I was so honoured that Rachel wanted to share her story with me on the Honest Postnatal podcast. Her desire was to highlight her birth injury in the hope that it helps other women going through a similar situation and to take away the shame and loneliness.

Rachel suffered a 4th degree tear during her first labour that resulted in a Rectovaginal fistula and colostomy bag. Rachel has gone on to have 2 further children via planned C-section and is the proud mum of 3 girls.

We discuss Rachel's birth story and how this resulted in the 4th degree tear and button hole tear that would culminate in a RectoVaginal fistula and a colostomy bag. We discuss the physical and mental aspects of everything Rachel has had to deal with and how important it is to advocate for yourself.

Show notes:

Birth trauma association: https://www.birthtraumaassociation.org.uk/#

LATNEM: https://latnem.org/ :

Trigger warning: Mention of Forceps, severe birth tears and PTSD.

If you would like to contact Rachel you can reach out to here via instagram: @_rachelchristina .

If you would like to contact Natalie you can email on info@honestyoga.co.uk or instagram @honestyogaldn

Please consider taking a moment to subscribe and review the podcast to help more women find it and feel less alone during the postpartum period.