A B S T R A C T
Background: Those at the birth of a baby sometimes speak of the experience as significant and
meaningful; an experience in which there is an atmosphere or mood that surrounds the occasion. This
paper explores this mood, its recognition, disclosure and how we attune or not to it. The paper is
philosophically underpinned by hermeneutic phenomenology. The Heideggerian notion of ‘‘attunement
to mood’’ is used to interpret this phenomenon. This paper describes how such a mood becomes visible.
Methods: Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, 14 tape-recorded transcribed interviews,
each about an hour long, were conducted over 8 months from mothers, birth partners, midwives and
obstetricians. The stories crafted from these transcripts have been interpreted alongside my own
preunderstandings and related literature. Appropriate ethical approval was gained.
Findings: Analysis suggests that there is a positively construed mood of joy at birth that can be concealed
when disrupted. Disturbing this mood has the effect of exposing the world of birth and its inherent
activities and feelings revealing possible meanings inherent in the lived birth experiences. Disturbances
at birth provide distinctions and tensions in which a concealed constitutive mood at birth can be seen.
This paper provides insight towards a deeper appreciation into how the sacred joy of birth may be
protected.
Implications for practice: The way in which we attune to birth may have consequences to birth outcomes
and to the experience of childbirth. The consequences of these findings for those in the world of birth are
discussed.