27/03/2026
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💔 Studies in England and Australia found that over 40% of women described their birth experience as traumatic. And Dr. Stu Fischbein believes that number is probably double, because the definition of trauma used in those studies was too narrow.
Being spoken to harshly during labor, receiving an unwanted vaginal exam, an episiotomy performed without consent, being forced into a C-section, or simply being dismissed and ignored entirely are all forms of trauma, and most of it goes unmeasured.
Every woman loves her baby. A large percentage of women are not happy about the way their baby came into the world. Those two things are not in conflict with each other, and it is past time we stopped acting like they are.
There is also a meaningful distinction worth understanding. A woman who starts with a home birth and ends up with a C-section is very likely to know that a C-section was necessary. A woman who goes to the hospital for her birth and ends up with a C-section has a very good chance of having received one that was iatrogenic, meaning caused by the medical intervention itself.
Birth should be one of the most powerful experiences of a woman’s life, one she will remember until her final day. Far too many women are carrying something very different. 👇
Watch full episode 468 at TheHighWire.com
