Nicole, mother of one daughter

It was nice to know that I wasnt the only one dissatisfied with my treatment and subsequent caesarean.  I had felt a little stupid about having a caesarean and I felt a failure, but seeing so many other women with stories similar to mine empowered me that the fault did not lie within me or my body...

I had enlightenment that my upcoming birth would not heal my past birth but would heal the way I viewed myself and my body as a birthing women... That night I joined an online trauma group and began to discuss and heal myself from my previous birth. I took control instead of waiting for another event to do the healing for me.

The information and support I received made me more steady in my resolve and also gave me the encouragement I needed to begin the hard job of healing myself and my self image from my previous birth. I realised how important it was to read the right books and attend the right birth classes this time around. Education was the key...

I wish I had taken my husband and my mother along for the day, as I feel a lot of the information that was given that day would have helped them understand what I had [gone through], and still was going through and why I was making the decisions I was making for my family.

Shona, mother of two (one traumatic caesarean, then a gentle vbac early this year)