In Canada, it’s thought those serious (maternal) cases happen at a rate of less than 18 out of every 1,000 deliveries. But that estimate is based specifically on labour and delivery, the relatively short period of time spanning from the onset of regular contractions to the moment the placenta is expelled after childbirth.
New Canadian research suggests close to a third of life-threatening complications also happen to women after that period, during the early weeks following the delivery — a time when mothers typically experience far less medical tracking and support than they did during pregnancy.
From sepsis to severe hemorrhage, nearly 30 per cent of cases of severe maternal morbidity happened within the first six weeks postpartum, according to findings based on a cohort of more than a million births in Ontario between 2012 and 2021.
More than half of those serious cases were during labour and delivery itself, while another 16 per cent occurred earlier during pregnancy.
I keep seeing stories from women who have been humiliated, belittled, even outright abused by the medical profession. It happens a lot more around the reproductive realms, not just actual births and such.
I want it to stop. I want the fucking ingrained misogyny to stop.
My post partum checks were concurrent with my babies’ 6 week check. Babe got a full check up. Doctor turned towards me and said “how are you?”…and after a verbal and polite “I’m fine”, the appointment was over.
I was never physically checked for anything. And with my second I had pretty bad post-partum with suicidal thoughts. But I didn’t want to talk about it at my baby’s check and I felt like if I admitted it, child services would be called and I’d lose my kid. In my better mental state now, I know it’s not true, but asking women to advocate for their own help at that stage is inadequate.
Editing to say that “I’m fine” is the Canadian default response to “How are you?”. It’s polite, not an answer. I have asked friends who are new moms, and only when pressed if they were actually alright did they break down bawling on the phone. So if you know a new mom, please take the time to talk to her rather than just coo over the baby. She’s been awake for 96 hours, she’s covered in puke, and her husband is wondering aloud whether the 6 week no-sex rule is real.
I don’t know how to do this math, how much greater is the rate of serious cases than 18/1000 if you include the post delivery complication in the count?
