Introduction: Understanding the world of pregnant women with high obstetric risk (HOBR), contemplating the reality they live in, allows for a profound understanding of the meanings they assign to their care. This contributes to establishing person-centered care. Objective: To understand the experiences of hospitalized HOBR pregnant women in a highly complex health institution regarding the care provided by nursing professionals in identifying their needs. Materials and Methods: A qualitative interpretative study was conducted from 2017 to 2019 in the HOBR unit of the Hospital Universitario del Valle, Colombia. On average, two in-depth interviews were conducted with each of the ten women in the sample of the ten pregnant women of sample, until the criterion of saturation of meanings was reached. The analysis and interpretation conceptualized the participants’ reality based on emergent topics from the narrated facts, identifying similarities and differences, which allowed the determination of categories under Benner’s philosophical concepts. Results: the research explained how care is delivered, based on Swanson’s theoretical framework. Four categories were identified: 1) The pregnant woman-nurse relationship: Care involved; 2) The meanings of their lived experiences; 3) Hospitalization as a circumstance that disrupts the pregnant woman’s connection with her loved ones, and 4) The experiences of pregnant women as a source of meaning to understand the institutional context. Conclusions: Addressing the expressed needs of pregnant women enables nursing professionals to advance in care practices informed by Swanson’s theory.