The experience of miscarriage in first pregnancy: the women's voices.

The study is a qualitative analysis of 19 interviews with Israeli women who have lost a first pregnancy to miscarriage. Neither the public nor health care professionals are fully aware of the implications and significance of miscarriage to the woman who has lost the pregnancy. The goal of this study was to understand and give voice to the women's experience. Five themes were revealed--the greater the joy, the more painful the crash; the nature and intensity of the loss; sources of support; life after the miscarriage; and recommendations to professionals. The experience of miscarriage was found to be grounded in the meaning of being a woman, as the loss of the pregnancy undermines the women's basic belief in their fertility and as a result threatens their meaning and role as women.