The present research study has the general objective of studying the feelings, representations and expectations of pregnant women in relation to the child. In a more specific way, is intended to study aspects of maternal prenatal attachment, through the feelings that the mother has by the baby and the interaction that she establishes with him; explore the importance of representation raised by
... [Show full abstract] the mother about the pregnancy and the baby, through the graphical representation; and analyze possible expectations of pregnant women in relation to the baby and their ability to conceive and give him physical and psychological characteristics. For this purpose, has been studied a sample of 50 pregnant women in the consultation regime on the Cova da Beira Hospital Center, with a mean age of 29.9±5.91 years (between 18 and 40 years). The instruments used were the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (portuguese adaptation of Camarneiro & Justo, 2010); the Drawing of Pregnancy; and the Interview about the Pregnancy and the Expectations of Pregnant Women (Gidep, 1998). The results indicate that most of the pregnant women present strong or healthy attachment to the fetus; the drawings produced by pregnant women seem to reflect elements, hypothetically, suggestive of maternal-fetal emotional attachment, recognition of the body image, acceptance of pregnancy and fetal differentiation; and the answers of the pregnant women to the interview seem to express the existence of a maternal-fetal relationship guided by feelings and expectations of pregnant women as the sex of the baby and as to their physical and psychological characteristics.
Keywords: pregnancy; motherhood; maternal-fetal attachment; imaginary baby; drawing of pregnancy.
