Every birth story leaves a lasting imprint. Whether your experience was joyful, complicated, or deeply challenging, the way you remember and tell it shapes how you carry it into the rest of your life. You’ll hear why birth is more than a medical event, how to shift from trauma to transformation, and practical ways to reclaim your story as a powerful rite of passage.

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To go deeper on this topic, check out the following resources:

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). " Posttraumatic growth: conceptual foundations and empirical evidence". Psychological inquiry, 15(1), 1-18.

Purol, M. F., & Chopik, W. J. (2024). Do many hands make light work? The role of romantic partners and close relationships in posttraumatic growth. American Psychologist, 79(8), 1214.

Ketley, R., Darwin, Z., Masterson, C., & McGowan, L. (2024). Women’s experience of post-traumatic growth following a traumatic birth: An interpretive phenomenological analysis. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 42(1), 126-137.

Brandão, T., Brandão, S., Prata, A. P., Silva, R., Abreu, W., Riklikiene, O., ... & Thomson, G. (2024). Posttraumatic growth in women after a childbirth experience: The influence of individual characteristics and intrusive and deliberate rumination. Psychological trauma: theory, research, practice, and policy.

Mijalevich‐Soker, E., Ring, L., Joffe, E., Awad‐Yaseen, M., Steger, M. F., & Taubman–Ben‐Ari, O. (2025). Personal Growth Among Pregnant Women During War: The Role of Optimism and Meaning in Life. International Journal of Psychology, 60(4), e70087.

Websites

• Birth Monopoly (Birthmonopoly.com)

• Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth (PATTCH.org)

• Birth Tellers: Healing Birth Through Conscious Storytelling (Midwifery Today)

• Healing Birth (Healingbirth.net)

• Birthing from Within (Birthingfromwithin.com)

• Birth Story Medicine (Birthstorymedicine.com)

• Penny Simkin on the importance of birth memories (A Day You’ll Never Forget on YouTube)

• Transformed by Birth, by Britta Bushnell

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Produced by Zach Van Dyke