To Contain the Suffering of Keeping the Baby Gestation: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Women with Hospitalized Tocolysis

Background: Modern medical care for women with highrisk pregnancy to prevent preterm birth is termed hospitalized tocolysis. The medical care and clinical treatments include tocolytic administration, uterine contractions monitoring and restricted bed rest to prolong gestation and prevent premature birth.
Methods: The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Taiwanese women who underwent hospitalized tocolysis, the suffering they endured and their coping strategies within the context of modern medical technology. This research adopted an interpretive phenomenology research design and used in-depth interviews to gain narrative information from ten women who had undergone hospitalized tocolysis in a teaching hospital in the Taipei area.
Major findings: Three major themes were identified: suffering associated with hospitalized tocolysis, self-directed actions of tocolysis, and self-soothing to relieve their suffering. Conclusions: The women with high-risk pregnancy and hospitalized tocolysis likely experienced the body as an object who underwent the surveillance and control of a modern medical system, they showed the perseverance of being a mother and then they developed self-care techniques to keep themselves and their unborn babies well.