Normal Birth?...part 2...

I think that the first issue I would like to tackle is birth trauma. Unfortunately, this happens all too often and is not relegated only to the hospital setting. The idea that I ponder about the creation of birth trauma is exactly why/how does it happen? Clearly, there are myriad reasons and individual situations and I don't mean to water the issue down to one cause.....but, having worked in the birth field for years, both in and out of the hospital, I have seen and heard many woman's stories. To go back to the first part of this question, the birth story....

It was the two day postpartum visit. Both Mama and Baby were doing well, babe was happily nursing and Papa was ecstatic. We went through all of the "nuts and bolts" business....physical assessments, etc. and all was well. Then, we sat and talked about the birth. I was worried that it may have been difficult for them, so many things had happened, particularly with the baby resuscitation. So, when I asked, "How do you feel about your birth?" I was pleasantly surprised to see the big smile grow across Mama's face and hear her say, "It was amazing and wonderful!" We talked about everything that had happened, they asked thoughtful questions and it was clear that they had a realistic understanding of what had happened. Finally, Papa said, "We knew that serious things were happening, but you and the nurse were so calm and really knew what you were doing, so we felt safe and it was never scary." There was not one ounce of trauma to be found! I include the Papa's statement NOT to "toot my own horn" but to illustrate what I think is a crucial component to the creation of birth trauma......

How the birth is handled, how the family is treated, management of the "background" noise, followed by open and transparent discourse between care provider and client....I think that these have much more to do with birth trauma than what actually happens. Of course, there are major exceptions, sometimes, no matter how much care and thought are involved, the outcome can be so devastating that trauma is inevitable. As women we have to start educating ourselves and each other about our options and we have to demand thoughtful, compassionate care. All options for birthing need to be universally discussed and available to all. It is time that we stood together and began to create the atmosphere for this change......