You can plan and prepare for every detail of your birth, but what happens when it does not go as planned? When the unexpected takes over and fear replaces excitement? Today, we are talking about the realities of traumatic and unexpected birth experiences, and what comes after.
Guest Speaker
On this episode we talked with guest speaker Rachel. She is a mom to one beautiful daughter and a pediatric occupational therapist from Richmond, Kentucky. She became pre-eclamptic and ended up being induced and having her daughter at 36 weeks. Within 24 hours she went from normal blood pressure to being admitted to the hospital. She was given magnesium to protect her brain from the high blood pressure. She suffered from some memory loss and found herself realizing she did not remember a lot of her labor and birth experience due to fatigue.
Birth Trauma
A traumatic birth is experienced when there is a perceived or life threatening series of events that cause injury or death of the infant or mother. Roughly 17% of moms develop birth related post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Symptoms of PTSD may include intrusive involuntary thoughts, avoidance of things that remind you of the trauma, changes in arousal levels, and difficulty sleeping.
Impact of Trauma on the Brain
- Memory loss: the brain struggles to remember and integrate the birth experience
- Increased amygdala activity: the amygdala is the part of your brain that processes fear and causes you to be on high alert
- Reduced ability to regulate emotions and process the trauma due to decreased functioning of the prefrontal cortex
- Numbness: the brain may enter a protective state of numbness which can interfere with bonding with the infant
Tips to Navigate Traumatic Births
- You are allowed to grieve not getting the birth experience that you wanted
- Do not compare to others. Your story is your story.
- Give yourself grace for how you process what happened
- Force yourself to rest and heal
- Do not be afraid to seek professional help
- Lean on your support system
Resources
- Preeclampsia Foundation
- 5 Ways to Start Healing from a Traumatic Birth Experience (Postpartum Support International)
- APA Maternal Mental Health Toolkit
- National Maternal Mental Health Hotline: call or text 1-833-943-5746 (1-833-9-HELP4MOMS)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resources for pregnant and postpartum women
- 5 Ways to Heal from Birth Trauma (Bozeman Counseling Center)
This article is a companion to Episode 15 of the Functional Fourth Trimester podcast.