Should impending fatherhood be so scary?
The lovely Professor Cheryl Beck who researches birth trauma is doing another study with TABS NZ, this time into fathers and their responses to witnessing traumatic pregnancy and/or birth. Anything that adds to our knowledge around birth trauma is important to me and I encourage people to get on board with this study. Joyous Birth has been participating in TABS and Beck’s studies for some years now, including this article about anniversaries and birth trauma, something many women experience.
I have more info on the study I’m happy to email if you send me your email address. janet (at) janetfraser (dot) id (dot) au
Many of us find birth trauma hits us over the end of year seasonal time, as do other traumas, so spare a thought for our sisters who are living with this pain.
May peace be yours.
I am glad to see that studies are beginning! I think fathers are the forgotten voice in this culture of violence surrounding pregnancy, birth and parenting.
My own father had a lot to process after my birth, stuff that still affected our relationship for a long time. (He found a lot of healing with Christopher West’s books and we had a real heart to heart at one of West’s seminars). It is easy for people to recognize that the person being hurt is going to experience trauma. But what about the person who is forced to watch, feeling powerless to help the ones he loves? In some ways, I wonder if being a captive bystander is more painful than experiencing the abuse.
I think it’s a good idea to flesh out our understanding of the ripple effects of brutality in hospitals. I would hesitate to say it is worse however since watching someone have their vagina cut open doesn’t really rate against being the screaming woman having her vagina cut open. It is however still a traumatic experience of that there is no doubt. It is a bit of a slippery slope to claim that other people are experiencing something worse than the woman being raped. I hope that studies like this will also help the many women whose partners deny that birthrape exists or that the woman’s experience of trauma is not to be believed. The researcher is hoping to spread the word about her research so feel free to send to everyone you know!
I feel so glad that my husband was able to experience two peaceful, safe homebirths of his two biological children, and spared the horribly traumatatic hospital birth experience I had with my oldest child (whom he adopted). To him, birth has only been an empowering, shared family experience.