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Giving birth is never easy – but if the experience is particularly traumatic, whether it’s whilst giving birth or a traumatic event during the postnatal period, it can be even harder to make a quick recovery, and you may struggle to get on with life. Some women may even develop PTSD – it’s not something to be taken lightly, but there are things that can help make recovery easier. Read on to find out exactly what you can do to make a traumatic birth easier.
Get the Right Support
The most important thing after a traumatic birth is to reach out for support – whatever has happened, it will be ten times harder if you do it on your own. Talk to friends and family about how you feel and what you are thinking, as well as what you experienced if you feel that you can talk about it. Try to pick people who you think will be the most understanding – even though most people will be well-intentioned, what they say may come off as dismissive, and leave both of you feeling worse than before. Be honest about your feelings, too – sugar coating it will only leave that burden pushed down inside of you, when it needs to be out in the open before you can process it and work with it. You should also seek professional help from a therapist or psychologist to help you work through those feelings – they’ll be able to help you move back on track and in time, move forward.
Work on Loving Yourself
A traumatic birth might make you feel negative emotions – anger, hatred, depression. It can be easy to get lost in a black hole of negative thoughts and lose focus on yourself and your life. That’s why it’s important to take steps to start loving yourself again – try to take up activities such as gentle yoga to help give your body a bit of TLC at a time it desperately needs it. Mindfulness and meditation are also great in re-establishing a sense of calm and making you feel a little less burdened during your recovery. Exercising lightly, for example walking, is also important in keeping yourself active physically and mentally, and will help you regain strength in the weeks to come.
Identify Any Mistreatment
It’s common to feel anger at the doctors or midwives who helped you with your birth if it was traumatic – and often this is justified. Perhaps you weren’t helped with your pain, or your baby developed a condition such as cerebral palsy due to risks that just weren’t dealt with. If so, you can seek help to get the compensation you deserve – contacting someone such as The Medical Negligence Experts will help you make a claim on your mistreatment. It won’t change the past, but it will help you and your child be able to move forward in the future.
A traumatic birth can be one of the hardest things someone can experience, but with the right help and support, eventually you’ll be able to reach a point where things feel normal again – it just takes time.
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