The 'Make Birth Better' Campaign began on Instagram during Birth Trauma Awareness Week. I uploaded a post about the difference between Post Natal Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the response floored me.

Women contacted me throughout that day, letting me know that they had been deeply affected by their births but had felt unable to speak about them. It seemed so important that we hear women's stories of birth - and the stories of those with them during birth, so that we can learn how to improve the experience of birth for women.

Birth can be transformational, and we need to do what we can to make sure that transformation starts a woman on her journey to motherhood feeling empowered and respected. 

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​​Emma Svanberg

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The Findings

I analysed these stories (using a grounded theory methodology for those interested), and five themes emerged - ‘A Force Bigger Than Me’ (the physical impact of birth),‘Heroes and Villains’ (the influence of birth professionals), ‘Delivery into Parenthood’(the wider ranging impact on mental health and relationships), ‘I Had No Idea’ (the culture of secrecy around birth and birth trauma and ‘Make Birth Better’ (ideas to improve birth).