Childbirth Interview

Student’s Name
First Names of persons interviewed
Date of interview

Directions: Interview an individual or couple who has gone through the childbirth experience within the last two years. Ask the person, or couple to describe their personal experience in detail. Be sure to cover the complete prenatal, birthing, and postpartum period with the newborn. Type the questions that are in bold type. Answer all the questions plus add your own. This assignment must be typed, using 12 font,1.5 spacing or double spaced and stapled with the evaluation form on top. Points will be deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and lack of complete sentences. Late assignments will be deducted 5  points and must be turned in the following week to receive credit. Make sure you include your hand written notes for this interview. More information will be given in class.

Questions:

1. Description of the first, second and third trimesters.
How was her pregnancy confirmed?
How did she feel about being pregnant?
Did she experience any discomforts during the entire nine months of the pregnancy?  Every woman experiences some discomforts. 

2. Describe her prenatal care?
How often did she visit the health care provider? There is a routine that is followed.
What kinds of medical procedures were used? (AFP, ultrasound, Amniocentesis,urine tests and many others.)  Ask her what happened when she visited the doctor or midwife.
Was the medical personal helpful in answering her questions? Explain this.
Were you able to communicate your needs and concerns to her health care providers?  Please do not answer with a yes, no.  Find out more details.

3.Did she decide on any particular birth method such as Lamaze, Bradley, or underwater?  Describe this.  If not what did she chose and why.

4 Did she read any books during the pregnancy to help her understand what was going to happened during labor and delivery?  Name some.  (If this was her second or third pregnancy what books did she read for the first)?

5. Did she attend any childbirth classes to help prepare for the birth? If yes, where, when, and how many? If no why not?
Did these classes help prepare her for the birth of her child?  If she did not attend a class ask her why not. Be specific

6. When and where did her labor start?
How long did it last?

7. Describe her labor and birth birth in full detail.
What did the woman's partner(husband) do to help her relax? When did she arrive at the hospital?
How far dilated was she?
Was the father of the baby present for the event? If so how did he help her through the labor and delivery? If not who helped her? How? Were any other family members present? Did they help her during labor? Who assisted with the delivery? What interventions were used during the labor?  This will include routine fetal monitoring etc.  What did they do to help the new mother? Did she feel the medical staff met her needs? What did they do to help her during the labor and delivery? Did she feel prepared for this event?  Did she receive medication during the labor? What kind? Using these answers write a detailed description of the entire labor and delivery process from beginning to the end. This will cover at least a full page even if it was a cesarean birth.

8. Describe the infant's behavior after the birth.What assessments were performed on the infant. This includes such things as weight, length, shots, reflexes etc.
What sounds did the baby make after the birth?
What was the Apgar score? If the infant was born here or in an other country please describe what an Apgar score is to the mother   Describe this in your paper. The information is found in your textbook and on the internet.
When did they clean the baby, present it to the mother?  How did she feed it and bond with her newborn?

9.Describe the infant's behavior and appearances after the birth.

What assessments were conducted on the infant?
Was she able to hold and nurse her baby?
What happened to her and the baby during the next few hours after the birth?
Did the baby stay with the parents in the same room and did they have some alone time together?
Describe how the couple bonded with each other and interacted with their new family member.
Did she feel the nursing staff helped her to adjust to taking care of her new infant? How?
How long did she stay in the hospital before going home?
Was she prepared for going home? Did she have a support system to help her?

10 Describe how you felt while interviewing this couple?
What new information did you learn from this interview?
How has this changed your thinking about having a baby?
Do you have some questions that you would like to have answered?

Make sure you turn in your hand written notes.

Staple the evaluation sheet on top of your typed paper.  The notes go at the end.