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Privacy Notice For some, giving birth can be the most magical of experiences – but that’s not always the case. As highlighted recently by the Birth Trauma Inquiry and by celebrities including Louise Thompson, childbirth can be a traumatic experience. With this week (15-21 July) marking Birth Trauma Awareness Week, TV presenter and dating expert, Anna Williamson, ambassador for the Birth Trauma Association, is opening up about her own experience. When she gave birth to her son Enzo in 2017, Anna had a two and a half litre haemorrhage after having a forceps delivery. “He was two weeks overdue and it was a very long labour. It was a 40-hour labour, which did result in birth interventions. I ended up having a forceps delivery. The whole process was deeply traumatic for me because I, like many women can attest to, felt so very out of control,” she tells OK!.
Anna Williamson has opened up about her own experience of a traumatic birth
(Image: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock for NTA)
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“I remember the procedure happening and just feeling as though my body wasn’t my own anymore. It was a vessel that was in the hands of others, and I felt helpless. They weren’t doing anything wrong, but I felt helpless at that moment.” Following the birth of her son, Anna, 42, who is also co-host of podcast LuAnna: The Podcast alongside Luisa Zissman, was left suffering from PTSD and depression. And she’s not alone. According to NHS England, perinatal mental illness affects up to one in five new and expectant mums. “The mental impact was enormous. It was life changing. This trauma stays with mothers for the rest of their lives. This trauma will stay with me for the rest of my life. I’ve learned to process it, but I think birth, because it is so common, the impact it has on the mother is underestimated by so many,” she says. “I think so many women are silenced into ‘oh but you must be so happy you’ve had a baby. There are people worse off than you’, that we bury our trauma. But it doesn’t go anywhere, it stays internal and with time it just gets bigger.
Anna is speaking up to mark Birth Trauma Awareness Week
(Image: Instagram / Anna Williamson)
“Seven years ago it wasn’t a topic that was talked about. And so then I had the most horrific breakdown, which affected my initial bonding with my son and then it greatly changed my decision over having another baby. I did go on to have another baby, which was a miracle, but by design, I had a planned C-section and I paid to go privately.” With the theme of Birth Trauma Awareness Week this year being informed consent, a survey launched to mark the campaign found that two in five women giving birth have had procedures performed on them without their consent. As many other women share their own experience of birth trauma, Anna admits there’s a “deep empathy” with those who have been through similar. “There is, I wouldn’t say comfort, I’d say there’s a deep empathy, but also an enormous sadness that other women felt those terrible depths of despair that I did because you really wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy. What should be the happiest time of your life can be the blackest and most desperate time of your life all because of the way that your birth was handled,” she says.
“You really wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy,” says Anna
(Image: Instagram / Anna Williamson)
Seven years on since her first birth, Anna is on a mission to help raise awareness of birth trauma and is determined to help stop other women going through traumatic childbirths. As for what she’d say to her past self all those years ago? It’s an emotional one. “I would say, ‘don’t worry, babe, it is going to be okay. Hang in there.’ This is what I say to every new mum that reaches out to me. I just say, ‘hang on in there, kid. You keep talking, keep sharing your feelings. Double down on the ones that you love and trust. You will get through this. The brighter days will come. Don’t be brave and think you have to suck it up. Say you need help and whatever it takes for you to get help, reach out for it. Take it and it will get better,’” she adds. “For me, the biggest moment of catharsis I had, which was a very emotional moment, was when I realised that actually I was a good mum and that I have always loved my baby. I was just poorly in those early months. I’d like to reassure myself back then because I’m not defined by my birth experience. I know I’m a brilliant mum because I care, and that really is enough.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnLouise ThompsonCelebs Go DatingParentingReal Life
