When Gill Castle became pregnant with her first child in 2011, she was over the moon. Her pregnancy was healthy and uneventful, but her delivery was painful.
“I remember saying to my mom that I was perfectly healthy when I was admitted to the hospital and was a working police officer, but when I got out I became disabled and lost my job,” Gill recalled.
“All I want is a child.”
WARNING – This report contains graphic content, including descriptions of injuries
Gill Castle endured painful childbirth and was left disabled after giving birth to son
Jill’s son was born prematurely and became stuck in the birth canal. As his heart rate dropped, paramedics used forceps to save his life.
But “unfortunately, they did a very serious disservice to me…” Gill said.
Jill was in serious tears due to the complicated delivery.
“I had a hole between my rectum and vagina. So I pooped out of my vagina,” Jill explained.
“Eventually, seven days after birth, I had an emergency colostomy, which is a stoma that I still have. I subsequently lost my job as a police officer due to my very serious mental health issues.”
Gill chose to share the details because she said she was “tired of the silence around women’s health” and was one of the contributors to the first all-party parliamentary inquiry into birth injury.
The inquiry, led by Stafford MP Theo Clarke, aims to address the fact that around 30,000 women in the UK suffer birth injuries every year.
Birth trauma is defined as experiencing physical or emotional distress during or after childbirth. For some, the condition is so severe that about one in 20 women also develop PTSD.
Stafford MP Theo Clark launches parliamentary inquiry into birth injuries
It’s a deeply personal subject for Ms Clark, who shared her own birth trauma story in parliament earlier this year.
She was rushed to emergency surgery after suffering severe bleeding from the laceration.
“I actually think it’s important to share my story,” Ms. Clark said.
“I ended up setting up a national inquiry into birth injury in Parliament because, first of all, I was really shocked to find that there hadn’t been one before,” she added.
Ms Clark said that since sharing her story, “hundreds of mothers across the UK” had written to her office to share their experiences, which had helped frame the issues explored in the inquiry.
“It’s clear to me that there are huge disparities in access to services for people like me who have experienced psychological or physical trauma.
“What I really hope is that this inquiry will come up with practical recommendations for the Prime Minister and say ‘this is what mums are telling us they need’.”
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Ms Clark hopes that by sharing her story and hearing the stories of thousands of others, she will raise awareness of the trauma some women experience after giving birth.
This is the focus of MASIC, a charity that supports women who have suffered physical birth injuries, saying such injuries can sometimes go unnoticed during labor and unnoticed after.
MASIC chief executive Chloe Oliver said: “Health services are a real postcode lottery.”
“The waiting lists to see a pelvic health and physiotherapy specialist can be long, and you’re trying to care for your baby all the while developing really disturbing symptoms.”
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Ms Castle is one of the contributors to the Birth Injury Survey
MASIC is currently collating data to try to determine the emotional and financial “cost of harm” associated with birth injuries. Not just the cost to the NHS but also the personal cost to families.
“It affects your family relationships, your work life and you may not be able to go back to the job you had before you got pregnant. You know, your life is completely changed and you have to live with that,” Ms Oliver said.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are committed to making the NHS the safest place in the world to give birth, which is why birth injury support is one of the top priorities of the Women’s Health Strategy 2024.
“From next month, we will increase investment in maternity services to £186 million a year to increase the maternity workforce and improve maternity and newborn services across England. On top of this, additional investment of nearly £35 million to improve maternity services.” Safe Motherhood. “
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