Prenatal & Perinatal Therapy
"The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot
Are You Struggling With Emotional, Relational or Physical Challenges That Have Affected You For Most of Your Life?
Do you have physical symptoms or emotional patterns that seem to go back to childhood, for as long as you can remember? Do you suspect or have knowledge that your birth was traumatic or involved medical or surgical interventions? Does stress frequently show up as symptoms in your body? Do you find that relationships are a constant struggle, or you can’t sustain close intimate relationships? If this sounds familiar, there may be patterns that can be traced back to birth or even prenatally.
You may have been told at one time or another that you were a sleepless or “colicky” baby. Perhaps your family has mentioned that your birth had complications, or maybe you know that you were born premature. If you are older than sixty, your mother may have been put into “twilight sleep” or general sedation during labor, which can result in a sense of physical disconnection of baby from mother during the birth process.
Or perhaps your child had a challenging start in life? Did your baby have trouble sleeping or breastfeeding, or was colicky, and not easy to soothe? Does your child often exhibit irritability or dysregulation of emotions?
If you look back at your (or your child’s) birth, was it especially arduous or complicated? Were there extra medical interventions, such as the use of an epidural, drugs to induce labor, use of forceps or vacuum suction for delivery, or a C-section? Maybe you or your baby was born prematurely, and spent some time in the neonatal ICU, in an incubator? Or were there surgical procedures early in life? All of these interventions, even though they may have been essential life-saving procedures at the time, could have affected you or your child’s nervous system, causing persistent dysregulation.
Were you separated from your mother immediately after the birth, for medical reasons, or perhaps due to adoption? Whatever the reason, these medical interventions and separations can interfere with the initial bonding and essential contact with the mother, during the first tender hours of life.
Or there may have been extra emotional stressors (conflict, anxiety, depression, grief or fear) during pregnancy? Perhaps there was some loss, such as a death of a family member during this time of fetal development? Or maybe there was a previous miscarriage that caused the mother to worry about the health of a developing fetus?
Early Trauma Can Affect Bonding and Nervous System Regulation
Birth trauma, prenatal influences (nutrition, chemical or emotional) and certain medical interventions can cause distress in a newborn’s nervous system. For young children who can’t verbalize what they are feeling, distress often shows up first in behaviors, such as difficulty with sleep, feeding, or digestion. Babies are often labeled as “fussy”, if they cry for extended periods and are difficult to soothe. For toddlers and young children, you might notice more tantrums or “melt-downs”, and trouble with transitions (such as bedtime or going to school).
We all experience challenges with change, but this is ramped up when our first transitions (i.e., birth) were associated with intense pain, confusion or disconnection from the mother. If there is an interruption of the bonding with mother after birth, this can affect the baby’s ability to regulate, because babies need close contact with mother/caregiver to be able to settle, to sleep and digest food.
Research shows that babies who experienced prenatal stressors or a complicated birth are more likely to struggle with attachment issues. Attachment is the bonding between mother/caregiver and child, and has far-reaching implications for the baby’s physical, neurological and emotional development. The birth process is an important first transition for mother and baby, and when extra challenges are added to the process, it can significantly impact the health of the baby, as well as the ease of bonding with caregivers.
Medical procedures can be frightening for any of us, due to anxiety about outcomes, not to mention simply feeling our bodies are not under our own control. So you can imagine how scary and overwhelming medical situations can be for a young child, especially when parents are not able to be by their side, to hold their hand and comfort them. On top of that, sedation or anesthesia can make us feel “paralyzed”, and out of control. To our bodies, anesthesia feels immobilizing, and might even feel like a near-death experience. If a child is put under anesthesia when they are upset or anxious, this will affect how they come out of the procedure. The nervous system can be “frozen” (like a snapshot) in this state of “fight and flight”, as it is immobilized.
If these situations resonate with your experience, you may struggle with bodily discomfort, mental health issues and/or relationship difficulties. Physical symptoms, such as insomnia, chronic pain, or digestive issues may affect your health and daily life. A weakened immune system can show up as frequent illness and infections. Maybe you’re experiencing ongoing conflict in your relationships, chronic anxiety and/or depression.
If this sounds familiar, you may have experienced birth/prenatal or early medical trauma. And while you may not be able to consciously recall this, since it occurred in a “pre-verbal” time of your life, many of these trauma-associated emotional, physical, and mental challenges can be treated successfully, using a somatic (body-based) approach. As Bessel Van der Kolk, a leading expert in trauma, says: “the body keeps the score.”
Birth And Prenatal Trauma Are Common But Rarely Acknowledged
All of us are subjected to overwhelming experiences at times, which can leave imprints–or patterns that reflect the situations that have impacted and shaped our nervous system responses and adaptations. Sometimes these patterns have their origins during our formation in the womb and during our first major transition-birth, and they may follow us for a lifetime.
If a pregnant mother experiences unhealthy chemical influences, due to the use of drugs, nicotine or alcohol during pregnancy, or even with certain mood disorders, the baby’s development in utero can be adversely impacted. Additionally, if a mother experiences any form of abuse/conflict or intense stress during pregnancy, the emotional and physical well-being of the fetus is put at risk. Regardless of circumstance, the mental health of the mother greatly influences the development of her baby, and can have long-term consequences.
Some births are relatively smooth and require no drugs, surgeries, or other medical interventions. In our current medicalized age of childbirth, however, a large majority of us had births that involved the use of anesthetics or other methods to assist birth when issues arise. Research shows that one medical intervention, such as an epidural, often leads to other complications or need to intervene, including stalled labor, induction, episiotomies, or forceps, to name a few.
Births by C- section can be necessary and life-saving in some cases. However, while the World Health Organization recommends 10-15% of births ideally be delivered by Caesarian, the average rate of C-sections in the US is 33%, and over 50% in some countries (e.g., Brazil). There are many risks and downsides for mom and baby who undergo C-sections.
While such methods are commonplace in medical birth settings, they’re nevertheless stressful experiences for a newborn to endure. The ultimate impact is that the emotional hemispheres of the baby’s developing brain can be negatively affected. The brain is then more likely to become biased towards fear and a sense of insecurity—ultimately impacting the formation of healthy early attachments between newborn and caregiver. And while such issues can be resolved with proper bonding, some babies can be left with some underlying agitation in the nervous system. Babies may have difficulty settling, which often is seen with sleep and digestion issues, or being “fussy”. Even though children may seem to get beyond these early struggles, these issues can show up later in life as a sense of not being at ease in relationships, physical or emotional symptoms in certain stressful situations, especially around transitions/change.
So, you or your child may be struggling with the lingering effects of a difficult prenatal or birth experience, or even perinatal (events in the first two years of life). However, somatic therapy can help you to soften the imprints and resolve the emotional and physical pains creating obstacles in your life.
Somatic Therapies Allow You To Re-Pattern Early Traumas and Attachment Issues
The beauty of somatic therapy (e.g, craniosacral therapy and Somatic Experiencing™) is that it allows you to have a new experience in your body, helping you to heal the underlying emotional and physical burdens you have been carrying for so long. Throughout therapy, you will be given an opportunity to lessen your physical and emotional “imprints”, and to repair old attachment patterns, to help you feel more at ease in your body, mind and relationships. It is not necessary to know all the details of what happened, as your body will remember and lead the way.
I like to say “Every Body has a story”. I use my skills and training in craniosacral therapy and Somatic Experiencing to listen to that story. Using the light touch of my hands, I will be able to follow your body’s map as it draws me to the various areas where you are holding tension, pain, or unresolved trauma. The body sets its own priorities about what is ready to be released, and I simply follow its lead, while inviting your feedback about what your body and mind are experiencing during the session.
Treatment involves not just physical exploration, using touch, but we can often make some connections between how early trauma might have translated into physical or emotional symptoms and relationship challenges. As you start to feel more relaxed and at ease in your body, you will slowly be able to let go of the automatic reactions to your surroundings or relationships that cause distress in your life.
In experiencing the physical and emotional relief that therapeutic touch can provide, you can begin to see the value of incorporating this kind of touch in your everyday life. I may include gentle squeezing techniques at the end of our sessions, to help you feel more grounded, and have a felt experience of feeling safe, held, and nurtured with touch and pressure. As such, I may suggest you use similar gentle touch at home, with yourself or your partner, to mimic the same sensations of safety and attachment repair.
The value of using somatic therapy and skilled touch to resolve trauma often feels miraculous! Working with somatic methods and attachment therapies can help you overcome the lingering effects of prenatal, perinatal and birth trauma. Many clients have reported significant reduction in long-standing pain and habitual tension patterns, as well as improved emotional resilience, and more comfortable in social situations.
Resolving birth or early trauma can allow you to find more meaning and connection in significant relationships, and manage challenges more calmly and confidently in the future.
Perhaps you are curious about birth or prenatal trauma, but you have some questions…
How do you know if your symptoms stem from the prenatal or birth period?
My gentle, hands-on work often clues me into the birth or prenatal trauma that may have occurred. For instance, I may sense restriction at the bony junctions at the top of the head, which can be related to the use of forceps during birth. Or I may feel some other qualities or patterns that may be reminiscent of common birth traumas. But I will never make assumptions or interpretations, but rather see what resonates with your experience. Moreover, you may get the sense that you endured some form of birth trauma, either from the physical sensations you experience, or the images that spontaneously emerge during our sessions. Just as your body will indicate certain issues to me, you will feel areas of tension and release that will give us clues about what happened at birth. Knowing all the details is not necessary, however, as your body “keeps the score” and can release tensions and longstanding patterns, without our having to figure out the entire story. But if you know some of what happened, I can help you understand how these events can specifically be influencing your physical or mental health or relationships.
Can this therapy help with more emotional issues that are related to birth or early attachment, as opposed to physical symptoms?
Absolutely! Craniosacral therapy (CST) and Somatic Experiencing™ (SE) can help with emotional or relational traumas endured during your prenatal development or the birth process, or in the first years of life, while your early attachments were being formed. I am trained in attachment therapy, including a two-year training in Birth/Prenatal/Perinatal therapy (using CST and SE) and Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience (DARe), specifically developed to help adults re-pattern their attachment strategies. I believe strongly that the mind and body are intimately connected. Relationships with caregivers are intertwined with our sense of safety and ease in our bodies from the very beginning. If there were disruptions in this sense of safety and connection, there is always the potential for repair.
How can you change issues that originate from birth?
Our bodies and nervous systems are dynamic living tissues and amazingly resilient. I have seen firsthand that remarkable changes can take place in any body, no matter the age. Emotional and physical patterns stemming from early trauma (birth or prenatal), as well as other injuries or events later in life can be released and transformed, to give you a “new lease on life.”
Somatic Therapy Can Help You Break Free Of Trauma
If trauma has caused you to feel physically and mentally depleted, somatic therapy will give you the chance to find more fulfillment, joy, and peace within your life. To schedule a phone consultation or to learn more about my practice, please visit my contact page or call (303) 819 - 8839. I look forward to supporting you on your healing journey!
Testimonial
"Margaret is a fantastic therapist. She understands the mind-body connection so deeply that she can easily connect to your story. It makes you feel comfortable, opens your heart and healing process, with respect and patience for the journey you need to experience. She is a wonderful guide for anyone who has the courage to step into a wild river of a lifestream, with belief of safe landing in the end.” - M. K.
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