STORIES MOTHERS

PTSD is a horribly debilitating condition. Following a traumatic event, sufferers of PTSD are left with a worldview which has been altered profoundly and which often leaves them deeply afraid and anxious, the future may look bleak as they struggle to liberate themselves from the images of the trauma they have endured. This can be particularly hard for women with ‘birth trauma’ because they often suffer these problems at a time when everyone expects them to be happy and positive.  As a result, they often end up feeling guilty and this lowers self-esteem.

The work Help Women and Children is doing in Britain involves showing women the first steps to recovery from their birth trauma by listening to their concerns, organizing workshops, and by creating national and international awareness amongst other things.  The amazing work in the community of Los Huertos in the district of Chorrillos, in the south of Lima, is even bigger. The charity has not only successfully removed families from the vicious circle of poverty but is also dealing with different traumas by being a listening ear, counselling and setting up small businesses for them.

If you would like to get involved as a Partner by giving £2.99 per month, want to sponsor a child in Peru, buy their products, or want to raise money for this charity by doing the Inca trail or going as a volunteer, please send an e-mail to info@helpwomenandchildren.com

STORIES IN THE UK	STORIES IN PERU
Story 1 - I felt so ugly within me, full of anger and grief	Story 1 - when I turned 10 years of age…he raped me
Story 2 - I feel like suicide is my only option	Story 2 - My husband snatched my 9-year old son
Story 3 - I can't ring any of the help lines because I just cry so much I can't talk	Story 3 - My mother went to rescue me after more than 2 years… now I am 11 years of age
Story 4 -  My c-section appears to have been totally unavoidable. My baby was experiencing no distress. I think my doctor just got tired of waiting	Story 4 -  I was so poor that my mother had to give me away to a lady called Alicia
Story 5  - She stuck her fingers into my sore, stitched vagina roughly without asking and I just  started sobbing uncontrollably	Story 5  - I suffered trauma after the birth of my third child

Story 4 :My c-section appears to have been totally unavoidable. My baby was experiencing no distress. I think my doctor just got tired of waiting I just wanted to say thank you for your web pages. I went through a c-section with my first child, and had a very major panic attack during the surgery (they had to put me to sleep because I was freaking so badly). I had a terrible post partum experience (major depression, resentful of my child, screaming fits, you name it). I really didn't know how traumatized I was until I became pregnant with my second child. I am now 1 month pregnant, and since finding out a few days ago, I have been plagued by major panic attacks. Imagining being strapped down on a table, not being able to move my legs, not being able to escape is making me freak out. I will be fine for a couple of hours, and suddenly the panic and terror rush into me like a storm. I didn't expect to feel this way, or I probably wouldn't have become pregnant again. I sensed this morning that my only chance to get through this is to choose a different octor and make this next birth go MY WAY. My c-section appears to have been totally unavoidable. My baby was experiencing no distress. I think my doctor just got tired of waiting. That makes me absolutely furious, now that I think about it. My power was stripped from me, my body was not allowed to do what it knows how to do, I was tied down, sliced open, and traumatized beyond belief. Pregnancy should be among the most joyous in a woman's life; instead I am living a nightmare of terror and anxiety.  Just knowing that there are others out there, that I am not crazy, and that my feelings are probably normal help a bit. Thank you for taking the time to make your site. 2 months later Thank you as ever for your reply, and for taking the time in your busy life to help a complete stranger. I returned to work today to give my day a sense of normality. I find the worst times are at night when I am doing nothing. My mind begins to storm and I feel destroyed by my terror. I will be meeting with a therapist today and begin the healing process. I don't know what to expect with the next birth, and I want to be prepared for the worst. The doctor that performed the c-section last time said to me that I should just schedule a c-section the next time I had a baby. No explanation. I feel imprisoned by that statement. Last night I was going crazy with anxiety, just crazy. I was walking around in the dark and looking up to God and begging him to not let this hurt my daughter. I am willing to walk in these shoes and suffer/change/learn/transform, but please God don't let this hurt my unborn child. Martha, please pray for me, the best prayer you have for a soul so scared. I am a loving child of God who has fallen off course, distracted by the ways of the world and fear, and I need salvation. My heart is willing and open to do anything, anything that God needs me to do to be saved. I keep telling God that I am listening, I am ready and willing, just please show me the way. I am asking God every minute to show me the way to help, and I am willing to receive help, for the first time in my life. I accept now that I am not in control of everything, and never was. I tried to be to deal with my fears and anxiety, but some things you need to turn over to God. With each breathe I turn more and more over to him.  I want a better second birth. At this point, I think I want a c-section under general so that there are not a lot of variables I can obsess about. I send my deepest thanks for your sisterhood. You truly are doing the work of God. TO UP

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Buy Real Healing After Caesarean A Book written by a PTSD survivor.

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