How Women Experience the Presence of their Partners at the Births of their Babies

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Abstract
This article is a phenomenological study of 40 Finnish women's experiences of their partners' presence at the births of their children. It is part of a longitudinal research program in maternal health, suffering, and care. Observations of lived events and 80 dialogic interviews were analyzed according to Colaizzi. The partners' presence could alleviate the suffering of loneliness, pain, and uncertainty during delivery and give the women strength to endure the suffering as well as share their joy. Even when women were insulted by their partners, they still preferred their partners' presence. The presence meant communion to the women and, in its deepest sense, the creating of families. The communion emanates from the partners' caring for each other and for their babies. For the women, the partners are not only support persons but also, above all, the fathers-to-be, a double and sometimes paradoxical assignment in the health care culture.