De-Brief from a traumatic birth.

[jodiekidd]

I gave birth around 9 months ago to my second child and the birth was very quick and quite traumatic.

Most days I feel fine but other days it can play on my mind and haunt me a bit.

I believe there is a de brief service, done by the hospital, that can go through what happened and explain why.

Has anyone done this and did it help? Did
You have to go into the hospital for it?

I'm in the U.K.

I had this. Someone from the team came to my home to talk through it with me I think. (Small possibly that I am remembering incorrectly and it was at the hospital, but I am pretty sure it was at home). I didn’t find it hugely helpful for me . Mainly because there were things I was angry about regarding my treatment, that were very much fudged over. If you just need to talk through your experience and have some reassurance, or aspects explained, then it might be more helpful.
Try and write down a list of questions, and either record the meeting or have someone else with you. It can be upsetting and emotionally difficult going over it again , so it is easy to not take in what is said.

I was so tired, so drugged up I don’t remember a lot of what happened. Therefore I found the debrief useful to go through it all and the reasons for the medical interventions

I’m sorry this happened to you. I had a rough first birth and had a debrief when I was pregnant the second time. I requested it through my midwife and it was on zoom with a senior midwife from the hospital.

She was very kind and talked me through my notes in detail; she could tell me everything that had happened and explain why things had gone the way they did. I cried a lot but I think I needed to.

She also put me in touch with the midwife who had advocated for me so strongly so I could thank her, which was really healing. For me it answered a lot of questions and let me know that my experience had been unusual and in some ways wrong - something I suspected but, as a first time mother, hadn’t known for sure.

I have done this. It helped hugely. Many hospitals refer to it as a birth reflections appointment. You may wish to request your notes separately, for which there may be a charge. I would probably do this before the appointment if I was going to do it, in case it raised more questions for me.

I’m sorry you had a traumatic time. If you’re not already familiar with it, you may find the Birth Trauma Association website helpful. They also have a closed Facebook page which I found to be hugely helpful in terms of peer support from other women who have experienced birth trauma.