ABSTRACT
Julie’s story was followed through observations of six monthly ultrasound scans conducted between the mother’s fourteenth and thirty-fourth weeks of pregnancy, her birth, and forty-seven home observations during the first three years of her life. After she was born, Julie spent seven days in the ICU. The observer for this phase makes her first visit to the hospital and meets the father, who politely tells her the hospital room number. She is surprised that Julie’s name is not on the door, but, rather, the name of a boy. The same ritual with the dogs happens at every home visit: the observer announces herself at the gate and someone, usually the mother-in-law, goes out to lock up the dogs. The next written observation reports demonstrate how the period where Tânia goes back to work is another break in continuity of the mother - baby relationship that will require huge effort and will once more test both of their abilities to recover.
