Personal trainer says natural birth ‘broke’ her body

Brisbane mum Amy Dawes has spoken out about how NSW government's push for natural births over caesarians could be putting women in danger.

The 35-year old had a natural birth in 2013 but required forceps to help with the delivery. The use of forceps left her with devastating injuries.

“I was broken. I felt like an 80-year-old in a 35-year-old's body,” she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

Amy suffered a stage two bladder and bowel prolapse after giving birth. Her pelvic floor muscle had torn completely off her pubic bone.

"I couldn't lift my daughter when she cried or run after her. There are techniques to get out of bed, and I couldn't do the fitness training I was so passionate about," she said.

Amy wanted to avoid a caesarian birth to avoid the risks associated with having surgery.

"That's what's so hard to get my head around: your body can be damaged beyond repair without being informed of the risks. How did I not know about this?" she said.

The mother-of-one wants to speak out in retaliation to a NSW government policy which aimed to cut the rate of caesarean births.

In June 2010, NSW Health's 'Towards Normal Birth' policy aimed to reduce caesareans to lift the vaginal birth rate to 80 per cent by 2015.

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“Fifty per cent of women deliver a baby vaginally but no one talks about it - it's a silent epidemic,” she says.

'I didn't know what the long-term implications could be,' she said to the Daily Mail.

“There's nothing more disempowering than choosing something that you think is best for your baby but realising you've altered your life completely.”

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