Birth Trauma Healing
Childbirth is one of the biggest life events that we will ever experience, yet many moms feel like they had little control over how their birth turned out. Perhaps you’ve found yourself wondering why didn’t my birth go the way I hoped it would? Maybe you feel like you prepared for your birth by reading books and taking classes but yet your birth didn’t go anything like you imagined. You may be blaming your body or yourself for what happened. You’re not alone. Current research shows that about 1 in women experience a traumatic birth. Because our culture associates birth with fear and pain, some women may experience their birth as “normal” even when what they experienced may have been traumatic. Trauma can be defined as event that is overwhelming leading to an elevated and prolonged fear response in the body, making it difficult to integrate the event into our life narrative. Signs and symptoms of trauma include
negative changes in thinking and mood including feelings of depression and anxiety
intrusive memories and/or nightmares
avoidance behaviors such as avoiding thinking or talking about birth
Trauma compromises one’s sense of well being because it impacts brain function, the health of the body, and one’s emotional state. It affects our relationship with ourselves and others.
Factors that contribute to a birth being experienced as traumatic include:
loss of control and power during labor or birth
an overwhelming experience of pain and fear
violation of your body
loss of voice and/or autonomy
lack of trust in your body and/or caregiver
feeling unsafe
feeling alone or isolated
fear of death or perceived harm to self or baby
Healing from birth trauma includes processing your trauma and integrating your birth story which may include a combination of talk therapy, body based therapies, and energy healing so that you moved to a mental state of calmness and openness and can feel present and connected in your relationship with yourself, your baby, your partner, and others.