As a fellow birth activist who got PTSD from a birth, I can tell you that you will be triggered if you choose to be a birth activist. I have found that having birth trauma has given me a very different perspective then other natural birth activists. For example, I don't feel that what you were subjected to was necessarily helpful in any way. Did the group of women she was speaking to plan on elective c-sections, or where they already interested in natural childbirth? Was she talking to providers that perform c-sections, or to the providers that have the lowest rates of c-sections in the country? If so, this is just more of preaching to the choir. Who needs this information? OB's do. And who is getting it? The people who already know about it. Education is important, but only educating the women, and telling her she has "options" and "choices" as if she is going to go in and order off of a menu is disingenuous to the true experience of trying to have a natural birth in our current maternity care system. Women are instructed to go in fighting, and then their fight or flight panic response is triggered, and then their providers fight back, and then they are subjected to abuses, violations, and trauma symptoms or PTSD. I no longer even identify with being a "natural" birth activist, I am more of an "informed consent and refusal in maternity care activist" or a "mother and baby friendly care activist". Those don't roll of the tongue as well, but they are more descriptive of my goals for maternity care in this country.
What I have found helpful to reduce the triggers is first figuring out what I feel is the way to change the system. Then, I found organizations or projects that were in line with my own ideals and goals. This helped to limit my exposure to people who were heavily pushing educating the women (though I am not opposed to educating women, I feel it is more important to educate providers and push for true informed consent and refusal in maternity care). I still bump into things that trigger me, like if I go to a birth movie/event, but it is something I try to remain aware of.
As for all the things they say are wrong with kids that have such and such birth, I think it is easy to look at a kid and think they fit that description. But, how many kids have had perfect home births and still have sensory issues? Lots do, I have read about many. Whenever their is any quirk with a child it is natural to try to blame it on something. My son has his share of stuff, and I have blamed it on everything from his birth to my PTSD. But, then I stood back from it all and realized something. Of course he had colic, so did his dad. Of course he has sensory issues, because as it turns out, so do I and so does his dad. He had speech issues, but they resolved. He is sensitive and anxious, but so are we. I think it is mostly genetic. I actually can compare him with our childhoods and am now seeing at age 4 that he is better adjusted then we were, and I think that is due to attachment parenting. I actually think AP can heal a lot, even less then ideal birth experiences. I don't buy into the permanent damage theory.
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Date: 2009-08-11 06:28 am (UTC)What I have found helpful to reduce the triggers is first figuring out what I feel is the way to change the system. Then, I found organizations or projects that were in line with my own ideals and goals. This helped to limit my exposure to people who were heavily pushing educating the women (though I am not opposed to educating women, I feel it is more important to educate providers and push for true informed consent and refusal in maternity care). I still bump into things that trigger me, like if I go to a birth movie/event, but it is something I try to remain aware of.
As for all the things they say are wrong with kids that have such and such birth, I think it is easy to look at a kid and think they fit that description. But, how many kids have had perfect home births and still have sensory issues? Lots do, I have read about many. Whenever their is any quirk with a child it is natural to try to blame it on something. My son has his share of stuff, and I have blamed it on everything from his birth to my PTSD. But, then I stood back from it all and realized something. Of course he had colic, so did his dad. Of course he has sensory issues, because as it turns out, so do I and so does his dad. He had speech issues, but they resolved. He is sensitive and anxious, but so are we. I think it is mostly genetic. I actually can compare him with our childhoods and am now seeing at age 4 that he is better adjusted then we were, and I think that is due to attachment parenting. I actually think AP can heal a lot, even less then ideal birth experiences. I don't buy into the permanent damage theory.