This is a descriptive study, of a qualitative nature which used ethnography and the content analysis principle to reveal how the family in expansion may deal with the intercurrences during pregnancy and childbirth of a very low weight premature baby. The informants were eight mothers of very low weight premature babies who received care at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital of Maringá between 1998 and 2000. Data was collected from December 2005 to June 2006 through recorded semi-structured interviews in the homes of the families. The results revealed that the pregnancies as well as their complications appeared in unusual ways, altering the family structure and dynamics. The reported experiences allowed for the identification of three categories: the pregnancy changing the life of a woman and her family; being surprised by the complications of the pregnancy; and the complications leading to a premature labor.
Family; Premature infant; High-risk pregnancy