What is birth trauma?
Birth trauma is not an official diagnosis, but rather a phrase used for individuals who experienced trauma during the birthing process or perceived the birthing process to be traumatic. Usually, there is concern for the safety and well being of the person giving birth and/or the baby/babies being born. Typically, something unexpected happens and the birthing person feels the birth was out of their control.
What is unique about birth trauma?
Birth is already an intense experience that opens a new chapter in a new parent’s life. We bring our own expectations, hopes and worries to birth. Oftentimes a traumatic birth can leave us feeling like we had no control over the experience. Especially if we worked hard to learn about the birthing experience, create a birth plan, and envision the birth we hoped for.
Birth trauma is a medical trauma. Your birth trauma may be amplified if you have a history of needing medical interventions (either during or before pregnancy), feel let down by the medical system, or are untrusting of the medical system. Birthing in a hospital can be a trigger for individuals that bring a previous medical trauma into the pregnancy. And if you are a person of color, your experience of being supported by the healthcare system may be limited.
Birth trauma is also a physical trauma. Many women can experience flashbacks and reminders of the trauma while their body heals, when they see their baby, when their cycle comes back, specific body sensations, revisiting doctors office, or hearing other’s birth stories. It can lead us to mistrust our own bodies and intuition.
How can birth trauma present?
Parenthood brings a paradigm shift for many individuals, and to add a layer of facing mortality with traumatic birth can shape this paradigm shift to be more negative, anxious, or tender. In short, the trauma symptoms can enter the postpartum chapter, often coloring the experience of having an infant. It can be hard to pick apart what is a typical postpartum experience, and what is being colored by the birth trauma.
Many individuals experience grief in losing the birthing experience they wanted and envisioned. Trauma symptoms include (but are not limited to) triggers (things that remind us of the event and send us into fight, flight or freeze), flashbacks, postpartum depression or anxiety, low motivation, low mood, tearfulness or weepiness, irritability and sometimes challenges connecting with baby. Intrusive and unwelcome thoughts can be difficult to shake.
How do I know I'm ready to do trauma work?
If you’ve gotten this far into the blog post, you’re preparing yourself to start healing from your birth trauma. And bravo, healing and facing what is difficult is bravery. Sincerely.
I do not recommend healing from birth trauma without the guidance of a trauma therapist with experience working with the perinatal population. This is a unique experience and there are clinicians that specifically support clients with this.
Your trauma therapist will ensure you are grounded and have adequate coping and regulating skills before doing deeper trauma work like Brainspotting, IFS or EMDR. Your therapist can teach you these skills, so you don’t have to build them up without guidance or support.
Below are some questions a trauma therapist will ask when determining where to begin, specifically for working through a traumatic birth:
Are you safe? Are you out of the hospital and on the mend? Is your home environment physically and emotionally safe?
Is baby safe and healthy?
Are you getting enough sleep?
What are your regulation, grounding and coping skills?
What is your understanding of how trauma impacts the brain? Your nervous system? Your mood? Your perspective? Your ability to connect and build healthy attachment with your baby?
Are you attuned to your nervous system and triggers?
Have you experienced trauma before? Have you been in therapy for trauma before?
Really, therapy can start at any step and your therapist can walk you through the scaffolding.
Ready to begin?
With me, therapy is client led. I ensure we’re going at your pace and healing on your timeline. This is not a process that can be rushed, and I’m not going anywhere.
Ready to begin? Contact Me! I look forward to hearing from you.
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