Make a fuss about birth trauma

In honour of World Birth Trauma Awareness Week I'm speaking out Females are so often told 'be a good girl', 'follow the rules', 'don't make a fuss'. I almost didn't write this for fear of 'making a fuss' and getting into trouble.... Women used to be celebrated, we were worshipped as the bringers of life. But now we are told 'you've had a healthy baby, get over it'. How will anything change if we don't speak up?

At Dr Rachel Reed's presentation on Saturday (24th June 2018) we learnt that the majority of practices in maternity care are 'culture based' rather than 'evidence based' - yet parents to be are told that if they don't follow the rules something drastic will happen..... It's only because I was a midwife before having my daughter that I knew I had choices. I 100% believe that if I had given birth in a hospital I would've ended up with a caesarean, not because my or my child's life were in danger but because my labour didn't follow the 'rules'.

At work a week ago I was told by a junior doctor that pregnant women should not get to make their own decisions unless they have a medical degree.....😲 So just because a woman gets pregnant she suddenly loses her right to body autonomy?! A thousand no's!

One in 3 women around the work are describing their births as 'traumatic'. One in 10 will develop PTSD - a condition usually associated with the worst trauma one could imagine. Surely this shouldn't be associated with giving birth?!

If you have experienced birth trauma please consider speaking up. Write a letter to your MP stating that you want maternity care to be evidence based and women-centred!

You can also learn more about birth in a HypnoBirthing course - www.cherishedparenting.com.au/hypnobirthing-classes-perth

Stop birth trauma and bring back the celebration of life