Question

A nurse midwife is assisting a patient to deliver a full-term baby. The patient is firmly committed to natural childbirth and has attended each natural childbirth class in preparation for labor and delivery. A cesarean delivery becomes necessary when her fetus displays signs of distress. Inconsolable, the patient cries and calls herself a failure as a mother. The nurse notes that the patient is experiencing what type of loss?

1. Actual
2. Perceived
3. Psychological
4. Anticipatory
5. Physical
6. Maturational

Answer 1

The patient is experiencing an actual loss as she is unable to have the natural childbirth experience she had prepared for, due to the necessity of a Cesarean section.

Step-by-step explanation:

The patient is experiencing an actual loss, which is the correct answer to the question. This type of loss occurs when a person can no longer feel, hear, see, or know a person or object. In the scenario presented, the patient had prepared for a natural childbirth, which she cannot have due to the fetus displaying signs of distress, necessitating a Cesarean section. The patient's reaction—crying and calling herself a failure as a mother—indicates that she is grappling with the very real loss of the birth experience she had anticipated and prepared for, thus categorizing her loss as actual.