How people experience their interactions with their health systems are central to the notion of health systems responsiveness. These experiences may be ‘personal’, but they are also shaped by the broader historical, political, cultural, social, and economic contexts within which they occur. Yet, few studies on people’s experiences of care, particularly those focused on health systems responsiveness, explicitly take this into account. In this study, and drawing on in-depth interviews with 28 pregnant and postpartum women in a rural province of Vietnam, we use a novel approach that draws on the work of Archer and Chalari to uncover and analyse women’s ‘internal conversations’, in which they reflect upon and make sense of their maternity care-related experiences. Women’s ‘internal conversations’ reflected their need for short waiting times and high-quality ultrasonography, concerns regarding privacy and confidentiality, expectations of receiving dignified care, and their experiences of decision-making relating to caesarean section. Our findings reveal how women’s preferences, demands, and expectations have likely evolved in response to the Doi Moi-related shifts that have changed the organisation and structure of Vietnam’s economy, society, and health system. We make the case for health systems researchers and actors to consciously take into account the society and health system-level evolutions and changes when researching or developing interventions for improving responsive health systems.