Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
again shifting to a professional approach when she informs the parents-to-be
about the next examination at the ante-natal clinic.
In this fashion normality is fi nally established and communicated in this
last phase of the examination. The midwife tells the parents about her results
of the measurements, by presenting the estimated date of delivery, sometimes
combined with comments about the image on the screen, such as 'it looks
fi ne' (albeit sometimes without any explicit reference to normality at all).
Here, the clinical evaluation of the baby-to-be and the pregnancy is again
accompanied by a biographical contextualization of the ultrasound image of
the baby, as the midwife translates the image to an everyday perspective and
hands over a paper copy, a photo, of the expected baby to the parents. In this
last phase of the examination, as well as in the previous one, a change occurs
as the image is increasingly being interpreted within a biographical context.
Management of potential deviance
Sometimes, an unexpected outcome can create a potential problem during
the ultrasound examination. In these situations, the parties have to manage
this potential problem in the interaction. Parents-to-be probably always feel
some kind of worry that something might be wrong with the baby they are
expecting. These worries can be latent in the interaction during the whole
ultrasound scan. In the ultrasound examinations that I observed in this study,
no serious deviancies were identifi ed. In one case, however, the midwife
did get a measurement that did not fi t with what was expected. This turned
out to have completely different consequences for the two parties. To the
midwife it meant that she has to check this measurement once again, even
if it did not have any serious clinical consequences. To the parents, on the
other hand, their worries were aroused when the midwife fi rst told them
about the result as a not-normal measurement.
Renate and Rikard, who are expecting their second baby, are having
their fi rst ultrasound scan in this pregnancy. In the same way as in the other
cases, the midwife in the initial phrase speaks about how she will arrange the
examination. During the measurement phase, she continues to conduct her
check-up at the same time as she asks the parents about the former estimated
date of delivery. She continues with her tasks and talks about how she now
measures the baby's thighs, and points out both legs.
Example 15
MIDWIFE:
It's the thigh that I want to get hold of, now then (…) there you
can see both legs how they reach out like this
RIKARD:
From the back then, or from the side?
MIDWIFE:
Not quite, right now you can see, then in that corner from the
side
[the midwife scans for nine seconds]
