Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hi guys, welcome to Preview Lions Podcast. This is Sarah, and I've got my girl Whitney. Hi, Whitney. Hey friends. So, Whitney, I sent this to you and I was like, let's talk about this on the podcast. How all best podcast topics come upon us for preview podcasts.

The Instagram Reel That Hit Hard

SPEAKER_00 0:24

But I was watching, I was on Instagram. Um, I don't think we're gonna call it Doom Scrolling, but you know, just taking a piece of regular scrolling, no doom. Regular scrolling, not doom scrolling. And there was um, she's a CRNA and she's uh she had two or three kids. She's fabulous, but she does like a lot of education about epidurals and labor. And she did this reel that was in detail of how she explains to her patients what to expect, getting prepped for a C-section and just for and like for a vaginal birth, an epidural. And the level of detail that she was describing of like, okay, you're gonna hear me open this, you're gonna hear, you're gonna feel something sticky, you're gonna feel this pressure. I'm gonna ask you this. And you know, my reaction to that was actually really sad. And I remember saying to you, I was like, I just feel so sad that not just for me, because I did not have that. No one explained at all what was going to occur. And you know, with my oldest birth, it was traumatic, fast, didn't have time to completely understand that. But my youngest, it was a scheduled C-section that did turn a little left, you know, went straight, but the scheduled part and the epidural part, it was never explained.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

So you clearly must know that information. Do you feel like they just thought, well, what why would we tell her what's going to happen?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

And you know, I don't know because I know I don't even know if it was even discussed with it, it was a teaching hospital. You know, there was a fellow and a resident there and attending. And, you know, I had said openly, hey, I'm really nervous about going back into the OR. I'm having panic attacks, honestly, towards the end of my practice pregnancy. You know, it was a lot. And so yes, I had it. It was a traumatic general anesthesia C section, but like I never had the epidural part, you know, so that was all new to me because it was all general with my oldest. Oh no. So I had, I honestly didn't know. I mean, I'd seen it and through nursing clinicals and stuff, but I I was just sitting there feeling like I have no idea what's occurring to my body.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

And that felt, I mean, it just took on a whole level of anxiety and fear that didn't need to happen. Right. It made me think, how many moms experience that? Right. That they are not educated, that they don't know what's happening to their body or happening to their baby, and just the level of detail that she was providing on the reel.

unknown 3:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I never heard probably a lot of medical things described like that. Right. And you're a nurse. And I'm a nurse. And I'm like, wow, how amazing would that be? Right. And how many, how much anxiety

When Birth Feels Unexplained And Scary

SPEAKER_00 3:33

could be reduced, how many PTSD could be reduced for moms, how much more trust of healthcare providers could happen, how much more honesty of how they actually feel. I mean, you know, we know there's failures of our system currently, right now, right? With them and you go in for OB appointments or medical appointments, you know, the appointments are short. The providers are seeing a lot of patients. We've lack of providers, especially, you know, in the southeast. We have maternity deserts. I mean, women are driving two plus hours to see their doctor. One, what? And women often feel afraid to ask the questions. Like, do they feel like I don't want to act like I don't want to scene, like I don't know what I do, and I don't want to what's if she thinks I'm stupid. What's it that's a stupid question? Or you know, maybe they do ask and they're shut down. Right. That happens. And so I do think in situations like this, I'm grateful for this creator because you know, she filled kind of that educational gap of what a provider should be doing. So I think social media has great places for that. Right. But I think the bottom line is when it comes to birth experiences, healthcare providers generally assume patients understand and know more than they actually do.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Oh, absolutely. Thousand percent.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Thousand percent. I think that's again, an opportunity of where as a patient, you know, you're like, well, they should be telling me they stuff. Well, then you have to come to the realization that you have to self-educate yourself. And that's another thing on to you, but you have to say, I need you to walk me through this. I need to know what's gonna happen in this situation. And, you know, one thing that I love that we did a previous is, you know, we have on for our for our previous moms, we have Jenny, who's fabulous, who is a labor delivery nurse, has explained kind of what to expect. Even I mean, it's so scary, even going in to give birth to be like, okay, you're gonna put an IVM me now, and then what's hooking up? I mean, you just feel like you have no control of your body. Right. And so I think the fear of unknowns, we know this makes it worse. We have anticipatory, like you're I'm you're anticipating, and you're that's giving yourself anxiety. Trauma worsens when people feel powerless or uninformed, right? So then we have that trauma, and it's like it gets catapulted in to their experience because there's just that lack of knowing of what's happening. And education has been proven one of the most powerful ways for people to care about their own health and decrease anxiety and trauma. So,

What Providers Should Explain Up Front

SPEAKER_00 6:18

what do you advise? You know, and I know you hear this from your patients who experienced a lot of birth trauma because that happens quite a bit. What would you say if you could have a conversation just, you know, for this is healthcare providers, we're gonna change the system? Let's just say we have a power in this conversation that's gonna be impactful and change how things are done. Is you know, what would you want to see that would have really been beneficial to your clients?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

I think just a provider that didn't brush people off, that's willing to take five minutes. Yeah, five minutes and say, okay, if you're having a c-section, this is what it looks like. If it is an emergency C-section, you need to understand that we may not be able to explain everything to you in real time. Not because we don't care about you or your baby, but because we do have to get to the OR very quickly. It is an emergency situation. So if that were to occur, you're gonna see, you know, your room kind of gets flooded with all these people. You're gonna have NICU staff on hand. So providing that education before it occurs, not that mom may even remember all of that when the emergency happens because it's it's chaos, but at least there's some preparation for a vaginal delivery, explaining to the patient, okay, well, this is what happens with this. You know, here's the difference between a tear and an epesiotomy. This is, you know, different coping skills for non-medicated and epidural medicated and things like that, you know, and how long are you going to give me to push and you know, different things like that, just saying, hey, let's take some time, talk about parameters, talk about what to expect with the different scenarios. And it's been a while, but we had her on mommy labor nurse. She's got a lot of great courses that really goes through kind of what to expect in any type of delivery situation. And I just wish we would see more of that come from the OB offices. Even if they had a nurse practitioner on hand that strictly did L and D education, and you met with her, you know, in a separate appointment or adjacent to your OB appointment for 10 minutes to go through all that.

unknown 8:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

I think that could go a long way.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Absolutely. So, what are some of the things that clients, you know? I felt grief when I saw that. What are some responses you hear from your clients who have felt like, hey, I was left in the dark. I felt like I had no control. No one told me that. What do you see

Grief, Anger, Dismissal After Birth

SPEAKER_00 8:50

when they come see you? Because mine's grief, right? Some's resentment, some's trauma. What more are they saying?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Grief, anger, frustration, they feel dismissed. That is probably a huge one. It's just feeling overall dismissed because, you know, when we talk about OBs, you have such a rapport and such a vulnerable relationship with that specific type of doctor to feel kind of thrown to the wayside or dismissed. That's not the specialty that you want to feel that from.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

You know, we I hate to say it, but having worked in the hospital, you kind of expect that from an orthopedic doctor. You kind of expect that from a cardiac doctor, you know, a GI doctor, you kind of expect it to be very straightforward, kind of bullet pointed. You don't expect it to be a warm situation. OB, you would hope it would be some semi-warm. Yes. You know, not that I'm coming to you for a hug and to have warm fuzzies, but I would hope that we would have, you know, a dash of bedside manner.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yeah. And I think, you know, then processing that and going to like a therapist, if you did experience that, is super helpful saying, I feel regret, I feel dismissed. Let's process that and let's talk through that. And, you know, if you're pregnant right now or know someone is, just really encourage them to ask for that education. I need to be walk me through what's going to happen here. If you can't, can I schedule a separate time? Is there a nurse practitioner? Do you have does the hospital give a hospital tour? Do they have a nurse educator?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

You know, like uh what options are available here?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Right. You can you have to ask for that education often. Sometimes it may not just be given to you, which is frustrating. But you're gonna probably have to do that in motherhood. So it's a good starting point, anyways, to start saying, I need to know the details, where hen and why, where do I go if my water breaks, show me which place, where should I park. I mean, even things like where should I park, not knowing where to go. That's very stressful. So ask for the details, keep asking. And if you feel like me

How To Advocate And Find Support

SPEAKER_00 11:05

have had an experience, you're going, my gosh, I wish I would have had that, don't say grieve that, feel that you're allowed to, you can have a voice. Process that have a voice and use that to share your experience. If you go back and you have the same for our be like, you know, this this would have been really helpful for me to have this differently. Or, you know, if you are in the position to educate people, educate, find that if you work in the hospital and you're like, bring that to quality, bring that to someone and say, Hey, I have a great idea. This is a need. But just an off-topic of if you've ever felt a motherhood out of control or you didn't know what's going on, that you later and later look back and say, wow, it could education could have gone a long way for me. Absolutely. We just want to let you know you're not alone in that. Correct. So, Whitney, thank you. We're thankful for therapists like you to help us process things when it doesn't go the right way. We should. Right. We all need that opportunity. But if you're in a position to educate people no matter where you are and what aspect of life, take that as a gift and share them what you wish you would have known.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

All right, listeners, till next time. Bye. Maternal mental health is as important as physical health. The Preview Alliance podcast was created for and by moms dealing with postpartum depression and all its variables like anxiety, anger, and even apathy. Hosted by CEO, founder Sarah Parkers, and licensed clinical social worker Whitney Gay, each episode focuses on specific issues relevant to pregnancy and postpartum. Join us and hear how other moms have overcome mental health challenges as well as access tips and suggestions on dealing with your own challenges as moms. You can also browse our podcast library and listen to previous episodes at any time. Please know you're not alone on this journey. We're here to help.