Abstract

Through the use of ontological hermeneutics, this investigation undertook to make intelligible, comprehensible, and understandable the meaning of being in preterm labor from the perspective of eight women who had previously lived the experience. The interpretation of meaning was achieved through a process of dialogue with and reflection on textually transcribed narrative stories gathered through in-depth unstructured conversations with eight voluntary participants who had at least one experience of preterm labor prior to our meeting. ;Their stories revealed that this contextually grounded life event embodied a process, common issues, and an emotional structure all of which were woven into a complex tapestry of being pregnant and in preterm labor. The process of being in preterm labor which was explicated in the form of shared practices brought a level of intelligibility to this experience. Through this process, which included living in the dark, gaining control, spending time, and looking to the future, the women came to know and understand the epistemology of being in preterm labor. ;The women in this inquiry also revealed issues which were common to the preterm labor experience. These issues lent a sense of comprehensibility to the experience of preterm labor and included learning to understand body signals, buying time, feeling robbed, and developing a relationship with their unborn child. ;Understanding the essential nature of this lived event necessitated spending time in the center of the pathos. Each participant described the emotionality of being in preterm labor using words and phrases such as feeling robbed and out of control, feeling like a baby holder, and like being put in a bag and shaken up. For these women, being in preterm labor meant existing as an uncertain cliff dweller charged with the burden of buying another day. ;In interpreting the meaning of this lived event, I took the notion of cliff dwelling and explored the essential nature of being pregnant and in preterm labor. This exploration led me to think about how preterm labor changes the "safe" nature of the uterus as a fetal dwelling, creating an unavoidable dilemma: these women cannot direct the outcome of this experience because it is not in their control. These women in preterm labor hang in the divide between hope and fear. They hope for the life of their not-yet-born; they fear the baby's death and ultimately having empty arms. Their words suggested to me that they were uncertain cliff dwellers who hoped for a healthy baby, who feared having empty arms, and who had to wait for whatever would happen to happen