Anthropology of pregnancy, labour and post-labour in the city of Elche

Abstract

The present study was prepared in Elche, in the first part of 1997. The aim was to discover what had been the attitudes towards pregnancy, labour and post-labour of women who had been mothers twenty years earlier. 30 samples were analysed, covering ages between 48 and 87 (average 66.4 years old). The average of child-births was 4.6 and the socio-cultural level was rather low. More than half of the sample mothers were from the outskirts of Elche but had been living in the area for more than 46 years. The method used was a semi-structured interview, with a questionaire already validated. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed. The conclusions were: the sample women had in common a great number of pregnancies. For them all maternity was very important. Most of them were simply house-wives whose main task was «house-work» and perhaps incidentally they helped their husbands. Most of them have given birth at home although they nowadays feel it is safer to give birth in hospitals. Their present feeling is that mothers should not have the number of children they had had, and time between pregnancies should have been longer. They had not received sanitary or health control in their pregnancies. Their reference was always the midwife as the professional in charge of their labour and post-labour, as well as to care for the baby during that period. They neither believe in astrological influence towards the vital process nor do they show faith in religious symbols in the same way.

Keywords

• Embarazo
• Parto
• Puerperio
• Antropología
• Entrevistas
• Elche