Mothers can have vastly different experiences giving birth. Many are not fully prepared for everything that will occur once they go into labor, or the lasting impact of the experience. While some women have empowering birth experiences, others are caught off guard by how traumatic the experience can be.
Birth trauma is more common than many people assume. In the aftermath, women can feel confused. Some might ask themselves if they did something wrong, or if it’s taboo to speak up about what they’re going through. But birth trauma can happen to anyone, and it’s not a personal failure.
Here are a few symptoms of birth trauma, and why women who are dealing with this issue should seek help.
Physical Effects
No two births are the same. Some women heal rather quickly after giving birth, but childbirth is physically demanding and often excruciatingly painful. Many women sustain birth injuries that require medical care or even surgery to remedy.
Furthermore, some people wrongly assume that women who have C-sections will have easier recoveries. But this could not be further from the truth. No matter how a child is born, all mothers can be susceptible to birth trauma. Recovering from a major surgery such as a C-section takes time and proper care.
Emotional Effects
Giving birth is an intensely emotional experience. Bringing a child into this world is life-changing, and while many women feel joy, love, and euphoria when they give birth, some women do not have this bonding experience immediately.
This is not as rare as people think. But a traumatic birth can make it harder to bond early on. Additionally, some women feel an intense mistrust of medical staff if their doctors and nurses did not listen to them, which is an unfortunate reality for many mothers.
Lasting Impact
Some women who have experienced birth trauma might assume that they have a temporary case of the baby blues. This is caused by hormonal changes in the days following birth and often goes away within a short period of time.
Other women might mistake birth trauma for postpartum depression. While experiencing birth trauma can make one more susceptible to PPD, they are not the same thing, and this confusion and conflation can prevent women from getting the specific treatment that they need.
Lack of Support
Lots of women simply hope that the effects of birth trauma will disappear on their own. But this is often not the case. Women need support to heal from birth trauma, and those who do not get it can end up suffering for much longer.
But some women feel like they can’t tell their friends or relatives about what they’re going through and fear facing judgment from the people around them. They might even feel like their partner won’t understand, or they might be on their journey through parenthood alone.
Getting the Help You Need
For many women who are suffering from birth trauma, therapy is a necessary part of the healing toolbox. But lots of women do not realize that there are therapists who specialize in this area. Furthermore, some women don’t have the time to attend therapy sessions in an office, so they assume that therapy is out of reach, at least for a while.
Signing up for online therapy appointments can be a convenient and more affordable option for women with newborns. Women can benefit from working with someone who validates their experiences and helps them process what happened in a healthy way.
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Are you struggling to process and overcome birth trauma? Talking to a therapist can help. Reach out to us to discuss your options for scheduling your first session.