对父母和兄弟姐妹的看法；iii) “未来成为父母的感受”，包括他们对自己未来出生和受孕经历的期望。超越这些主题的是“故事的价值”的概念，它说明了一个故事是如何被讲述的，无论是幽默还是恐惧，都可以改变这个故事的影响。受孕和出生的故事可能会根深蒂固地融入家庭叙事中，但它们也根深蒂固于我们的身份，如果以幽默而不是恐惧的方式讲述，即使是负面事件也可以以更积极的方式根深蒂固。