Episode 24 Uplift and Ignite 1: Strength After Obstetric Fistula with Kristin Hill

Birth Trauma Training for Birth Workers

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘fistula?’ For me, it was 2004 and I was 21 years old. I was watching the Oprah show on my lunch break and she was interviewing Dr Catherine Hamlin. The image I have I my mind when I think obstetric fistula is of terrified, very young African women. Who has laboured for days without any support and is then ostracised from their community. Very generally speaking, an obstetric fistula is a hole where a hole shouldn’t be. Between the vagina and rectum or bladder. It can be caused by prolonged or obstructive labour, leaving someone incontinent. We might not want to admit it, but we sometimes think fistulas as something that doesn’t really happen in Western hospitals. My guest today is someone who experienced such a birth injury in a hospital in the USA. Kristin Hill is a mental health counsellor and mama of two boys in Seattle. We talk about the feelings of patient-blaming, and scapegoating that goes on in birth. How it felt not finding any resources about fistula that particularly resonated. The re-traumatising process of making a complaint while feeling like her body had been hijacked. In sharing stories, we get our power back. We take ourselves out of isolation and shame and not only do we become stronger, we uplift others to see their own beauty and strength. To listen to audio only via Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/birth-trauma-training-for-birth-workers/id1449364233?mt=2&uo=4 to watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/js4vk8oeYbE Resources www.doctorerin.com.au Kristin Hill Kristinhilltherapy.com @kristinhill https://www.crisisconnections.org/wa-warm-line/