Caring for a chronically ill infant: a paradigm case of maternal rehearsal in the neonatal intensive care unit.

This study examines a mother's perspective of caring for a chronically ill infant coming home from the neonatal intensive care unit. Understanding the meaning of the situation for the parent can foster excellence in clinical practice that is based on understanding derived from descriptions of their experience. This paper presents a paradigm case extracted from a larger phenomenological study that is examining the high-risk perinatal experience. Hermeneutic methods used for analysis led to the discovery of five meanings in the experience for the parent: (a) uncertainty; (b) experiencing the baby as powerful; (c) striving to gain acceptance from the baby; (d) blurred territory in taking up the practices of care; and (e) being alone and vulnerable.