Death of the wished-for child: A case study

Abstract Based on a 5-year study of 15 mothers who gave birth to a stillborn or who lost their baby in the first 24 hours of life, this is a preliminary report of ways women, and the significant people around them, cope with loss of their wished-for child, and occasions of vulnerability when the mother's abilities to cope seem most fragile. It seems that there is a process by which mothers try to move from disorientation to orientation, which, for the mothers of this study, were thwarted at three points: (1) when trying to confirm, perceptually, whom they had lost; (2) when reaching out to others for emotional support; and (3) when trying to test their feelings against the perceptions of others. When thwarted in their process of reorientation they found themselves resorting to bizarre behavior in attempts to avoid chronic disorientation. One case from the study is presented as an example.