The Obstetric Justice Project
Midwives
E.P.'s Story - St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario
“For my second pregnancy, I did everything I possibly could to get a midwife. My second birth experience - still in hospital, but led by my midwife - was calm and peaceful. It was still very slow, but my midwife allowed me to progress in the way that my body wanted, and asked for my consent for EVERY intervention. I felt in control, as she gave me advice and allowed ME to make choices. I had a successful VBAC in 2017. When my baby emerged, he was placed on my chest. We were able to gaze at each other and bond as I was stitched up. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
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Read MoreZ's Story - Maternity Care Midwives, Thunder Bay, Ontario
“This pregnancy I was very ill, and had many symptoms of ICP (Intraheptic cholestasis of pregnancy) but they refused to test me. At 39 weeks I was having contractions and was told to come back to consult the ob at the hospital. He took one look at my chart and said, “Induce her, she has ICP, we need to get this baby now.”
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Read MoreL.G.O.'s Story - Guelph General Hospital, Guelph, Ontario
“I was very anxious that I couldn't get much milk out. I needed to feed my baby and I really wanted to do it naturally. The lactation consultant must have said something to my midwife because that evening my midwife came in and said she wanted me monitored, and that she was going to send staff in every 3 hrs to make sure I was actually going to feed him and ***THAT SHE THOUGHT I HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ABUSED AS A CHILD*** based on when they were wheeling me into the OR she thought I was sucking my thumb (I was biting my first as the contractions were strong). She thought that was regressive behaviour that showed this. Seeing as I was being monitored as though I was an unfit mom, still raw from the surprise c-section, and awoken every 3 hrs anyway - I could not sleep. I know statistically that sexual abuse happens primarily among family members and all I could think, as thoughts raced through my mind instead of sleeping, was who had possibly sexually abused me? That was what my child's birth story became. I was raw with exhaustion, wired with this shocking piece of information, still very afraid and alone in terms of figuring out how to breastfeed my baby.”
”Words have huge impact around these completely life changing moments like childbirth. I would like the midwifery profession to know the extent of pain that this caused.”
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Read MoreT's Story - Peace Arch Hospital, White Rock, British Columbia
"I cannot rationalize the way I was treated, and as a health care provider myself it just erodes me to know this goes on day in and day out.
I had a sexual abuse history, but I find it absolutely absurd that you have to share that with people, just to get treated with more empathetic care in Obstetrics. All women should be assumed to have a trauma history given the statistics. And all women should be treated with empathy and compassion regardless of their abuse history. Also sorry, not sorry, not going to share that with someone just because you’re a health care provider, it's called building a therapeutic relationship. If you are asking me whether I've been sexually abused as a checklist, just like when my last menstrual period was, you probably aren't going to get an honest answer. I have been through significant gynaecological issues prior to childbirth and never felt traumatized by any procedure, despite my abuse history.”
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The Obstetric Justice Project
Survey Response - St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto
“As a Catholic teaching hospital, the cultural aversion to informed consent and bodily autonomy in your childbirth unit makes sense, however, some patients raised this culture as an area of concern in the feedback survey. You shared in your letter that you are “continuing to seek learning opportunities that expand care providers’ understanding of what obstetrical [sic] violence is and ways we can ensure patients don’t experience this under our care” In the meeting it was stated that “ideally we need to embed it into some standardized classes” but you were not able to speak to whether “obstetric violence” or “patient mistreatment” are terms that had come up at all yet, even in less formal conversations and huddles on the unit.
However, you expressed with certainty that there have still been no formalized discussions or training around what constitutes obstetric violence, and how to interrupt the cycle of obstetric violence in your Family Birthing Centre. It was also unclear whether the experiences of abuse and mistreatment some patients shared in their survey responses have been addressed in a comprehensive way.”
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Submitted by LM