Marie
Age at interview: 41
Marie was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of the interview and 41 years old, and lives with her partner and 3-year-old child. She is happy that she feels much better in this second pregnancy. Even though she still fears the pain during the delivery as she also did with the first. During her first pregnancy Marie worried extensively about the pain she might experience during the delivery. During her delivery she experienced a moment when she felt she could not continue anymore and would have liked more support from healthcare staff to reassure her that everything would be fine. After her delivery, when she started thinking about the pain of the delivery, she became anxious and cried frequently. It was helpful that she was able to speak with the doula after the delivery to understand what happened. After almost a year later she realized that she needed some counseling to help process this experience of pain. Marie feels that this also helped her to prevent more feelings of trauma at the one-year anniversary of the birth of her child.