Birth Trauma Awareness Week
What is Birth Trauma Awareness Week?
Each year there is a week dedicated to raising awareness for the millions of families impacted worldwide by Birth Trauma. The BTA campaign hopes to achieve the following outcomes:
- Reduce stigma, fear, and isolation in those living with birth trauma
- Improve knowledge of birth trauma in medical circles
- Increase availability of proper trauma-informed care—both preventive and to support those impacted
What is the theme of the 2024 BTA Week?
This year’s birth trauma awareness week is shining a light on informed consent. This aspect of Birth is a crucial part of respectful maternity care and has been a key aspect of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry. So what is informed consent? According to the Oxford English Dictionary:
Permission granted in full knowledge of the possible consequences, typically that which is given by a patient to a doctor for treatment with knowledge of the possible risks and benefits.
I believe informed consent has a much greater impact than most people think. From my own personal experience, I can say that the way consent was achieved during the birth of my daughter now impacts how I interact with medical staff.
Why is Informed Consent important?
As women, we know that birth is a unique experience. Many things can happen that are out of our control. And, when it comes to informed consent, many medical practitioners can, and must, do better.
I believe that more consideration needs to be given to the vulnerable state a woman is in during birth. Once labour begins, we can feel like we are on a rollercoaster. This ‘out of control’ feeling adds so much pressure to each decision. Despite knowing this, mothers and their partners are still not routinely given the information they need to make informed choices.
My Birth Trauma and Informed Consent Story
I have directly experienced birth trauma due to a lack of informed consent. I believe that many experienced medical professionals forget that this is often the first time the woman they are assisting has experienced birth. We don’t automatically understand what an episiotomy is or how the use of this and/or a ventouse may impact our bodies later.
It is my opinion that, as a medical professional, it is not their job to assume or decide what we know. They may witness births daily but they are not experiencing that birth in the same way that we are and this needs to be recognised. Medical Practitioners need to be more prepared for multiple questions and conversations during birth.
Birth Trauma Awareness in the future
Birth Trauma awareness week strives for better births and reduced rates of trauma. In order to achieve this it is essential that women are given the education and autonomy to make the best decision for them. This is a challenging idea particularly if someone’s life may be depending on the decision. I do not envy medical staff in this position. However, taking someone’s right of informed consent away and leaving them to live with the consequences is not the answer.
What if Women’s Health Physio appointments were made accessible to all women during pregnancy? And what if detailed birth education was standard practice? At present these things seem only available to those who can afford it.
Both women and the medical practitioners need to be given a better chance at reducing birth trauma through earlier education and informed consent. This is not an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ problem, this is multifaceted and must be treated as such.
Kate Turtiainen runs Bay Active PT in Batemans Bay, New South Wales . Learn more about Kate and Book your Trial today.