Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the midwife and the parents are placed in the room is that it is impossible
for them to watch each other's facial expressions when looking on the screen
placed in front of them.
After this, the midwife starts to perform the ultrasound examination with
her attention directed towards the information she gets from the image on
the screen. Lena and Lennart stay silent to begin with and look at the images
of the expected baby that appear on their screen, which may be seen as
accepting the form of interaction that the midwife has initiated. After a while
Lena asks Lennart in a quiet voice if he can see what it is that is being shown
on the screen, but he continues to stay silent and does not answer. They look
at the screen in silence for a moment, while the midwife continues to carry
out her tasks. Lena then states that 'one can see the heart anyway'. So, at
the same time as the midwife is carrying out her tasks, the parents are busy
looking at the screen.
When the midwife carries out this fi rst assessment the parents typically
remain silent. However, in some cases the parents start to talk between
themselves about what they see on the screen, while the midwife carries
out the fi rst check-up. This happens for example during the ultrasound
examination of Monika and Morgan. Morgan has two children previously,
and now they are expecting their fi rst baby together. Before this examination,
Monika has had one ultrasound scan as part of medical examination in the
eighth gestational week.
Example 2
MIDWIFE:
Then I'll do like this now fi rst I'll look myself and measure and do
what I am supposed to do (M
ONIKA
: yeah) and then I'll show you some
more later
MONIKA:
Uhm
MORGAN:
Absolutely
MONIKA:
This is fun [quietly]
MORGAN:
Yeah I think so too actually [quietly]
[the midwife scans for six seconds]
MONIKA:
Oh dear, look
,
a leg, what fun [quietly]
MORGAN:
What did you say? [quietly]
MONIKA:
Oh dear this is a leg, I think, and then an arm to the left now it
disappeared
MORGAN:
So it's moving [laughter] it's moving the whole time
MONIKA:
Apparently
MIDWIFE:
Uhum you can't catch up
MORGAN:
There, there, there was a head there, huh?
MIDWIFE:
[laughter].
Here, the parents talk to each other quietly, and they do not turn to the
midwife but to each other for a confi rmation of their interpretation of the
