Birth in Pieces

El Jardín Birth and Family began the Birth in Pieces project in 2015. A labor of love, this project spanned multiple years and took various twists and turns as we interviewed more and more women. Patterns emerged. We realized that these individual narratives, together, painted a picture of modern birth culture. What's wrong with birth in the USA? It's time to ask mothers. The film is the outcome of their work interviewing mothers and their partners talking about their experiences with birth.

• We know that between 25% and 34% of women report birth as traumatic.
• 1 in 4 women who give birth express symptoms of PTSD.
• PTSD before COVID was between 6 and 9%, depending on who you read, and now with the pandemic, PTS has risen to 30%-40%.
• 20-25% of birthing women had perinatal mood issues before the pandemic, and now between 30% and 35% report postpartum depression and/or anxiety.
• Mood disorders, morbidity and mortality rates for women and babies are all 2-3x worse for women of color.
• 700-900 women die in childbirth each year in the US, and for everyone woman who dies, 70-90 nearly die.
• Severe morbidity has increased 200% from 1993 to 2014.
• The US is ranked 6th in the world for prematurity rates, between Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• Really? In the US? This powerhouse of a nation that spends three times as much money on healthcare as any other developed nation? What is happening here?

We need to have ways to prevent and heal birth trauma. This is a vital time of life that can set a human being on a trajectory for health or for neurodevelopmental challenges as a baby, child, and adult. We are interested in supporting families to heal so they can thrive. Prenatal and Perinatal Healing Online is pairing with Kathleen Kendall-Tackett to support several series that feature professionals and their ways to support healing with birthing families and birth professionals. Birth in Pieces is our first series. It will feature:

• The viewing of Birth in Pieces followed by a discussion with Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and Kate White about birth trauma. FREE Register Here
• Kathleen Kendall-Tacket: Birth Trauma: Causes and Consequences of Birth-Related PTSD
• Kate White: "I Had A Baby:" A Three-Fold Path to Heal Birth Trauma
• Kimberly Ann Johnson: Call of the Wild: Healing Birth through a Real World Understanding of the Nervous System
• Molly Caro May: The Reparative Possibility in a Birth Story