Birth Trauma
Birth trauma is a state of post traumatic stress disorder that has occurred due to the birth of your child. The reasons for trauma during childbirth can be many and varied but those listed by the Birth Trauma Association include:
A lengthy labour or a short and very painful labour
A poor birth induction experience
Poor pain relief
Feelings of loss of control
High levels of medical intervention
Forceps births
Emergency caesarean section
Impersonal treatment or problems with staff attitudes
Not being listened to
Lack of information or explanation
Lack of privacy and dignity
Fear for baby's safety
Stillbirth
Birth of a baby with a disability resulting from a traumatic birth
Baby’s stay in the special care baby unit or neonatal intensive care unit
Poor postnatal care
Previous trauma (for example, in childhood, with a previous birth or domestic violence)
Who decides if your birth has been traumatic?
You do.
And this is so important for you to understand.
Nobody gets to tell you that your birth was ‘fine’ or not to make a ‘fuss’. No one gets to tell you that you ‘look okay now’ and that a ‘healthy baby is all that matters’ or that ‘you can try again soon’.
As you can see from the list above what can be traumatic in the birth space can be hugely varied and multi-faceted. But the only person who gets to decide if your experience was traumatic is you.
So what exactly is post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
Perhaps you were in a car accident… Or you saw someone else in a car accident. Maybe you were attacked or something awful happened to you or a member of your family.
This moment in time feels so bewildering, shocking and terrible that your body immediately arranges for your amygdala, which acts as your brain’s security guard to step in and take control.
When something very shocking occurs it pushes us into a state of being, very similar to hypnosis, where we absorb the information around us very clearly but with a narrowly focused beam of input. It can feel like a state of wide awake dreaming, all this awfulness happening with no escape.
Your amygdala, doing its job, takes huge internal photos of what is occurring. Objects, people, smells, textures, sensations, words… everything. These pictures then become references so that it has a warning template for future preparedness.
So if you did go through a traumatic birth then the smell of the hospital will be noted, or the shine of the hard floors, or the words of the midwife.
If you were mugged while crossing a bridge then bridges will be stored, the time of day will be stored, the ‘look’ of the muggers, again stored.
So, should your amygdala come across any of these inputs again they can set off your internal alarm. The message will be clear. Get away, this is bad, run!
And what will that feel like? The Fight or Flight response - A sense of terror or great fear. Clammy palms. An upset stomach. An increased pace of breathing.. A need to visit the toilet… A need to run away or the feeling of being helplessly rooted to the spot. Or just an increasing sense of worry and unease.
Why is childbirth so susceptible to birth trauma? Well, when birthing our babies we become either powerful and in control or vulnerable and ill at ease and sometimes a bit of both. Much of this is to do with what we know, what we understand and how we are made to feel.
So ask yourself; Were you supported? Did you truly understand what was happening and why? Did you feel that you had autonomy over the birth path and your body? Were you listened to and respected? What path did your birth take? How was your birth partner - informed and supportive or scared and unengaged?
My expertise as an antenatal hypnobirthing teacher gives me a unique and well rounded understanding and approach to working with birth trauma, birth fears and phobias and ensuring that you no longer have to carry the burden of what happened to you but are free, healed, knowledgeable and able to move forwards with your life.
I offer one-to-one sessions from my clinics in Wimbledon or Clapham.