Split in two: Metaphors, puerperium and a picturebook-based narrative medicine proposal in Spain

The puerperium, a universal taboo, has been scarcely analysed by motherhood studies , and biomedically, it has been examined only from a physiological perspective, silencing new mothers’ psychophysical ambivalences. In this research, based on an ad hoc questionnaire administered to mothers residing in Seville (Spain), the experiences of 110 women are analysed quantitatively and qualitatively, as well as their possibility to relate their own experience and the language used by their healthcare providers. Through the second part of the questionnaire and from a feminist narrative medicine perspective, fragments from a validated selection of picturebooks were also proposed to respondents as a springboard for verbalizing the postpartum experience. The results highlight the limited space that the ambivalence of the puerperium has in the exchange with health personnel and how the picturebook, in its intrinsically metaphorical component, can be an effective tool to facilitate the narration of patients to achieve a global improvement of care. Only by giving voice to the real and diverse experiences of each new mother can perinatal care truly be called feminist. • Western motherhood today entails a profoundly different narrative than in the past. • Motherhood's emotions and challenges may not align with society's expectations. • Based on an ad hoc questionnaire, new mothers lack spaces and means of expression. • Mothers need to feel validated by healthcare professionals. • Metaphors in picturebooks may help address this issue within narrative medicine.