https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/read-me daily 0.75 2024-08-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522343566899-AEVXD3OEHR209BK2DWU0/20180329_174539_0001.png Testimonials - "Gemma and Miriam are amazing and the best thing since sliced bread....."etc https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/about daily 0.75 2026-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522343710827-D9O8Z7JICYBSFEYIIX8X/20180329_174448_0001.png About us Gemma Nealon & Miriam Martin are practising midwives who are passionate about...... (summary intro about us working together and why....) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/9b452551-3c44-4a9a-9268-003f23802fd3/Gemma+-+sept2022_031.jpg About us https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/about-birth-trauma daily 0.75 2021-10-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522342667901-VUMUKA0KM6IUZDBNY98E/20180329_174613_0001.png Perinatal Trauma, Grief & Tokophobia - Birth Trauma... Birth trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurring after childbirth. Whilst PTSD is normally associated with events such as traffic accidents, war-related experiences, and large-scale disasters, people can suffer from PTSD following a traumatic perinatal experience. PTSD is caused by the failure of the brain to process memories in the normal way, so that a trauma and fear that happened in the past still feels real and present. People suffering from birth trauma may constantly be reliving what happened in their mind, may be experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, feel overly emotional or hyper vigilant. These symptoms are the mind's way of trying to make sense of an extremely scary experience. Everyone experiences PTSD differently but almost all describe themselves as lonely, anxious and exhausted. In some cases, due to lack of awareness and education, woman are mistakenly diagnosed as having postnatal depression, whilst birth partners and healthcare professionals are diagnosed as having depression. Whilst these illnesses share some symptoms they are separate and require different treatments. Trauma and PTSD symptoms can be treated quickly, often in one session and do not require medication; trauma or PTSD untreated however can cause depression which may require medication. Mothers - Around 6% of women are diagnosed with traumatic stress after childbirth. However, it is believed that a further 20 – 25% of women have symptoms that go undiagnosed. This statistic concerns birth trauma and therefore overall perinatal trauma, such as fertility, pregnancy or postnatal trauma is potentially a lot higher. This trauma can not only cause postnatal depression, it can effect bonding with your baby, your relationships with your family members and cause anxiety. In extreme cases it can cause a mother to take her own life. The cause of perinatal trauma is unique to each woman however some may experience trauma from the experience of feeling loss of control, not feeling listened to, fear of their babies safety, induction of labour, premature birth, medical intervention, an unwell baby resulting from birth trauma, baby's stay in SCBU/ NICU, unsatisfactory postnatal care or emergency situations like an emergency caesarian birth or postpartum haemorrhage, breastfeeding problems or repeated sleep deprivation. It is important to mention that an uncomplicated physiological vaginal delivery, may still have felt very traumatic to the mother. Please read the blog we did for the Fathers Network Scotland on Father’s and birth trauma here. Fathers, birth partners - Fathers and birth partners can experience birth trauma from witnessing a traumatic birth or experience. They may have experienced an intense fears of harm to the mother and newborn or partner pain, feelings of anger and helplessness when they were excluded from decision making or denied the ability to provide support, or fear of high-risk intervention. They may have experienced a traumatic postnatal experience or a previous loss of a baby. They may feel traumatised for the same reasons as mothers. Healthcare professionals- Including midwives, obstetricians, nurses, theatre staff and clinical support workers, maternity support workers and students. Like fathers and birth partners healthcare professionals can also experience trauma. In fact research shows that at least one in 20 midwives have experienced symptoms of PTSD. This can be from being involved in the care of a traumatic birth, being involved in or feeling responsible for an adverse outcome, the trauma of an investigation, the stress of short staffing and bullying. For more details on the causes of birth trauma and PTSD please see the Birth Trauma Association website. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522431118917-K77VIFXSYFWF8CXAQ376/20180330_171852_0001.png Perinatal Trauma, Grief & Tokophobia - Trauma and grief are both complex things and in ways are intrinsically connected. Birth grief however may....still birth...failed IVF...etc https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/get-in-touch daily 0.75 2026-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522342552153-CSJGHT94OQQNOQU1YVK0/20180329_174659_0001.png Get in touch https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/welcome daily 1.0 2026-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522347194271-YQT8WD5JI4AWLCPEUHFV/20180329_190909_0001.png Welcome https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/96a2d703-5a96-4c68-b2f8-e924ff00d78f/gemma+-+sept2022_031.JPG Welcome - Hi, I’m Gemma Please get in touch if you would like to chat about how I can help you or if you would like to book a session with us. https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/the-solution daily 0.75 2026-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ab38e797e3c3a6406cfa682/1522431000204-095NF35PQJI06JB9G4QY/20180330_175925_0001.png The solution https://www.birthtraumascotland.com/terms-conditions daily 0.75 2018-05-01