The Unborn within the Self: Women’s Experiences of Pregnancy

Abstract

This chapter brings the maternal body back in to view by focusing on the embodied experiences of pregnancy. To do so, I draw first on feminist sociological and philosophical inquiries into the ontology of pregnant embodiment and then on empirical research that has sought to elicit women’s experiences of pregnancy and their concepts of the unborn growing within them. The chapter discusses the ambiguities and ambivalences of pregnancy and how women may struggle with coming to terms with harbouring another body within their own. The role of imaging technologies in contributing to women’s experiences of their unborn is reviewed, as are the complexities of the concept of the maternal-foetal ‘bond’.