Francesca Rosati*, Enrico Gasp
Abstract
It is a work that explores the world that is created in a family, for the mother in particular, when, instead of the expected natural childbirth, the preterm birth of a child takes place. An event that is often experienced as disappointing and dramatic. This maternal experience, in most cases, is configured as a period of crisis, limited in time, characterized by a certain mental and behavioral imbalance. Faced with a birth of a premature child, the woman mostly becomes a fragile mother, disoriented and particularly vulnerable, dominated by anxiety of death and feelings of guilt. A great contribution to the overcoming of this agonizing and painful experience of the woman, who gives birth to a child before the end of the gestational age, is given by the humanization processes that are applied in the Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, which, beyond the stabilization of vital functions, certainly of priority importance, take into account the relational needs of the newborn and of his parents and favor their psycoemotional bond, appropriately utilizing the resources of the technology and reducing as much as possible the inconveniences and disadvantages associated with the hospitalization.