Time and time again I met women whose experiences were far from my own. Who were left in the aftermath of birth to pick up the pieces of emotional, physical, psychological trauma; typically alone without access to the right support, care or even understanding, not to mention all the while manoeuvring motherhood often for the first time.
My heart ached for these women, motherhood is hard enough, entirely consuming and often lonely. Navigating it with the scars than a less than fruitful birthing experience is a dangerous concoction. The good news however - its entirely avoidable.
In my experience as a Doula, with the right access to information, the right support and the right to irrefutable freedom of choice to birth however you desire this doesn’t have to be our blueprint for birth. In fact, it can’t be!
Women’s bodies aren’t broken they aren’t less capable now than centuries before. Our systems however are. Only by changing the way we view and approach birth can the way we birth begin to change.
