My latest article explores Bubbleverse, a metaphor to help us talk about an important phase in life. This metaphor grew from participants' narratives about pregnancy, the birthing bubble, and the baby bubble they experienced after birth. These bubbles can be very different, with distinct qualities, changing form over time and carrying different emotions. Providing insights into women's experiences of Pelvic Floor Care in Sundsvall. 

Women's insights were captured through interviews, analysed using qualitative content analysis (QCA), and comics supported the analysis process. Creating comics during QCA helped capture key narratives and break down the complexities of the PF injury journey. Comics offered a multimodal approach through sequence, visuals, humour, and text, which can help ease the weight of difficult topics related to PF care and open up new perspectives. In this study, comics were not used during data collection. Instead, they developed alongside the QCA as a way to synthesise and interpret the findings from a critical perspective, using satire and the UD framework, and to support the visual communication of the results. The comics method in this study was co-created with guidance from Robert Nyberg, a professional comic artist in Sweden.

The first weeks after childbirth are critical and require strong support from partners and healthcare. Care can reduce the burden by structuring follow-up, initiating contact, and allowing women to focus on their baby. PF injury aftercare is currently poorly structured, and there is a need for more flexible, individualised, and inclusive care pathways that reflect diverse recovery journeys.

Women may struggle to process and express their experiences, shaped by timing, language, and sociocultural norms that can normalise discomfort and silence symptoms. Opportunities exist to support reflection, communication, and key moments such as early recovery and the first bowel movement.

We conclude by highlighting the importance of recognising women’s “baby bubble” alongside healthcare professionals’ “care bubble”, and of designing care that bridges these experiences. Using concepts such as the Bubbleverse and visual methods like comics, the findings offer ways to better understand and communicate women’s postpartum journeys. Future work should involve women, partners, and healthcare professionals in developing more inclusive and responsive care systems.