Down to Birth #164 | Kendra's Story: A Traumatic Birth Due To Hospital Policy and Poor Training
Kendra grew up around physiologic birth and was a VBAC, breech baby herself. She was planning a birth center birth when she went into labor unexpectedly at 35 weeks. Her physiologic birth plans quickly went out the window as she was continuously monitored, poorly treated, stalled around 7 cm, got an epidural and ended up with a C-section when her baby's heart rate dropped. Despite being born with excellent APGAR scores, her baby was whisked away from her and sent to the NICU for five days, where she had limited access and wasn't able to breastfeed on her terms.
Later, she was accused of drug use when they found opiates in her urine (forgetting that she had an opioid in her epidural), was threatened with her baby dying when she refused antibiotic eye ointment, and was questioned about taking her baby home with mild jaundice upon discharge. Every step of Kendra's hospital experience was dictated by policy and protocol rather than individualized care, leaving her with post traumatic stress and delayed bonding.
She shares her story today to help women understand that obstetric violence is real, but healing is possible and bonding with your baby always happens.
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