The medical and emotional experiences of first-time mothers who gave birth in a selected private hospital in Iloilo City, Philippines in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study investigates the understanding of the medical and emotional experiences of first-time mothers giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic in a selected private hospital in Iloilo City, Philippines. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six first-time mothers residing in Iloilo City, Philippines that gave birth in a selected private hospital in Iloilo City amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using descriptive phenomenological analysis, a qualitative method. The main themes were how they viewed the COVID-19 pandemic and giving birth during it, as well as their medical and emotional experiences, how they coped with the circumstance, and what they learned from it. The findings of this study reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic influenced how participants felt about giving birth during the pandemic and that the protective measures established during the pandemic heightened first-time mothers' concerns. When in childbirth, it was revealed that first-time mothers were primarily able to focus on the extreme pain of delivery while disregarding other unnecessary information.