Parents' needs to talk about their experiences of childbirth

The purpose was to describe parents' experiences of childbirth and their views about having a postpartum talk. Questionnaires were distributed to parents (350 mothers and 343 fathers) in maternity wards in one hospital in Stockholm during a 4-week period in 1999. Questionnaires from 251 mothers and 235 fathers were analysed. Preparation for childbirth, care received during delivery, and experiences of labour and delivery are described and analysed against whether a postpartum talk, was wanted or not. Comparisons between first-time mothers/fathers and multiple-time mothers/fathers were made. The results show that 66% of first-time mothers, 74% of multiple-time mothers, 58% of first-time fathers, and 30% of multiple-time fathers wanted to talk about the delivery. The issues, which the parents considered should be included in such a postpartum talk were the birth process, normal/complicated delivery, feelings of failure, pain and pain relief. Parents mainly wanted to talk to the midwife who delivered the woman and the best time for the postpartum talk seems to be at the maternity ward before discharge.