Featured Stories
“I was in excruciating pain the entire time. It left me in extreme pain, I was in agony, when she finally stopped, she took a deep breath and immediately had the conversation with me that it doesn’t seem as if I’m moving along and because the baby showed distress recently, I cannot remember whether this was before the exam or after. After her exam I felt violated, i felt dirty, I felt like I was reliving a rape I had experienced in the past and all the emotions that came with it, I was in pain and next thing I know I hear the doctor say out loud to the nurse “no she’s just not moving along, I EVEN tried to manually break her water and it wouldn’t budge at all, and I tried hard!’“
Read MoreV's Story - Sault Area Hospital - Sault Ste Marie, Ontario
“Before my discharge from the hospital I had at least three different providers warn me that I'm at a greater risk for postpartum mood disorders because of my traumatic birth experience. It's odd to hear someone else label your birth as traumatic, especially before you realize it for yourself. Where do they think the trauma comes from? The loss of my home birth plan? The prolonged, high intervention induction? The unplanned c-section? The complicated repair with significant blood loss? While not the outcomes I'd wanted, I can make peace with those events because I had the opportunity to make the informed choices that brought me there. Surely they didn't recognize that the greatest source of trauma were the moments where I was stripped of my autonomy, otherwise they should have seized the opportunity to prevent it.“
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Read MoreI see you, mama. The midwives lied to me, too.
“Mama, I see you. In a world that glorifies midwives, you helped me feel less alone in my sorrow. You made my pain bearable. You gave me strength. However far you got in your journey, you had an impact. Like tiny drops of water that slowly eroding a rock, as more of use speak out others will have the informed consent and knowledge that we did not have. I am eternally grateful to all of you. Because the midwives lied to me, too, and I feel better now that I can see you.”
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Read MoreMy Experience at Kingston Health Science Centre - Kingston, Ontario
“If I can do anything, it’s spread awareness so this never happens to a mother again. I should have had the proper treatment I needed being high risk pregnancy to begin with, I should have had my cervix checked the first time I came in, in excruciating pain but due to the lack of care the doctors and nurses had, my son is now no longer here with us. My heart hurts that I was left in a waiting room in labour, having full blown contractions for days and I was told I was passing kidney stones and just given pain meds.”
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Read MoreSmiths Falls OB - Smiths Falls, Ontario
“I was told my cervix are open and I’m going to miscarry. I left absolutely devastated, the next day I go for my ultrasound where they found a strong and healthy heart beat and baby (of course). I then continued on, receiving prenatal care from my GP until about 27ish weeks then I was sent on to the OB. My first appointment was terrible, the OB body shamed me, stated that if my BMI was to rise any higher I would not be able to deliver in this hospital and that I need to watch what I eat. I left the office in absolute hysterics.“
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Read MoreYou Are Not Alone, Part II - Kawartha Community Midwives, Peterborough, Ontario
“We need to band together to fix this. I've written the women's minister, the health minister, the hospital. Only the hospital’s patient advocate responded, she had me in to talk about it and said she'd look into it. Then my follow up emails went unanswered.”
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Midwife Assault - Quinte Midwives, Belleville, Ontario
