Comments on: It’s Not Selfish of You to Feel Traumatized By the Birth of Your Baby.

By: Better Births Beyond Mommy Wars « Rachel Marie Stone

Better Births Beyond Mommy Wars « Rachel Marie Stone — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:02:12 +0000

[...] know that one of my interests is better birth: safer motherhood for women in developing countries, more humane, high-touch childbirth for women in high-tech countries. Here’s my latest Huffington Post [...]

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:35:48 +0000

Good call! I have delivered 5 babies on 3 continents – and by far the worst experience was in a hospital in Florida. Cairo, Egypt and Islamabad, Pakistan were great! And I agree – it does matter. Along with that as a nurse I am aware that hospitals nurses can be the biggest obstacles to helping a new mom get established with breast feeding. Great post and glad I found your blog. My colleague is from Malawi and we talk all the time about public health here in the U.S. where obesity is our biggest issue versus public health in Malawi, Egypt, and Pakistan.

By: Regina W

Regina W — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:29:55 +0000

I’m so glad to see more and more people talking about this. I had a traumatic birth at home with our first in which our trusted midwife pushed many “natural” interventions against my will, bullied and threatened me when I tried to talk to her about the things she was doing, and then cancelled a number of my postpartum appointments even though I was very weak and sick after the birth (and having severe breastfeeding problems). It’s been 4 years and it’s still hard to think about.

A couple months after the birth, I remember reading about post-traumatic stress disorder and thinking that it sounded like me. I dismissed the idea of pursuing help because 1) I had a homebirth and all the loudest voices insisted that I was making it all up because of course midwives are never awful and 2) everyone else insisted that post-traumatic stress disorder is a silly thing to imagine I have after giving birth. Whether I actually had it or not is still a question, but I definitely had something awful and had no treatment–which was a bad idea.

I’ve been looking for support in the United States, but it seems like support for traumatic births is mostly very localized. This awareness of PTSD after a traumatic birth must be starting in the UK because that seems to be where I’ve found most of the strong networks. I will keep looking, though, and hopefully find someone to help me work through the mess of emotions that are still left after 4 years.

(And, yes, I’ve thought about answering your call for birth stories, but I’ve had a hard time answering the questions. I should probably try again. It might be somewhat healing.)

By: LaVonne Neff

LaVonne Neff — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:07:09 +0000

I’ve submitted an interlibrary loan request. Yes, even more than 40 years later my two birth experiences are vivid. One was in a high tech teaching hospital, impersonal doctor I’d never met, husband not allowed in delivery room, baby kept away from me for 12 hours, 3 days in hospital, no after-care – followed by breastfeeding difficulties and depression. The other was in a fairly primitive small hospital with doctor I knew, husband with me throughout, was handed the baby immediately, went home after 12 hours, cared for by parents – followed by no depression whatsoever, and lots of milk. I know that even two swallows do not a summer make, so I’m looking forward to seeing Kitzinger’s research!