The Lifelong Pain of Birth Trauma

Hosted by Rosemary Davies-Janes.

Produced by J’aime Rothbard.

Click Here if you are curious about Compassionate Inquiry® and want to learn more about training in this approach, for your own self development or for your work with coaching or therapy clients. To learn about the application process, please check out the Professional Training Program. 

Join us for this candid episode that illuminates little known aspects of the human procreation experience, from conception through birth and postpartum. Our guests, seasoned midwives Laura Latina and Hannah Betty Idarius, explore divergent perspectives of the perinatal journey. Rather than merely a medical event, their approach celebrates each birth as sacred—every moment is honored as a profound rite of passage for babies, parents and families alike. 

Today, increasing rates of obstetric trauma engender fear and trepidation in new mothers approaching birth. Many moms also experience the pain of isolation during the crucial postpartum period—a sharp contrast to birthing in traditional ‘village’ communities where extended family members share parenting responsibilities, creating support systems that enrich child development and parental well being.

In this interview, Laura and Hannah explain how: - Implicit (not consciously recalled) memories from birth and early experiences can affect individuals throughout their lives, manifesting in physical and emotional patterns

- Compassionate Inquiry® supports birth professionals, therapists and parents alike by unlocking perinatal trauma (includes in utero, birth and postnatal traumas) and providing paths to healing for individuals and families.

- Trauma from perinatal experiences can impact parents, children and families and increase a mother’s risk of postpartum depression.

- Rebirthing can offer deeply transformative pathways to healing.

- Parents can foster a deep sense of security and connection with their unborn children.

This conversation will deepen your emotional and psychological understanding of the human birthing experience, from conception to birth and beyond. 

About Laura Latina: 

A Certified Compassionate Inquiry® Practitioner and international speaker, Laura is also an independent midwife, a community midwife, and a midwifery team leader who consulted for the NHS in the UK. 

She has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as Women’s Health Advisor for its Medical Unit, managing maternity hospitals in Malawi, South Sudan, Kenya, Afghanistan and many other countries, supporting over 2,000 women across four continents. 

In addition to leading international projects that promote cultures of gentle, respectful births and parenting, Laura invites women to recognize and trust their innate ability to be loving, attuned mothers. 

She is also passionate about the role of home births' in creating supportive family environments.

About Hannah Betty Idarius: 

A Somatic Coach and Certified Compassionate Inquiry® Practitioner, Hannah works with individuals and couples wanting to embody optimal emotional, physical and mental health and wholeness. 

A homebirth midwife for 30 years in British Columbia, Arizona and California, Hannah empowered women to trust in their innate ability to birth and parent wisely, Her specializations in classical homeopathy, rebirthing breathwork, pre- and perinatal trauma healing, and somatic coaching fostered birth experiences that were gentle, supportive, and sacred.  

One of the pioneers of waterbirth in the US, she was featured in the documentary, Water Babies, and is the author of, The Homeopathic Childbirth Manual: A Practical Guide for Labor, Birth, and         the Immediate Postpartum Period.

Laura Latina & Hannah Betty Idarius’ Show Summary - Release Date December 5

Promotional Link: If you are curious about Compassionate Inquiry® and want to learn more about training in this approach, for your own self development or for your work with coaching or therapy clients, please check out the Professional Training Program. Episode Related Resources:

Websites:

Laura's Professional WebsiteLaura's CI Practitioner Profile

Hannah's Professional WebsiteHannah's CI Practitioner Profile

Study:

Adverse Baby Experiences (ABEs) and Chronic Illness 

Relevant Links:

WombEcology

Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health

Prevention & Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth

Dr Sarah Buckley: Gentle Birth & Oxytocin Research 

Annie Brook

Karlton Terry Baby Therapy

Postpartum Experience Quote Sources: Alanis Morissette, the Daily Mail, August 2012 Marie Osmond,  The Dr. Oz Show, April 2016

Training: The Portal: Conception, Pregnancy, Birth and the Postpartum Period; a Compassionate Inquiry Training

Ray Castellino Learning Centre

Posts: Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova, The limbic Imprint 

Rachel Reed Midwifery Academic Blog

Books:

The Homeopathic Childbirth Manual

The Mind of Your Newborn Baby

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child The Nurture Revolution

Quotes: “You talk to people about their childhood and they say I don’t remember, I don’t remember, I don’t remember. Well the fact is that everybody remembers, they just don’t recall. It’s usually because nothing happened or too much happened. Usually too much happened. One way they dealt with it was to split their attention from what's going on so they're not going to recall. We have the distinction of two important kinds of memories and so often our lives show up as those imprinted memories and that imprint starts in utero. What we are actually looking at is the impact of the multi-generational family history. Stress that affected one generation will be played out very exactly in the next generation to the degree that that next generation has understood or not understood it, has dealt with it or not dealt with it so fundamentally so long as we're not conscious we're gonna pass on our stress and our drama to our kids.” - Gabor Maté “The effects of emotional trauma during pregnancy, often referred to as prenatal toxic stress, [which] have profound implications for both the mother and the developing fetus.“ - Palo Alto Edu

“Trauma programs the nervous system, so that it's constantly in defensive mode, even when there's no danger, we react as if there was, or we don't recognize danger when it's really there. And the problem with being in a defensive mode is that you can survive, but you can't grow and thrive emotionally.” - Gabor Maté

”During pregnancy, stress can increase the chances of having a baby who is preterm (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or a low-birthweight baby (weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces). Babies born too soon or too small are at increased risk for health problems.” - Source

“What is usually not understood or even talked about very much [at all] is that the impacts of trauma are not only psychological but physiological. The kind of experiences you have shape the very circuitry of your brain” - Gabort Maté

“Unconditional parental love is the indispensable nutrient for the child's healthy emotional growth. The first task is