REBIRTH

My body was changed by birth. This is perhaps less surprising than the fact that I wasn’t prepared for that change. In the two years...

I have always loved Christmas. But after the traumatic birth of my daughter on Christmas Day, it holds a different place in my life story...

I’ve taken a step backwards in recent weeks. I’ve felt the old PTSD symptoms re-emerging, clouding my mind and creeping in at the edges....

If you asked my younger self where I imagined myself to be when I turned 30, the last thing I would have said would have been battling...

There is a field where we live. It’s just an ordinary field, with brambles thickening the hedges and birds swooping overhead. A field...

Before I was pregnant, I'd never even heard of my pelvic floor. Following my traumatic birth, it suddenly became an unwelcome visitor in...

For the past few years I’ve kept a diary. Just one line a day: a summary of happenings, to look back on and remember life as it once was....

I used a tampon today. A run of the mill experience for a woman in their early 30s, you may say. Or you may fall into the ‘oversharing’...

Birth is everywhere: Birthdays. (Anybody’s, but particularly your children’s.) Your friend’s pregnancy announcement. That scene in the...

I think it will be a long time before I am able to say I am proud of my birth story. Birth trauma runs deep, and the shame associated...

Dear friend, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was going through. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you for help. But please know it wasn’t a...

EMDR Therapy saved my life. It made me feel as though I could cope with the world again. Previous to being diagnosed with PTSD, I had...

“What does PTSD feel like?” Like having tunnel vision. I say. Like fury roaring in your ears. I say. Like echoes in a ravine. I say. Like...