TABLE 4.
Negative Pregnancy Effects: Examples of Responses
| Primigravid Mothers (n = 50) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Subcategories | Responses (%)* | Examples |
| Pregnancy symptoms | 55 | “I did not like having morning sickness, or being pregnant in the summer.” |
| “I felt awkward.” | ||
| Role challenges | 32 | “I worry if I will be a good mother.” |
| “I worry about balance of work and motherhood.” | ||
| Family adjustment | 11 | “Concerns about spouse adjusting to a new baby.” |
| “I wonder how we will manage new family responsibilities.” | ||
| Pregnancy adjustment | 2 | “I do not feel like doing things I did before I was pregnant.” |
| “The inconvenience of hours of prenatal appointments.” | ||
| Multigravid Mothers (n = 50) | ||
| Subcategories | Responses (%) | Examples |
| Pregnancy symptoms | 48 | “I was much more tired.” |
| “I did not sleep well at night.” | ||
| Role challenges | 30 | “How will I balance being a wife and a mother to a second child?” |
| “How will I adjust to returning to work with two children?” | ||
| Family adjustment | 19 | “Worry that our older child will not adjust to the new baby.” |
| “How will I take care of three children?” | ||
| Pregnancy adjustment | 3 | “Finding good childcare.” |
| “I am tired of being pregnant;” | ||
Indicates the percentage of the women in each group who replied to the open-ended questions with a response conceptually matching this category (Morse & Field, 1995).