Navigating Pregnancy When You’re in Trauma
Betrayal Trauma Recovery - BTR.ORG
Anne Blythe, M.Ed.
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Part 1: "Armchair Pathology": What You Need to Know
Part 2: Is My Husband Enmeshed With His Mother?
Part 3: Can Herbal Medicine Help With Betrayal Trauma Symptoms?
Part 4: Navigating Pregnancy When You're in Trauma (this episode)
It's often difficult to identify and then seek safety from abuse and betrayal.
But when you're pregnant? It can be even more difficult - your body, hormones, and immediate future require nourishment, attention, and focus.
Paige is back on The BTR.ORG Podcast with Anne, and together, they share their experiences of processing trauma while pregnant.
I'm Pregnant, and I'm in Trauma - Help!
If you're pregnant and experiencing trauma as a result of your partner's infidelity and emotional or psychological abuse and sexual coercion, consider that your safety and health are the number one priorities right now.
Paige shares some steps that you may consider taking right away to work toward creating safety so that you and your baby can experience the health that you deserve:
* Confide in your practitioner about the abuse and trauma, if it's safe to do so.
* Prioritize hydration and nutrition, making sure that your physical needs are met.
* Tune in to your body, and consider putting physical proximity between yourself and the abuser so that a degree of calm is established within your body and the physical space that you are living in.
BTR.ORG Is Here For You
At BTR.ORG, we understand the inner conflict between wanting the relationship to work out so that the child has two parents, and wanting to create safety and independence away from the abuser so that the child doesn't have to feel the same fear, emotional dysregulation, and panic that you experience as a result of your partner's behaviors.
Consider attending a BTR.ORG Group Session - joining a safe community offers victims a space to process trauma. We'd love to see you in a session today.
Full Transcript:
Anne (00:01): Welcome to BTR.ORG. This is Anne.
(00:56): Paige, a member of our community, is back today. We're continuing our conversation. We started talking a few weeks ago, so go back to the beginning. Listen to that first if you haven't yet, and then join us here today. Paige and I start off talking about the different ways to heal, how there are lots of different options for victims. I'm going to start off talking about the things that helped me.
Exploring Healing Strategies
(01:51): I really love meditation. I love yoga, I love walks. I love hikes outside. Are you interested in essential oils or herbal remedies? As you experiment with healthy coping strategies, you can see what works for you because everybody's different. I know it's not all, but the majority of my listeners have experienced a pregnancy at one point in their lives. Some may be pregnant now.
Complications due to Trauma & Abuse
As a midwife, can you talk a little bit about experiencing emotional and psychological abuse and experiencing betrayal when you are pregnant? I had some super traumatic things occur, as I'm sure so many women have who listened. When I was pregnant, I ended up on bedrest. Especially with my first son, my husband was extremely emotionally and psychologically abusive. I couldn't get out of bed, and I had pretty severe contractions. In the end, my cervix would not open, not even a little bit. Not even after 36 hours of Pitocin, so I had to have a C-section.
I had a lot of pregnancy complications.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to BTR.org. This is Anne. No matter what you're going through right now. No matter if you thought things were under control, no matter if you hoped things would get better, if you realize you're back to square one. |
| 0:14.8 | If you find yourself needing support, we're here. |
| 0:19.3 | If you're new to the BTR Podcast, consider starting with the oldest episodes first and then work your way |
| 0:24.7 | forward chronologically. |
| 0:26.4 | If you do that, you'll hear a change in my voice as I grow in my confidence and skills. |
| 0:31.9 | If you're like the majority of our listeners, you're experiencing the type of abuse |
| 0:36.0 | that's invisible and difficult to wrap your head around. Your husband is using porn or having |
| 0:40.7 | affairs or lying to you or all of the above and no one understands how to |
| 0:45.2 | actually help you. We do. If you're wondering where to start, go to BTR.org |
| 0:51.9 | slash steps to see your next three steps. |
| 0:56.0 | BTR coaches are not only professionally trained in trauma and abuse, |
| 1:00.0 | we've lived through it ourselves. We get it. |
| 1:03.0 | With BTR group sessions, you have access to at least 21 sessions a week to choose from. |
| 1:09.0 | Our group sessions are for women victims of emotional and psychological abuse |
| 1:13.5 | and sexual coercion. |
| 1:15.1 | You can access our daily group sessions from your closet, |
| 1:17.9 | from a parked car in your garage. |
| 1:20.3 | Check out the session schedule at BTR.org. |
| 1:23.0 | We'd love to see you in a group session today. |
| 1:26.4 | Paige, a member of our community is back on today. |
| 1:29.6 | We're continuing our conversation. |
| 1:31.6 | We started talking a few weeks ago so go back to the beginning |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Anne Blythe, M.Ed., and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Anne Blythe, M.Ed. and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.