image by: Wendy Kenin

HWN Suggests

Vaginal birth comes with risks too – so should it really be the default option?

When it comes to childbirth, vaginal delivery is often assumed to be the best thing – women have, after all, done it for thousands of years. But natural birth actually comes with risks, including tearing, haemorrhage and incontinence for the mother and injuries to the baby during labour. So why is it that the vast majority of pregnant women are only being warned about the risks of caesarean sections?

This could now change, as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are to discuss the current view of vaginal birth as the default option for childbirth in the UK. They will consider whether there’s merit in routinely discussing the relative risks and benefits of vaginal…

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Featured

 Millions are left with life-changing injuries after giving birth

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ figures show that fourth-degree tears — the most severe type, which involve the perineal muscle, anal sphincter and/or rectum being damaged — increased three-fold in the ten years to 2012 and are now at an all-time high.

 Suffering in silence: how Kenyan women live with profound childbirth injuries

Ending fistulas means eradicating both cultural and structural obstacles that put women at risk of developing preventable tragedies such as fistulas. It requires a complete overhaul of health infrastructure in Kenya to ensure that maternal care and women’s reproductive health are prioritised – and that no woman has to lose her life while trying to give one.

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According to doulas, women are often treated horribly while they're in labor, with medical professionals engaging in abusive behavior that ranges from nonconsensual episiotomies to sexual assault.

 We're really bad at making babies

Anatomical compromises from millions of years ago have made birth hard for humans.

Articles of Interest

A Mother’s Right to Life

Parents and medical professionals respond to an essay on America’s rising maternal mortality rate and the competing interests of mothers and doctors during childbirth.

After a devastating birth injury, hope

Obstructed labor can kill the mother, too, or crush her bladder, uterus and vagina between her pelvic bones and the baby's skull. The injured tissue dies, leaving a fistula: a hole that lets urine stream out constantly through the vagina. In some cases, the rectum is damaged and stool leaks out. Some women also have nerve damage in the legs.

America Is Blaming Pregnant Women for Their Own Deaths

What is it like to face dying during childbirth in the richest country in the world in the 21st century? For experts studying the United States’ maternal mortality and injury rates — which are estimated to far surpass those in other developed countries — and for women in labor, the failure to treat mothers as people is neither antiquated nor dystopian, but absolutely pressing.

Broken Vaginas – Understanding and healing Maternal Birth Injuries

In September 2020, I undertook on the journey of childbirth, anticipating the joy of welcoming my baby girl. However, what followed was a traumatic experience that shattered my expectations and left me with profound physical and emotional distress. Despite my careful physical and mental preparation during pregnancy, my labor stretched agonizingly over 26 hours, culminating in the loss of 1.5 liters of blood and a third-degree tear extending from my vagina to my anus. The violence of childbirth were mixed with the overwhelming love and pride I felt upon seeing my daughter for the first time. After the birth, I remained unaware of the extent of my injuries. Reassured by the doctor who stitched me after delivery and subsequent medical examinations...

Broken Vaginas: Healing the Hidden Wounds

‘Childbirth is often celebrated as a transformative experience, but for many women, it comes with physical trauma that overshadows the joy of bringing new life into the world. In September 2020, in Berlin, Germany, I embarked on the journey of childbirth, excited to welcome my baby girl. However, during labor, I suffered a third-degree tear from my vagina to my anus, resulting in a pelvic organ prolapse. Following the injury, I experienced persistent pelvic pain, a sensation of heaviness, and urinary and fecal incontinence. My vagina protruded to the point where I had to manually push the prolapsed tissue back in to function. It was a living nightmare.

Doctors who ignore consent are traumatizing women during childbirth

Disregard of consent during childbirth and the use of unwarranted interventions are more common than one might like to think.

Giving birth can be as hard on your body as running a marathon

The women studied were already at higher risk for birth injuries, so these percentages won't hold true for all women. But the researchers estimated that up to 15 percent of women sustain pelvic injuries that don't heal, and that the Kegel exercises doctors typically prescribe will do nothing to help those injuries.

Maternity Matters: Preventing Injuries During Childbirth

Maternity Matters webinar hosted in partnership with The MASIC Foundation, where we focused on what is being done to prevent women being injured during childbirth.

The Truth About Epidurals

Some (but not all) research suggests that they, more than other drugs, increase the risk that a doctor will use forceps or a vacuum extractor to pull the baby out of the birth canal, which can cause bruising and jaundice in the baby as well as vaginal injury. But newer epidurals reduce this risk...

Resources

MASIC Foundation

We are advocates for women and aim to change the lives of those injured during childbirth. The MASIC Foundation is the only multi-disciplinary UK charity to support women who have suffered severe injuries during childbirth known as OASI (Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries).

No Taboo Mom

No Taboo Mom is a blog that identifies and highlights key issues women face today. It is a taboo-free place with real-life stories about womanhood, childbirth, motherhood and postpartum. It is time to speak up and speak out, so join us. Read, learn and share your story with others. Your voice matters!