Did you know that there is such a thing as Postpartum Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
We tend to associate PTSD with military service and catastrophic events like mass shootings. But it is also possible to have PTSD as a result of difficult experiences before, during and after the birth of a baby. Research has demonstrated that thirty-four percent of women report a traumatic birth experience and nine percent of women meet the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis (Beck, 2013)
Many women develop detailed birth plans and harbor expectations for how they would like their child or children to enter the world. Not uncommonly, when there is trauma, the mother may feel she was invisible and powerless during an experience in which she expected to be validated as a female. Even when the baby is born healthy and all appears well in the aftermath, the mother may question whether this end result justifies her experience during the birth. Feelings that the medical team did not care, a sense of violation or loss in dignity, or an experience of abandonment is also common.
Postpartum PTSD is triggered in some women as a result of loss which may include the death of the baby in utero. The loss may have been known prior to labor, particularly if there were multiple fetuses, or unknown until after a stillbirth occurs. Severe pre-eclampsia may also lead to a traumatic response emotionally. Women who have particularly intense hyperemesis gravidarum, or so-called “morning sickness,” may also develop Postpartum PTSD as a result of both the experience itself or interventions that proved necessary due to these symptoms.
Additionally, even with all the advances of modern medicine, there are still occasions when, as a result of complications during the pregnancy or birth, the mother nearly dies. She is then considered a “near miss” survivor. The new mother may feel very isolated in this experience. The full impact of her experience may not be seen until the mother responds in an atypical fashion when faced with a subsequent pregnancy, labor or delivery.
Sometimes Postpartum PTSD occurs in mothers when there are extraordinary events during the birth. Some of these circumstances might include: a long labor, hemorrhaging during the birth, unanticipated need for the use of forceps or a vacuum extraction to facilitate birth, an emergency cesarean delivery, shoulder dystocia for the baby, and and a 3rd or 4th degree laceration for the mother. A failure in the pain medication, a poor physical response for the mother to attempted pain management, or an inability to administer pain medication altogether due to the presenting circumstances can all result in a traumatic experience during a birth.
A partner who is present at the birth may also be traumatized by witnessing his or her partner as she has these experiences. When a baby is born prematurely, born with anomalies that were either known or unknown in advance of the birth, or for other any other reason requires treatment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), both new parents may experience trauma.
If any of this is sounding familiar, know that healing is possible through processing your experience fully. Yes, it is busy at home these days. And it is possible to brush what happened aside, to just move on. But there can be long-term benefits for both you and your baby from taking the time for self-care following a traumatic pregnancy or birth experience.
Beck, C.T. , Driscoll J.W. & Watson, S. (2013). Traumatic childbirth. New York: Routledge.