4 Ways to Prevent Childbirth Trauma
There are three main responses to a disturbing event and two of them are very familiar: fight or flight. The third response is a state of immobility or freezing. The freezing response might be the key to understanding human trauma, according to Peter Levine, author of Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma.
When animals are faced with a frightening event, they instinctively respond by fighting or fleeing. Although in some cases the wisest reaction is to “play dead”. After the danger is over the animal gets up and shakes off the residual effect of the disturbing event. Then it moves on leaving the event behind.
What does this have to do with childbirth?
In the case of us humans, the neocortex (our rational brain) is very powerful and cultural conditioning deeply ingrained. Often our instinctive responses are not expressed and when the disturbing event does not get released, it might get stored in the mind and body.
When unwanted events happen during pregnancy, labor and/or birth, the nervous system might register the experience as an assault. The mind sends a message to the brain to get the body alert, motivated and strong to fight, flight or freeze. That is not what mothers expect to experience.
After it’s all over, mothers might be left feeling all kinds of unexpected emotions. The excitement and joy might be overshadowed by anger, guilt, resentment, regret, shock, shame or sadness. It is as if her heart is frozen by the experience.
In my practice, I witness how mothers can quickly release and clear the traumatic event and integrate the experience when provided with mother-centered, compassionate guidance and support.
How can we protect mother-baby from birth trauma?
1. Understand the “Failure to Progress” Myth
It has been documented how labor can stall (“freeze”) when the woman does not feel safe. Sometimes just walking into a hospital, or anything unwelcomed by the mother can stall labor. In her book, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth Ina May Gaskin writes about how a dilated cervix may “slam shut” when the laboring mother is disrupted either by real or perceived danger.
Stopping labor is a way that nature has programmed mothers to protect their babies during the process of labor and birth.
When a mother perceives danger, her mind and body will always work together to keep her baby safe. Sometimes the only safe place is the womb.
FAILURE TO PROGRESS IS IN FACT, FAILURE TO PROTECT AND SUPPORT THE MOTHER IN A WAY THAT IS MEANINGFUL TO HER.
2. Be aware of the impact the cascade of interventions can have on the nervous system
Medicalized birth with its cascade of interventions can be a frightening experience for some women. The smells, sounds, procession of unfamiliar people, vaginal exams, bright lights, lack of food, lack of ability to move instinctively and the generalized “birth is a medical emergency” attitude can trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response.
Epidurals can be another way a laboring woman might experience trauma. If the woman is experiencing pain or fear and if the people in the room are fearful themselves or impatient, inserting the epidural can become a traumatic experience that gets stored in the body.
When the exhausted, frightened, mother is “unable to progress” the result is often a cesarean birth. Some women go into surgery still fighting; some are petrified with fear and grief.
Even when a person recognizes a surgery to be necessary, on the cellular level the body might still register the cutting through flesh and muscle as a life-threatening experience.
Some women invest a great amount of energy preparing to “fight” for the birth they envision. In some cases, a woman “fights” during labor to protect herself and her baby from unnecessary or unwanted interventions.
By the time baby is born she might be exhausted and bonding with her baby can be compromised adding to the experience of trauma.
3. Recognize and honor “The Pause”
Mothers and newborn babies need to pause right after the baby comes out of the mother’s body, says Karen Strange, Midwifery and Neonatal Resuscitation teacher. Mother and baby are experiencing a huge transition of body-mind-spirit. The adrenaline is often running high in the room and the need for mother-baby to pause and integrate what happened is often ignored.
“A woman will exhale from the work of birth before she begins to inhale the presence of her child and her new identity as a mother.”~Mary Esther Malloy, mother, birth doula
Mother and baby have been through a hugely intense experience that no one in the room shared with them. Only mother-baby understands what they have been through, and they need a moment.
The lack of acknowledgment of this sacred pause can leave a mother feeling confused and guilty for not instantly bonding or even wanting to reach for her baby.
“Shock is a normal psychological and physiological response to an unknown, intense or [perceived] biologically-threatening situation. Labor, even normal labor, qualifies for all of those categories. So birth shock is a completely normal response to either normal or complicated births and postpartum; it occurs in home births and hospitals births.” ~Pam England
4. Listen to your body
You are not crazy or a bad mother.
Although your hormone balance will be affected by pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, and breastfeeding, you are not “hormonal”. Something is not working FOR you.
Symptoms such as depression, mood disorders, headaches, fibromyalgia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), heart disease, cancer, and all kinds of diseases are the way our body speaks to us.
Releasing trauma is a transformational experience. The energy blocked by the traumatic event and the life force invested in repressing the painful memories can be freed. When trauma is released and cleared, our life force energy is available in the present moment to create the life we want for ourselves and our children. Every moment becomes new and filled with possibilities!
Resources I offer
• Birth Trauma Resolution Sessions – These sessions are uplifting and solution-focused. It is not necessary to relive past events or experience any pain during the session. Many women find that the new perspective gained in the sessions opens space for positive changes in their daily lives and relationships. Three sessions is the average length to address one specific issue. You will feel a shift from the very first session. These sessions are a perfect preparation to birth again after a difficult birth.
• Birth Story Healing Workshop is a unique, uplifting, and transformational guided process that will change how you see yourself and the birth of your baby. In this intimate workshop, you will be gently guided to find new meaning in your birth story. You will gather with other women in a compassionate and non-judgmental circle to explore your feelings about giving birth and becoming a mother. The group energy and the format of the circle allow for profound changes to take place. You will see yourself and the birth of your baby in a new light.
• Weekly Circle of Mothers – this is a guided mentoring circle for moms. Isolation is one of a mother’s worst enemies. In the Circle, we explore many topics to support mamas in their motherhood journey.