Expectations and Experiences of Primiparous Women Who Delivered at Federal Medical Center, Asaba, Delta State

This is a qualitative study that determined the expectations and experiences of primiparous women who deliver at Federal Medical Centre, Asaba. A sample of 20 women participated in the study. Instrument for data collection was researchers’ structured interview matrix that was validated and tested for internal consistency. Data were collected through face to face in depth interview. Data collected for the study were coded based on similarities and differences in the responses of the women and results were presented in tables with frequencies and percentage distributions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for the analysis using IBM SPSS-version 23. Findings from the study showed that majority of the primiparous women who delivered at FMC Asaba had expectations before childbirth such as clean and well equipped hospital, qualified health personnel (90%), and supportive midwives. Their experiences during childbirth included having a clean environment with modernized equipment, qualified and supportive Midwives on ground to care for them etc. All the primiparous women (100%) disclosed that the hospital bill did not match their expectations as it was higher than expected for government health institution. The study revealed that there is no correlation between expectations and experiences of primiparous women as shown by a correlation coefficient of 0.397. The researchers recommended that there should be a birthing environment with the health care providers that are competent, compassionate and sneral wellbeing of a woman at childbirth.