Guest post from Theo Clarke MP: “It was the most terrifying experience of my entire life. I thought I was going to die. But the lack of support afterwards has left me determined to improve care for new mothers.”

[NicolaDMumsnet]

My own experience of birth trauma has led me to team up with Mumsnet and launch a survey this summer to find out more about other mums’ labour and aftercare experiences in maternity wards up and down the country. If you have been affected, please get involved and answer the questions. It will help a great deal with this campaign for better care and treatment.

Birth trauma is an issue that is not talked about enough, and I have made it my mission to do so we can drive change in government and in the NHS.

It’s not about politics but all about better care and consideration for mums who have gone through difficult births and who feel they were let down or not given the information and postpartum care they needed and deserved. Of course, many mums have great experiences when they give birth, and many, many midwives do a great job, but when it doesn’t go well, I believe there has been a culture in this country of silence that has meant what has gone wrong is often repeated.

Working with Mumsnet and with the Birth Trauma Association , I hope to put this issue firmly in the national consciousness and work for better procedures and better care for mums who suffer birth trauma. In parliament, I have set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Birth Trauma with my Labour colleague Rosie Duffield MP to drive change with the government. We have a big job to do, but it’s one I am committed to achieving, and I need your help.

I am now a mum to a happy, healthy daughter Arabella. But in August last year, I was lying on a hospital bed and bleeding heavily with my daughter taken away.

After 40 hours of labour, those first few precious moments with her were denied to me as I was taken away for emergency surgery without a general anaesthetic for a third-degree tear that took two hours to resolve. It was the most terrifying experience of my entire life. I thought I was going to die. But the lack of support afterwards has left me determined to improve care for new mothers. 

My own experience has left me in no doubt that a Birth Trauma Association (BTA) figure that an estimated 20,000 women a year develop postnatal post-traumatic stress disorder following labour is accurate. The BTA also found as many as 200,000 women may also feel traumatised by childbirth and develop some of the symptoms of PTSD.

And I can understand why. I discovered I was bleeding and then it was pandemonium. 

I just remember the trolley bumping into the walls and all the medical staff taking me to the theatre and being separated from my daughter. I am immensely grateful to the brilliant surgeons who stitched me up and took care of me. 

But while on a recovery ward after my surgery, I encountered one nurse who had not bothered to read my notes and assumed I had had a C-section. I was hooked up to a catheter, a drip and was paralysed from the waist down. I was lying in bed, with my baby in a cot next to me, and she was screaming. This was my first child and I couldn't pick her up so I pressed the call button, and a lady came in and said 'not my baby, not my problem' and then just left me.

It was totally unacceptable behaviour, especially when you're extremely vulnerable, you're in a huge amount of pain, your baby is screaming next to you, and then they don't even provide basic care.

A caring, supportive attitude costs nothing and we need to do better than this.

Already many mums have contacted me, and I have met with women who are part of the Birth Trauma Association in parliament who told me their harrowing stories. Many suffered much more than me, but we all took comfort in knowing we are not alone.

It’s now time to stand up and work to drive change in how we deal with traumatic birth and postpartum care in this country. Please get involved by filling in the survey and join me on this journey.



Twitter: @theodoraclarke

[AmbleInAnnBoleyn]

I am so sorry. As you have found out, you are not alone.

Survey completed. Best wishes with your campaign, Theo.

[Ailsamary]

I am so sorry you had to suffer like this. May I suggest that you also reach out to the poor lass whom has been in the news recently about her totally unsupported birth (and loss) whilst in prison.

I agree that this may be slightly different but she was let down by maternity services along with the prison.

Stay strong this is an excellent thing you are doing

[FannyCann]

Very sorry you suffered this and well done for seeking to change culture around maternity care.

Masic Foundation also help support women who have suffered severe birth injuries.

There definitely needs to be change around this. Unfortunately midwives are working under such pressure due to under staffing that many are burnt out and even if they are not, just don't have time to give the level of care that should be the norm.

I also blame direct entry midwifery training.
They simply don't understand post operative care and pain relief having never worked in a surgical ward for instance.

masic.org.uk/

[SusanSHelit]

My only dc was born nearly a decade ago and I am so so sorry that your experience seems to have been almost identical to mine. Traumatic birth and the utter dehumanisation I felt is a big part of why I only have one dc. I'm perfectly fertile (in fact conceived while on bc).

Survey filled, as you can see, you are very much not alone

Surely it's time for an overhaul of midwifery?

[Flossiemoss]

I agree it is a worthwhile cause and I wish you every success. However, the statement a caring attitude “costs nothing” is fundamentally wrong.
it does cost. It cost money to ensure enough pay and reward to entice midwives into the profession. It cost enough money to staff the wards well so that midwives have the time to care. It costs money to ensure the wards are staffed to allow ongoing training of staff. It costs enough money that nurses and midwives don’t need to work extra hours and overtime to avoid food banks. It costs money for nhs staff to be well supported and well led to avoid burnout. It costs money to ensure the culture is caring and supportive.

in short if you want to achieve a caring service, you need to ensure your government is willing to invest in the service to provide the resources of staff with time to care..

I agree it is very important that midwifery care is improved so that birth trauma is reduced to as minimum as possible, however by devaluing the emotional labour of health care professionals as “costs nothing” you straightaway ensure that your worthwhile campaign fails. Your government has under invested in the nhs for the last 10+ years

if you truly want to change the culture and ensure every woman gets the care that you wished you had, you need to start lobbying your boss to resource the service

[NameChangeBirthTrauma]

I filled in the survey when it was first published, as Theo Clarke had emailed it round to the women who had emailed her after her Times article. I sent a fair amount of detail about my PTSD after having my son to Theo and said it can be used anonymously. Some of what I experienced immediately after having my son was similar to Theo's.

While I obviously think it's great that Mumsnet, Theo Clarke, Rosie Duffield and The Birth Trauma Association are working together on this, the survey felt a bit confused about birth injuries and birth trauma.

I had a third degree tear from high forceps, and that made the first 6 weeks after the birth horrendous - and I needed an additional repair when he was 3, and I saw a women's health physio etc etc - but the PTSD that then emerged when my son was coming up to 2 was much more about the overall birth experience and the psychological impact of a hideous week in hospital etc. Because of the trauma I experienced I was unable to really articulate anything about the birth for years after, and only after therapy can I write this sort of thing and answer this sort of survey. I'm been very impressed, for example, that Theo Clarke can write about this when her baby isn't yet one; journalist Rhiannon Cosslet similarly wrote about it and asked for other women's stories when her baby was still under one.

@NicolaDMumsnet I wanted to just put a note about Q20 (I think it's only Q20 if you had a perineal tear, there are fewer questions if you didn't). It asks about being offered a 6 week check by your GP. I was given an appointment for a 6 week check with an obstetrician back at the hospital when I was discharged after the birth. My baby had his 6 week check with the GP. At neither was I asked about my mental health (this was nearly 13 years ago). I don't know what the expectation is now, but it seemed standard that if you'd had at least a 3rd or 4th degree tear you had your 6 week check back at the hospital.

I also thought it was routine to have a home visit from a health visitor within 2 weeks - we had one within 24 hours and she was one of the rudest HVs I've ever encountered, which contributed to the postnatal trauma.

[BitOutOfPractice]

I’m really sorry for your experience @theodora @theo. I also had a rough birth experience. It changes you.

how do you square this “campaign” with being a member of a government that has underfunded the nhs consistently for 13 years, scrapped early years support, and presided over continued stagnation in maternal mortality rates in the uk. Under the government that you are a part of. I wonder if you’ve taken much notice of the mortality rates among women of ethnic minorities in this country. Because it is an utter scandal. Come back here when YOUR government is prepared so put money into proper healthcare for Women in general and maternity healthcare in particular.

[AHF1968]

I’m immensely grateful to Theo Clarke, Rosie Duffield and Mumsnet for highlighting the effects of what is often appalling maternity care for women. I completed the survey but I couldn’t answer the question on my tear. My notes stated I lost 1 litre of blood and that I had a tear. I was stitched up and was told that it was the episiotomy they were stitching. I didn’t know about the tear until I read my notes afterwards and have no idea what degree it was and there was no room to add notes on the survey.

years later I saw a private doctor (as no menopause support was available on NHS and I had been struggling for 4 years) and I suggested that I had PTSD following a traumatic birth and he scoffed and laughed and made me feel silly for suggesting it

Much of this is rooted in misogyny from not just men but women too

[ArabeIIaScott]

@Flossiemoss

I agree it is a worthwhile cause and I wish you every success. However, the statement a caring attitude “costs nothing” is fundamentally wrong.
it does cost. It cost money to ensure enough pay and reward to entice midwives into the profession. It cost enough money to staff the wards well so that midwives have the time to care. It costs money to ensure the wards are staffed to allow ongoing training of staff. It costs enough money that nurses and midwives don’t need to work extra hours and overtime to avoid food banks. It costs money for nhs staff to be well supported and well led to avoid burnout. It costs money to ensure the culture is caring and supportive.

in short if you want to achieve a caring service, you need to ensure your government is willing to invest in the service to provide the resources of staff with time to care..

I agree it is very important that midwifery care is improved so that birth trauma is reduced to as minimum as possible, however by devaluing the emotional labour of health care professionals as “costs nothing” you straightaway ensure that your worthwhile campaign fails. Your government has under invested in the nhs for the last 10+ years

if you truly want to change the culture and ensure every woman gets the care that you wished you had, you need to start lobbying your boss to resource the service

All of this is worth noting.

A caring attitude relies on workers that are not overworked, that are paid adequately, that have good reliable equipment, facilities and working conditions.

[ResisterRex]

Thank you for the attention to this. What passes for maternity care in this country is shocking. We can do better and it does not need to cost the earth.

[Watermonkey13]

Instead of wasting NHS money on loads of uneccesary interventions for healthy, low risk pregnant women, money should be spent on hiring more midwives

I gave birth 3 months ago and suspect my midwife was under pressure from understaffing which led to my horrific birth experience. My birth plan aiming for a physiological birth was ignored and I was coerced into risky and uneccesary interventions despite only being in gentle early labour for 16 hours. This is not that long for a first baby. Well according staff I was taking too long. After fighting my corner through 12 hours and 3 cervical checks I allowed interventions which led directly to an emergency cesarean as my cervix and baby were not ready. This wastes NHS money. I now have PTSD and PND, which has forvered marred the birth of my longed for first baby and I am limited on how many children I can have in the future.

So it cost the NHS more to damage me and my baby. Why would you have a system that does this?

Why do hospitals meddle so much in the getting baby out bit, but trust womens bodies to do the concieving, growing and feeding? And the meddling has been proven to lead to worse outcomes. The system is so warped and broken.

I will be writing to Theo Clarke in due course.