A qualitative study of women's feelings about future childbirth: dread and delight

There is extensive knowledge about expectations of and thoughts about childbirth among women who have not given birth. When it comes to women who have given birth to at least 1 child, on the other hand, knowledge about their expectations for a future birth is limited. The purpose of this study is thus to describe the emotions of this group concerning future childbirth.

Participants were 908 women in Sweden who had given birth to at least 1 child. This study is based on responses to the following request in the questionnaire sent out to women 4 to 7 years after they had given birth vaginally: "Please describe your feelings when you think about giving birth in the future."

One-third of the women responded that they were mostly frightened of future childbirth, while the remaining two-thirds had mostly positive feelings. The qualitative analysis resulted in 3 categories and 8 subcategories and an overall theme: a mixture of dread and delight. Even with negative feelings/fears about future childbirth, many women want to give birth to more children.

Despite experiences of severe pain or complications during a previous birth, many women nonetheless looked forward to future childbirth, primarily since they were motivated by having another child and encouraged by having been given good support by the midwife.