Why Birth Trauma Matters
This is one of the newest titles in the series Why it Matters. These books aim to give an evidence based approach to issues in and around pregnancy, birth and parenting. I have dipped in and out of various books within the series and have found them helpful on various topics. This book is aimed at the general public, but I believe it is useful to all those working within the area of pregnancy and birth.
Mental health in the perinatal period has never been more of a relevant topic with maternal suicide being the fifth most common cause of death in the perinatal period (NEPU, 2018). Cuts to mental health budgets and the closure of local mental health units has led to a crises of provision, and a lack of services available for even the most common mental health issues (TUC, 2018). Whilst this book doesn't set out to solve these issues, it is an important context to note as the book reflects on this at points.
Birth trauma is an inherently complex subject, it is not something that is possible to predict, as circumstances and personality are so individual. This book does not aim to predict the circumstances under which this trauma occurs, merely give a generalised overview of the types of trauma, treatment and how the current climate affects its occurrence.
As one who has in the past suffered from birth trauma, I found this book hard reading at points as it was particularity evocative. I found myself and my experience echoed within its pages, themes and sentences. However, this is a very useful overview of trauma, its effects and different treatments that may be offered. The book is well balanced, and approaches the various chapters in a gentle manner. It is written with the reader in mind, and is interspersed with personal experiences of various women which help to break up the more academic portions of the text. Midwifery is an interspersonal art, we spend our working lives interacting with women from a variety of backgrounds. Often for myself, a message has more impact if I hear it from a personal perspective, and such is the case with this book.
One thing that I really found useful within the book was the acknowledgement of how past trauma affects women's risk of developing birth trauma. For example, adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are still not as widely considered as some would like, however the author explores this and others, and how pre-existing issues such as these can become risk factors. Another theme was how birth trauma can affect birth partners. I feel that this is a subject that does need more attention within the wider context of maternity care, and it was useful as a practitioner to have further information on the subject. The author also touches on those who are transgender, and tries to reflect this in the language she uses in the text. There is a brief focus on LGBT issues as well.
Overall, whilst hard reading, I did find this text very useful. It is very current, and gives a broad balanced view of birth trauma. It is very well researched, and whilst there isn't a lot to get through in terms of reading, it manages to really embrace quality over quantity. I would recommend this book as a must-read for midwives. For me, it really helped to remind me of why I became a midwife and the power of the fundamentals of compassionate care.