Mother loses baby in stillbirth and is traumatised by hospital treatment: NSW birth trauma inquiry

For Wollongong woman Naomi Bowden, a framed 14-year-old photo of baby Bella is one of the few photos she has of her stillborn daughter.

The photo, taken by a friend at a funeral home in 2009, shows the newborn sleeping on a sheepskin rug and cuddling with a soft toy. Her small head is engulfed by a knitted hat.

Just days earlier, Mrs Bowden had the unthinkable task of identifying her stillborn baby, just minutes before she watched police put Bella in a cold, foam box.

“We should go in and spend an hour or two with her,” she said.

‘A friend of my husband came by and brought a sheep rug and took beautiful pictures.

‘I have those pictures hanging everywhere. People feel uncomfortable about it, but they don’t have to live with it all the time.’

Rubbing salt into a wound that would remain raw for more than a decade, Ms Bowden was left in the maternity ward of Wollongong Hospital, listening to the sounds of other women giving birth and babies crying until she was discharged the morning after.

The emotional scar tissue became further inflamed due to her treatment by hospital staff from the aftermath of her birth until her recovery.

“I feel like it’s so unfair because if so many things had been handled differently, I would have been a different person,” she said.

This includes an incident during her six-week post-birth check-up when doctors who had not read her notes asked her where her baby was.

Before another consultation with hospital staff, Ms Bowden was also emailed surveys from the lead obstetric consultant linking the use of antidepressants – which Ms Bowden had been cleared to take – and adverse effects on unborn babies.

“I was a grieving parent trying to put the pieces back together. Why (was I sent these non-supporting documents) if they hadn’t even read them?’ she said.

On Thursday, Ms Bowden was one of six women to give evidence at a landmark NSW inquiry into birth trauma.

From the Sage Hotel in Wollongong, Ms Bowden choked back tears and repeated the words “I’m sorry” as she read out her statement.

The parliamentary inquiry has received a record number of more than 4,000 submissions, the majority of which are from women who have shared stories of feeling ignored, not listened to, traumatized and patronized by their birth experience.

The co-founder of local advocacy group Better Births Illawarra, Sharon Settcase, said it was time for action.

In her speech to the committee, she called for a priority review of risk classifications for the Midwifery Group Practice (MGP) programme, which allows mothers to receive continuous care from a single midwife throughout their pregnancy.

Although high-risk patients may not qualify for the program, she argued that midwives are trained to care for high-risk women or refer them to other care.

“We don’t want to be called into steering committees anymore to talk about the same thing,” she said Thursday.

“There’s so much trauma. We receive so many messages from women when we simply upload a photo of a beautiful birth via the MGP.’

The community advocacy group also suggested changes to ensure women were properly informed about the risks and benefits of instrumental deliveries, which can use forceps or vacuum.

“Some birth trauma comes from not knowing that information about what that is,” Ms. Settcase added.

With the long-running investigation set to continue in the coming months, the investigation has put the state’s health care system on notice.

In her opening statement, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Chief Margot Mains issued an emotional apology to former patients, including many of the women who gave evidence earlier that day.

“On behalf of the local health district, I sincerely apologize to any woman whose care did not meet their expectations,” she said.

“I recognize that we must do everything we can to ensure that women in our hospitals do not experience birth trauma.”

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park also said he was committed to ‘ensuring women across NSW have access to respectful, evidence-based maternity care’.

“The stories and experiences we hear through this research are harrowing and difficult, but we must listen and we must learn,” he said.

‘It is important that we know more about the causes and factors that contribute to birth trauma and its impact on women and their families.’

Asked by the inquiry what recommendations she would like to see made to the government and the healthcare system, Ms Bowden called for more support, respect and compassion for families experiencing stillbirth.

“We have to pick up the pieces and do the best we can in a sense, but…

then there are those layers of trauma,” she said.

“I didn’t know what to expect from grief and trauma, but I can tell you it never leaves your body.”