The relationship between early pregnancy loss, miscarriage and birth trauma
Our CEO Sam Payne was recently interviewed on SBS' new podcast series 'Hysterical' on her thoughts of the relationship between early pregnancy loss, miscarriage and birth trauma.
Listen to the podcast here, and read excerpts from the conversation below.
Miscarriage, in particular early pregnancy loss, is also often excluded in conversations around birth trauma. Samantha Payne has survived three miscarriages and is the founder of Pink Elephants Support - an organisation she established eight years ago to support people experiencing early pregnancy loss.
“After my second miscarriage, that was incredibly traumatic, that was what they call a natural miscarriage, which I describe it as anything other. I knew the baby had no heartbeat and that I'd started to miscarry naturally. I was given no useful advice. I was told it would be a heavy period. I gave birth at 3am in the shower alone with absolutely no support, no phone number to call, no one to ask what was normal, huge volume of blood. I didn't know what was normal or not. I then presented early at the hospital the next morning because I was terrified. And again, that was incredibly traumatic again with a lack of validation and support at all, and was told it's normal, you can go home now. It's all happened. Making decisions as to whether to keep the remains of your baby or not, or whether to take them to hospital for further testing. Again, no advice given on what's normal, what's not. So that was very, very traumatic.”
Lack of support
She was only directed to support after she asked following her second loss, but she says it was a later term loss organisation which she didn't connect with at the time.
“But I think what you find happens with miscarriage is that we don't label it as birth trauma because it's not even seen as birth. It's seen as a process that is medically managed to remove a foetus, is often what we're told. And for many, it's not a foetus, it's an embryo. So the language that we are given for the experience of early pregnancy loss disenfranchises it as birth. And so it can be incredibly difficult for our community to feel a connection to birth trauma. But after eight years of working in this space, I can definitely see the lines.”
Ms Payne says this lack of support is a critical problem as women are then more likely to develop poor mental health outcomes and are at greater risk of suicide. She says volunteers at Pink Elephants Support fill a crucial gap in care, which Ms Payne knows she would have found comforting following her miscarriages. “I can speak of one lady, Cheryl. Her losses were many, many years ago. She has grandchildren now, but she still chooses to give back to Pink Elephants community because the way that she was treated at that time through her losses was incredibly traumatic, there was no validation, no empathy, no support. And it stayed with her for such a long time that now she's chosen that actually one of the ways that she can actually process her own grief and move forward is to provide this support to others. So I guess that we get that incredible privilege now of changing the narrative.”
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Birth Trauma Inquiry
NSW Government recently held a birth trauma inquiry and recommendations 35 & 36 all covered aspects of early pregnancy loss and miscarriage care that Pink Elephants wholly supports being implemented statewide urgently.
These were that the NSW Government ensure dedicated spaces are available for parents experiencing miscarriage or stillbirth in all healthcare settings, including private waiting rooms separate from pregnant women, new mothers and babies, and that all maternity healthcare practitioners are provided training for bereavement support Recommendation 36. That the NSW Government improve psychological support for parents managing grief following pregnancy loss.
We Are Here. No Matter Where You Are.
For those currently struggling with the pain of miscarriage or early pregnancy loss, Pink Elephants offers a range of support online and over the phone.
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Image courtesy of World Health Organization article ' Why we need to talk about losing a baby'