After Bria Tyack gave birth to her son, she was left with permanent nerve damage in her back and had to find a way to navigate the trauma she’d experienced.
The nerve damage came about after four failed epidural attempts, at which point, a surgeon told her they could continue or she could have a C-section. Bria chose the C-section, but the pain didn’t end there.
“I was very emotional at this point,” Bria tells Women’s Agenda. “My husband was very emotional. We hadn’t had any time to ourselves to discuss anything, so I just thought, let’s get this over and done with.”
When she went in for the C-section, Bria says the midwife ignored her and her two biggest supporters became her husband and, luckily, the anesthesiologist, who held her hand the whole time.
“They started to cut into me, and I started to shake, and my anesthesiologist asked me what was wrong, and I advised her that I could actually see what they were doing in the lights above me because they hadn’t pulled the curtain up far enough to block out the mirroring light,” Bria says.
“I was actually watching them cut into me, and I went into shock.”
At that point, Bria heard a nurse yell at the other professionals in the room that this was the third time something like that had happened that week. They continued to cut into Bria and she says she screamed when they got to her uterus because the anesthesia hadn’t been enough to stop her feeling the sensation.
Once they pulled her baby out, the cord was wrapped around his throat twice, which Bria says “if they had done an ultrasound at any point, they might have seen that”.
While her son is now healthy, Bria continues to grapple with everything that happened that day.
A couple weeks after her birth, a midwife was at Bria’s house and pointed out that the experience was ‘traumatic’, which is something that Bria hadn’t initially realised.
“I just kept telling the story so much and laughing about it, and I didn’t realise until a midwife actually pointed it out to me […]. She said, ‘I don’t think you realise it, but you’re actually traumatised’.”
“It was probably about a week after the C-section, and I hadn’t actually thought about it until she said that, and I just broke down,” Bria says.
Birth trauma awareness
While Bria’s experience giving birth is harrowing, she’s unfortunately not alone. New research released today reveals almost all (98 per cent) of those who experienced birth-related trauma report ongoing physical injury or unmanaged pain.
In line with Birth Trauma Awareness week, the data from Birth Trauma Australia (BTA) shows distressing or emergency procedures (69.6 per cent) and poor management of pain or physical injuries (53.8 per cent) are the most significant contributors to birth trauma and can lead to significant mental health impacts.
“Our findings lay bare the complex reality of birth for people in Australia. Physical injuries are widespread and often go undiagnosed, leading to profound and long-lasting impacts on mental health. This isn’t just about pain; it’s about dignity, autonomy, and basic human rights,” says Amy Dawes, co-founder and CEO of Birth Trauma Australia and 2023 Order of Australia recipient.
The survey findings support Birth Trauma Australia’s calls for a National Strategy for the Care and Treatment of Birth Injuries.
Leaving women to suffer in silence, current barriers to treatment include a lack of follow-up care, misdiagnosis, high cost and dismissal of symptoms. Birth Trauma Australia says there needs to be more resourcing for early screening, postnatal rehabilitation and long-term monitoring.
“We cannot continue to treat birth injuries as an ‘expected’ part of childbirth. We urgently need a National Strategy to help address the gaps in the treatment and support for women,” says Dawes.
“This plan must ensure consistent and equitable care pathways by equipping every healthcare professional with the knowledge to identify and manage these injuries. We need to move towards a proactive, trauma-informed system that connects impacted families with the support they need to heal.”
For Bria, her experience has left her with a deep desire for change, as she doesn’t want other women to have to go through a traumatic birth.
“Everyone experiences trauma differently, and depending on what you’ve gone through in the past as well, a small trauma to one person could be such a significant trauma to the next person,” Bria says.
“To anyone who thinks that something’s off or thinks that something wasn’t right, that’s how you feel. No one can tell you that how you feel is wrong. They’re your feelings, they’re your emotions, they’re your experiences.”