I had a really amazing time at the Lamaze conference this weekend. One of the most interesting sessions that I attended was on traumatic birth given by Kathy McGrath. She is a counselor and social worker and works one-on-one with short-term counseling for women after traumatic births. She gave a lot of great insights and resources in a very condensed time.
Kathy says that the "ingredients" for a traumatic birth include:
- It is sudden
- It is perceived to be dangerous or life threatening
- The response is one of fear, terror or helplessness
Though basically the most important part is that trauma is in the eye of the beholder. If a mom believes that she or baby were in danger, even if clinically it was not true, it was still a traumatic event. Notice that Kathy's list doesn't say that there was an emergency or tragedy, I think that this is important to note. A traumatic birth can be any type of birth, vaginal, cesarean; planned or unplanned. (And yes, as someone asked me on Twitter, it can even be an unplanned vaginal birth.) It can stem from the loss of options or loss of the feelings of control.
The wrong thing to say to someone who has experienced a traumatic birth is: Get over it. I know that when I had some really complicated feelings after one of my births, I was routinely told to move on, "You have a healthy baby, what's your problem?" While a healthy mom and baby are the prime desires of a birth, there really is something more to birth than everyone being alive at the other end. The mental and emotional health of those involved are terribly important too. It's about respectful care, routinely offering and respecting the choices of mothers and families. Lest you think it's all about the medical emergency, it's not.
Research has found that some of the things moms report as leading to the feelings of being traumatized are as "simple" as:
- perceived lack of communication by nurses, doctors and staff
- fear of unsafe care for mom or baby
- lack of choice regarding routine medical procedures
- not having your provider present for the birth
- care being based solely on delivery outcome
I can think of plenty of times, in what would seem a perfectly normal birth, a mother felt one of these things, even when there wasn't a medical emergency. Partners can also experience a traumatic birth. Kathy offered a couple of resources:
Have you had a traumatic birth? Do you work in the field? What would you add to the conversation?
Source:
Beck, C. T. (2004). Birth trauma: In the eye of the beholder. Nursing Research, 53(1), 28-35.
Photo © Dreamstime
Traumatic Birth originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 at 07:25:02.
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