Traumatic childbirth: how to overcome it?

ARTICLE SUMMARY :

Around 30% of births described as traumatic
Emergency Caesarean section, intense pain, loss of control... the traumas of childbirth are numerous.
How does perinatal trauma manifest itself?
How can the new mother be helped?

This was supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. At least, that's how you imagined it before and during your pregnancy. The day you gave birth, the day your child was born. But when you think back, nothing went as you'd hoped. Haste, lack of information, lack of consideration, worry, pain, crying... finally leading to a painful delivery. If today you're the happy mother of one or more children, it mayhave taken you months or even years to put into words your experience of motherhood. From dream to reality, traumatic childbirth affects a third of the women surveyed.

Around 30% of births described as traumatic

According to data published by PATTCH (Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth), between 25 and 34% of women describe their childbirth as traumatic. According to data published by CAIRN, in 2002, 33% of women surveyed described childbirth as traumatic.

So to say that childbirth doesn't go as planned is sometimes an understatement. From negative to traumatic, every woman experiences and feels each stage of the process differently.

According to PATTCH, a birth is classified as traumatic when the "person affected by the trauma (mother, father or witness) is concerned for the life of the mother or her baby, or if there is a serious threat to the physical or emotional integrity of the mother or her baby."

Emergency Caesarean section, intense pain, loss of control... the traumas of childbirth are numerous.

A difficult birth leaves its mark. When the desire for a natural childbirth turns into an emergency Caesarean section, the story of the past is nothing like the story of the present. When a episiotomy is performed without question, feelings of loss of control and dispossession can be strong.

Stories like these, of rushed deliveries, rushed staff, pathologies that follow one another, pain that is poorly or not at all relieved... there are thousands of them, and yet they are all unique in their importance. Destabilizing, unexpected, incomprehensible... sometimes it's a question of birth trauma.

How do you recognize perinatal trauma?

After childbirth, some mothers suffer from the baby blues, whatever the circumstances of their child's birth. However, if extreme fatigue isaccompanied by mood disorders, dark thoughts, nightmares or even flashbacks linked to childbirth, and if this state of mind persists over time, the situation is likely to be more complicated. A post-partum depression or post-traumatic stress disorder may then be diagnosed.

Failure and disappointment: two common feelings

The trauma of a difficult birth is first and foremost rooted in the mother's own feelings. Because her child's birth didn't go as well as she'd imagined, she feels that she didn't measure up, that she missed something. The result is sadness, frustration and a sense of failure that can be difficult to overcome.

Here, the dogma of the happy birth is very present. So much so, in fact, that some mothers don't dare talk about their disappointment and the shock of childbirth. Because society expects them to rejoice, they choose not to expose their feelings, at the risk of exacerbating their distress.

How can the new mother be helped?

A difficult birth can lead to a sense of unease that can be long-lasting. The people around you play an essential role in supporting the mother, easing her pain and enabling her, little by little, to accept and digest this traumatic event.

The first step is to recognize emotions. This is followed by talking, and above allactive listening. And last but not least, care, attentions, caresses, time offered... can also help you on the road to recovery.

If images of childbirth remain, if nightmares set in, if you avoid thinking about your delivery or if your memories prevent you from functioning normally with yourself, your family or your baby, don't hesitate to seek help.

Talk to the obstetrics team at post-partum appointments, to your attending physician, to your midwife... Meet a hypnotherapist, a sophrologist, a psychotherapist... Share with a discussion group orother mothers in the same situation as you.

How can we change things?

In addition to the procedures performed, trauma often stems from the discrepancy between the way each woman imagines childbirth, and what she experiences at the moment of her child's birth.

Working on the perception of childbirth, demystifying the beauty of the moment, providing better support for couples, offering them more time, more respect and a better listening ear, putting aside the profitability of procedures and prioritizing their benefits... These are just a few of the ways in which, over the generations, we can hope to change things.

Birth trauma still under-researched

While post-traumatic stress and its consequences have been studied since the 19th century, their appearance and effects in the context of motherhood has been the subject of only a handful of studies over the last 20 years.

Just as there seems to be only one place to give birth in France (in 2016, only 5,000 out of 784,000 births took place outside a hospital or maternity hospital, or less than 1%), so too the perception of childbirth seems likely to be unique and positive. "It could have been worse", "It'll be better next time", "It's easier for the second one", "No, but what's important is that your baby's all right" So many phrases that we urgently need to stop hearing, so many feelings that we urgently need to stop silencing, for births in full awareness and patients respected as women and as mothers in their own right.

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