'My body went into shock during traumatic birth – docs had to pull my baby out'
A woman says childbirth was so traumatic doctors were forced to pull her baby out and she was left violently shaking for days afterwards.
Meg Jones, 38, and her partner, David, 40, both from Kingston, south west London, had done everything they could to have prepared for the birth Jude. But neither of them could have been expected the horror that awaited them as she feared for her life while welcoming their son.
Originally, Meg was meant to have a water pool birth but it quickly became apparent something wasn’t right. After hours of pushing, their baby boy's heart rate dropped dramatically and nurses realised the unborn tot was stuck in the mum’s birthing canal.
Within seconds, she was rushed to an emergency labour room and a dozen doctors gathered around her. "I was in such a state of shock I didn't even know what to think," Meg, who is the founder and CEO at Postpartum Plan and a reflexologist said. "I remember being pulled out of the birth pool and into a wheelchair and then suddenly in a room with 12 doctors and professionals around me. She now now runs a revolutionising postpartum support company for all expectant and new parents.
She spoke of her trauma after complications very late on (Jam Press)
Meg with kids Jude and Georgia and her partner David (Jam Press)"This was a big difference from the quiet and calm birth room with just my husband and the midwife! Jude had flipped back-to-back at the last minute so the breaking of the waters meant that I was pushing him out back-to-back which was incredibly painful. I was in a daze as I was put on the bed and told I needed an episiotomy and the use of ventose to pull Jude out as soon as possible."
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Doctors successfully managed to deliver Jude but the nightmare continued as Meg was allowed just 20 seconds with her newborn – and was reportedly told there was “risk of brain damage”. It was from this point that the mum’s mental health began to take a turn for the worse. While in hospital, she spent all of her time and energy in looking after her son, neglecting her own needs.
She told NeedToKnow.co.uk: "When Jude was finally out he was put on me for skin-to-skin for about 20 seconds – enough for us to look into each other's eyes, which felt magical. Suddenly I was told that he was being sent to the neonatal ward for risk of brain damage, and then he was gone.
"I was left post-birth with my husband and a postpartum body but without our baby. After the birth, my body went into a complete shock response. I went into autopilot and my one aim was to get my milk into his tubes.
"I obsessively pumped using the hospital pump every three hours for the three days that Jude was in neonatal. I sat next to his bedside for hours reading books so he heard my voice. However, my body also underwent a full trauma response during those days separated from Jude.
"Every night for those three nights I woke up in the hospital bed alone shaking violently and freezing cold (in the middle of an August heatwave). The nurses didn't know what was going on; knowing what I know now, I believe it was my body releasing the stuck trauma from my body.”
A week after the traumatic experience, Meg and Jude were finally discharged. But the nightmare continued as the new mum struggled with PTSD, insomnia and diastasis recti [a condition where the stomach muscles separate due to being stretched during pregnancy]. Meg feels that while her son received great care, her own symptoms were left untreated with little support from healthcare professionals.
She said: "We were rarely asked if we were okay or needed support. We were not referred for trauma support and we didn't have anyone come in to talk about the birth and what happened. Another issue I had was a massive oversupply of breast milk.
"The oversupply caused Jude to have wind and me to have engorged breasts and an uncomfortable feeding journey. I was also not told that the antibiotics and morphine would cause his tummy to be unsettled so when Jude developed reflux I blamed myself and my breastmilk, and gave up feeding after 11 weeks.
"If I had known about the impact of the antibiotics on his tummy I could have found the support we both needed to continue feeding." Meg also experienced birth flashbacks, reading obsessively about baby health and developed a fear of meeting other parents, as well as health anxiety.
She soon found solace in helping others who had gone through something similar, using her own experience to launch Postpartum Plan – a holistic online programme providing emotional and physical recovery to parents. She said: "Postpartum Plan was created to bridge the gap of support between pregnancy and postpartum.
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"A gap that I felt so acutely after Jude, but I also saw in other parents through my reflexology practice with friends and online. It has taken about four years to fully heal. Some things like the insomnia stopped after I got pregnant second time, the birth trauma was healed by my work so that was the ultimate therapy. But it is definitely a work in progress!"
Since Jude’s birth in August 2016, Meg and David have gone on to have two more children, Georgia, five, and Peggy, who is seven months old. Jude is now a happy and healthy six-year-old boy and suffered no long-term effects.
Meg added: "I have made it my mission to revolutionise postpartum care by providing emotional and physical support for all parents during the first year postpartum. Seven years later and two more babies in my arms, I know a lot more about postpartum recovery and the lack of support our society truly gives new parents.
"Georgia and Peggy's births were without complication. Georgia was born in a birth pool at the same hospital that Jude was born in and my only requirement was to not be in the same birth room as I was with Jude.
"As soon as I walked into the birth room and realised I had been given a different room my waters broke and she was born 15 minutes later – I clearly relaxed! "Peggy's birth was a home birth, which some people find crazy given Jude's birth, but by then I had developed Postpartum Plan and knew the emotional therapy I needed. I am on a mission to revolutionise postpartum care through proper education, expertise and empowerment."
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