*SALE ends Friday* Trauma-Informed Lactation for Perinatal Nurses

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Learn how to use your previous birth experience to navigate a trauma-informed labor & delivery
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Can I Have A Trauma-Informed Labor & Delivery?

Yes!  You absolutely can have a trauma-informed labor & delivery!  But first you need to arm yourself with some knowledge – and I am here to help you do just that!  

Learn more from me on TikTok!

Before we go too far, let’s take a look at some definitions of birth-trauma.   

Here are three:

1. A birth that has involved events and/or care that has caused deep distress or disturbance to the birthing parent and the distress has outlived the immediate experience.

2. An event occurring during the labor & delivery process that involves actual or threatened serious injury or death to the birthing person or the infant. The birthing person experiences intense fear, helplessness, loss of control and horror.

3. Inside of healthcare, "birth-trauma" is actually still used to describe physical injury.

Is it important to know the definition of birth-trauma?  YES!!! 

I 100% believe this is important information. 

WHY???  Because birth-trauma is preventable and treatable.   

What If I Have Experienced Birth-Trauma In My Own Labor & Delivery?

I want you to know that just because you’ve experienced trauma, loss, or abandonment in the past, it doesn’t mean you’re going to have a traumatic birth this time. 

And if you do experience an emergency or something unexpected, it doesn’t mean that it will traumatize you, or re-traumatize you. 

Where Do I Go With All Of This???

Knowledge is POWER.

If your last birth experience was traumatic, I want you to use that experience to prepare for your next birth experience. 

Think of your traumatic experience as a lighthouse:  

A lighthouse is the beacon of light signals.  It is used to show boats where NOT to go.  A lighthouse gives information to stay out of the rocky area. 

It’s the same with a traumatic birth.  Use the information that you have from that birth experience:

  • to understand
  • to learn about the process
  • to learn about yourself

Then go get information from other sources (like The Ultimate Guide to Taking Control of Your Childbirth) so that you can create a new beacon for what you want this new, trauma-informed labor & delivery birth experience to look like.  

Do You Still Have FEAR?

Rather than living in the fear of your upcoming childbirth, I suggest you make a list of all of your fears.  I mean actually write them down.  Pen to paper.  Tackle each of the fears with information and a plan. 

Or, you could work with me in my Powerful Birth Planning Sessions to save yourself time and stress, while discovering what is best for you and your body. 

    

If you remember nothing else from this post, please remember this: 

Do not blame yourself for the traumatic birth experience you are processing. 

IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. 

Do you want to learn more about how to navigate your fears surrounding labor & birth?  Do you want to experience a trauma-informed labor & delivery?  

I can help you with that!  

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Mandy Irby
Mandy Irby is a board-certified labor nurse with 13 years of experience supporting survivors of assault and trauma through pregnancy, birth planning, and at their bedside during childbirth and pregnancy loss. Mandy is an international educator through her online, on-demand childbirth ed classes and community exclusively for nurses to shed the shame and powerlessness they feel to change the very system L&D nurses were setup to fail in. She's passionate about shaping the future of nursing to improve childbirth outcomes! As a creative educator, Mandy co-authored Amazon best-seller, Baby Got VBAC.  Many know her through her wildly popular, tongue-in-cheek social media platforms.

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