Table 1.

Theme of reaction upon hearing the autopsy results

Subthemes	Categories	Narratives	n (%)
Peace of mind	Relief	‘It made me feel at peace.’	4 (22.2)
Hope		‘We took the positive out of it, which is that our baby was completely normally formed, it was only the lungs that were underdeveloped.’
		‘It brought me some peace and gave me hope that I still can carry a baby full term.’	2 (11.1)
Normal Blame	Alleviated feelings of blame	‘My first question to the professor when he phoned me with the results was if I will be able to fall pregnant again.’
		‘I acted normal. I can’t remember the results anymore.’	2 (11.1)
		‘I was blaming myself throughout the first few weeks, but the autopsy really just explained to me what really happened, things that weren’t spoken to me when I left the hospital.’	5 (27.8)
Anger	Towards partner	‘I blamed myself but now I feel more at peace.’
		‘They told me I had an infection and my baby passed away from this. I was very angry towards my partner.’	1 (5.6)
Unable to comprehend	Struggling to understand	‘I didn’t understand the results so well.’	1 (5.6)
No results yet	Non-acknowledgement of feelings	‘I haven’t received any written results yet and feel it is my right to have these results.’	3 (16.7)