Injured mums push for more attention after giving birth

Corinne had prolapsed after giving birth to her first child and had to wait five months to see a district health board physiotherapist.

For Samantha, it’s been a year since she had a caesarean but she is in excruciating pain, cannot twist more than 10 degrees and is still waiting to get help.

Leanne says after four births she developed diastasis recti — abdominal separation — which was repaired with the help of a private pelvic physio specialist and over four years of power plate and pilates, but she’s aware many other mums won’t be able to access the same support.

Amelia says she was injured while giving birth but can’t afford rehabilitation. Ashley says she has issues post-birth and hasn’t seen a doctor “because of the cost when I know I really should”.

These women are among 55,000 people who signed a petition calling for better postnatal care and rehabilitation in New Zealand.

Kirsty Watt launched the petition last June because she strongly believes women aren’t receiving the care they need after giving birth. Thousands of comments on the petition echo her concerns, with many mums sharing their experiences of tears, prolapse, depression, incontinence and pain.

Over and over they say they did not know who to get help from, and if they asked for it their concerns were often dismissed or they were told they had to go private, or spend months waiting in the public system. Some have been living in pain for years.

“There’s nothing for a mother after you have a baby. It’s all about the baby,” Watt says. “It’s just that everyone deserves to be looked after, after birth, and we aren’t getting that cover. No one is asking the questions.”

The petition calls for free pelvic health checks from a specialised physiotherapist during pregnancy and, in the two years after giving birth, better education on pelvic health and wound care management, substantially better funding for Continence NZ to employ more continence nurses, better access to pelvic health physiotherapists and for physical and mental health birth trauma treatment to be funded by ACC.

Having reached just over 55,000 signatures — close to the number of births in New Zealand each year — Watt closed the petition yesterday. She’s meeting with MPs next month, hoping they will present it to the petitions committee, then have it escalated to the health select committee to be discussed by MPs.