Roses Revolution Day

I quickly rush to the hospital. I'm a little late today. My shift starts soon! As I walk past, I notice some roses - pink roses to be precise - in front of the delivery room door. There aren't many.
I immediately remember the annual ROSES REVOLUTION DAY, which is today. This is where women who have experienced violence in the delivery room draw attention to their fate.
I start to think about it. I remember the many conversations I had in my practice about births with women who had experienced something like that. As I accompany women to the hospital to give birth, I have witnessed some traumatic experiences. Traumatizing from the women's perspective. Not all situations were immediately recognizable to us as such. Tracing women's feelings in an exceptional situation requires a certain amount of sensitivity in the delivery room.

Mental and physical injuries leave scars

But there are also some unbelievable stories from women! For many years now I have been very sensitive to things that women can experience as traumatizing. Mental and physical injuries from episiotomies that were carried out at the wrong moment and thus caused great pain. Or cuts that were simply not necessary from the women's point of view and therefore not wanted. These women in labor find the mere fact that they were actively injured by human hands to be a terrible experience.
Caesarean sections, which in the eyes of the patients were either carried out too early or unnecessarily, are also among these traumatizing experiences. Or verbal violence. Words that were very insensitive or out of place and therefore left deep scars.

Every day I experience that communication between the carers is one, if not THE most important, factor in making the birth experience as positive as possible.
Unfortunately, situations and activities that many women perceive as violence in obstetrics cannot always be avoided during childbirth. Sometimes the situation requires us to act immediately. It happens that we push on the abdomen during contractions or perform an episiotomy in order to bring the baby into the world healthy and well. However, it is also possible here to get the woman on board and to experience the birth together, intensively but with dignity.

Always seek conversation after stressful situations

After a birth that was traumatic for the woman, I always recommend talking to your midwife afterwards. She can often help to explain and better process certain moments of the birth. But sometimes just listening can be very healing and valuable. Situations and the emotions associated with them must be discussed and mourned. Midwives should and must be able to reflect objectively in such situations without taking what is said personally or slipping into a defensive role.

Mistakes happen - even by professionals. Especially when it comes to communication, everyone in the healthcare profession can and should always be self-critical. We work in a very vulnerable area. Words alone, but also the melody of speech, are important tools for changing a situation or the memory of a birth for the better.
However, we are also dependent on nature and circumstances. In the heat of the moment, in emergency situations, in decisions that need to be made quickly. You don't always have the time to find the right words, to give the woman enough time to adjust to the situation, or you sometimes have to carry out very unpleasant actions. The midwives, doctors, etc. are not always responsible for what happens. It may also be the case that no one is responsible for the situation that has arisen.

Better working conditions and enough time for care

With this in mind, I would like to conclude my thoughts and plead for us all to work together. For the women, the families, the children, the midwives and the doctors, in order to be sustainable here too. Our goal must be for women to emerge from childbirth as unscathed as possible. Women play one of the most important roles in the continued existence of humanity. We must continue to enjoy having children and we must emerge from the topic of birth as trauma-free as possible. Because "children are our future".
But hospital staff must also be able to provide proper obstetric care with plenty of joy and creativity, but also the necessary seriousness and professionalism, through feasible working conditions, enough time for care and time to think. In addition, there are a few things that can be learned from other sectors - such as the IT sector - when it comes to recruitment and pay in line with responsibility!

Let us try together again to make women’s birth experiences a valuable and healing memory.