Embarazo, parto y crianza rural en La Palma, Canarias, a mediados del siglo XX

Resumo

The predominant current hospital care for pregnancy and childbirth has made us forget the particularities of giving birth at home, specially in rural areas. The purpose of this biographical story was to try to understand the process of pregnancy, birth and childrearing in a rural environment in La Palma, Canary Islands, in the mid-twentieth century from the perspective of the women themselves. Catalina offered her testimony, who was born and saw others been born in rural areas of the island. Her current work as a nursing assistant in a delivery room provides firsthand information about the differences between hospital and home deliveries. Four categories emerged from the qualitative analysis of the semistructured in-depth-interview: the living conditions at that time, care during pregnancy, birth and childrearing, her point of view of todays´ lifestyle and her cultural experience with a sahrawi foster child.