Comments on: A Birth Experience

By: Stef

Stef — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:54:27 +0000

I also want to thank you for posting this. I am still trying to recover emotionally from my first, and only at this moment in time, son’s vaccum assisted birth that left him unable to move his right arm due to a shoulder dystocia and me with a third degree tear. No one told me that these feelings that I have about his traumatic birth were normal to have. And even myself, I wrote it off initially to the changing hormones. But now nearly a year later I am still dealing with the after effects and finding ways to cope with the experience. Fortunately both my own and my son’s physical trauma have healed, but I’m not sure how long it will take mentally to move past it. Thanks for justifying my state when many others would not.

By: A Reason For Living in a Nutshell

A Reason For Living in a Nutshell — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:28:26 +0000

[...] [...]

By: Trusting Yourself and Others

Trusting Yourself and Others — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:13:12 +0000

[...] [...]

By: massagedoula1

massagedoula1 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:15:43 +0000

Well said! I didn’t realize how traumatized I was from my 1st son’s vacuum extraction vag birth (w/2 shots of Stadol, an epidural, & severe episiotomy that took almost a month to completely heal) until I had my second and took control of how my birth was going to happen. Even though his also involved interventions, they were interventions that I felt I was well-informed in making and it helped me heal emotionally from the one 3 years earlier.
Now, as a Doula, I take my experience as an opportunity to help my clients feel well-educated, supported and cared for no matter how their births happen, with or without interventions. The choices do belong to the women and in this country, they have a right to accept or refuse any medical test or procedure and their healthcare providers should feel obligated to take the time to answer any questions their patients may have. After all, isn’t that the definition of “informed consent”?

By: shel

shel — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:15:10 +0000

THANK YOU for writing this… says it all so beautifully.