[The lived experience of secondipara in childbirth]

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore-the lived experience of secondipara and to understand the coping behavior dealing with these situations during the childbirth period. The researcher selected ten subjects by purposive sampling. During the course of labor, delivery and postpartum, the researcher served as a care-giver and nurse-participant observer. Data were collected by conducting one-hour in-depth interview, 8-24 hours after delivery. The verbal and non-verbal behavior expressed by the secondipara during interview were then recorded in a narrative process-recording. By means of content analysis, the verbal behavior of subjects was systematically analyzed and categorized. The results show that the lived experience of the secondipara can be categorized as follows: (1) sense of uncertainty about childbirth conditions; (2) threat to the sense of body boundary intactness; (3) trapped within bodily gird due to labor pain; (4) on the brink of losing control of body functions; (5) sense of mis-match about childbirth process; (6) achieving life satisfaction; (7) sense of becoming a new self. The coping behaviors expressed by these women can be categorized as follows: (1) trying to confirm and manage their own childbirth conditions; (2) striving to improve the process of labor and delivery; (3) engaging in equipping and maintaining self; (4) sticking it out by self-empowerment; (5) endeavoring to keep a sense of control; (6) establishing knowledge about the health condition of the newborn; (7) reviewing and integrating childbirth experience into self as a secondipara mother. The result of this study can be used as new knowledge and references for nurses in their actual care of women who are becoming mothers a second time.