Baby E. R. : living the possibility of losing your newborn

Abstract

The aim of this phenomenological study was to represent an attempt to give a detailed description of the lived experiences of five couples who in the past five years have had their newborn child admitted to the Special Care Baby Unit, at St. Luke's Hospital. It was hypothesized that this is a traumatic experience for the parents both individually as a mother and father and as a couple. Through semi-structured interviews, the five couples spoke about what they had to go through and what happened from the moment they found out about their child's critical condition, to the time of his/her recovery. The data gathered was analyzed and findings revealed common issues.