For some women, giving birth is not the joyous moment that they had dreamed about. In movies the birth can look like a delicate and beautiful moment with the climactic moment of holding your baby for the first time.
Unfortunately, either due to medical negligence or just bad luck, a birth can actually be a traumatic experience. In fact, some women develop PTSD from it. The reality is that although medicine has improved dramatically over time, giving birth is still fraught with potential problems. Still births, birth injuries and even maternal mortality are still a concern.
If you suspect that you’ve suffered birth trauma, or you feel that your baby suffered avoidable birth injury, then contact a Birth Injury Solicitor.
In this article, I will go over what birth trauma looks like so you can understand if you are affected and what to do about it.
Four main symptoms
There are a lot of symptoms to be on the lookout for, but there are four that are the most common. If you exhibit all four of these then chances are that you have PTSD from your birth trauma and should get evaluated.
Re-experiencing the event – Having nightmares, flashbacks or memories that pop up out of nowhere are signs that you have not healed from the event. When your memories of the birth are unpleasant and downright painful then these episodes where you re-experience them can cause a lot of problems.
Avoiding memories – Many people will want to ask you about the birth as they probably expect a conversation about how hard it was, but at the same time wonderful. If you cut them off and say that you would rather not discuss the birth then you are avoiding reliving the pain from the trauma.
Sense of dread – When people experience trauma and suffer from PTSD as a result, they are usually hyper sensitive to any perceived threat. There is a sense of dread that something terrible is going to happen to the baby or themselves without a valid reason.
Feeling of unhappiness – If you were previously happy go lucky and a positive person that now feels unhappy and low energy then this could be a sign all on its own. Taken in combination with the other factors and it paints a picture of somebody damaged by the trauma.
What are the treatments?
Treatment is going to be a joint effort between your GP and you. There are things you can do on your own to help you cope. For instance, when you feel that you are triggered or about to be, you can try meditation or breathing techniques to focus your mind in a more neutral position.
And, you should give yourself time to heal. You may be feeling guilt about still needing time since you have a baby that needs you, but taking the time you need will help you later on.
Then, look for treatment from a professional that deals with PTSD as there is therapy that specifically deals with this. For particularly acute cases, you may be prescribed some medication to help you.
