E + E Podcast Episode 62: Processing Your Birth Trauma with @thebirthtrauma_mama
Listen to Episode 62
“So if your house is on fire, you do not go out your door and look out to see whose house is on fire or worse than yours. You either take care of your own fire or you call someone to get help. And so this idea of like, oh Susie down the street had a way worse birth trauma than me. Okay, we your house is still on fire while you’re looking at Susie’s fire and we can’t do anything about Susie’s fire. So take care of your own fire because you deserve that you deserve for your house to not burn down because you’re busy looking at other people’s houses who you think are worse”
ABOUT THE EPISODE
No two births are alike. Just as no two mother’s perception of her birth experience is alike. Trauma related to birth is in the eye of the beholder as Kayleigh Summers, licensed clinical social worker and birth trauma therapist, shares with us today. Kayleigh experienced a traumatic birth which she details in today’s episode. This experience is what led her to helping other moms process and work through their birth traumas and change the trajectory of their healing. Society leads us to believe that if we end up with a healthy baby, we should be grateful.
As we discuss with Kayleigh in today’s episode, your feelings of being traumatized are valid. Yes, you may have a healthy baby, but your experience and feelings matter. Those two emotions, grief and thankfulness, can coexist. Your thankfulness for your baby does not diminish your sadness around your traumatic experience. Kayleigh explains that early intervention with a therapist can drastically change the outcome of the feelings towards the birth. Processing the trauma properly with a professional can help make the triggers less triggering, especially if you plan on having more children, and therefore more birthing experiences, in the future. Kayleigh’s last encouragement is that no matter how long ago your trauma occurred, whether it was 20-30 years ago or more, it is never too late to seek help.
If you found today’s episode helpful, we would love it if you could share it to your Instagram stories and tag us, @thebirthtrauma_mama and @expectingandempowered. As we like to say, knowledge is power, and we just really want to give more people the information that they may need on their postpartum journey!
LINKS & RESOURCES:
Follow Kayleigh Summers on Instagram
Kayleigh’s Website
Kayleigh’s Podcast
Schedule a consultation with Kayleigh (and you live in PA or FL) at Holding Hope Perinatal
Expecting and Empowered App - Enter code 'PODCAST25' at checkout