Exploring the Pregnant’s Readiness for Life With a Baby

The study attempted to explore how the family roles of expectant mothers in the last months of their pregnancy change, their plans for family in postpartum, how they prepare for incoming-newborn care and development. In this phenomenological study, a semi-structured interview-form was utilized and held interviews with 17-expectant-mothers. Results revealed that the majority of the participants did not receive training in pregnancy and life with a baby and experienced changes to family roles during pregnancy, and mostly adjusted their physical environments within primary newborn care. We determined that most participants were not prepared to support the infant’s development and relied on the internet as a major resource for learning how to provide primary newborn care and support their development. The expectant mothers had worries about health, breastfeeding, and possible mental difficulties while this was health, financial issues, and ignorance for expectant fathers. We believe that training in pregnancy, delivery, basic newborn care, and supporting infant development from the very beginning of the pregnancy needs to be disseminated and turned into national-programs for expectant parents across the country.