An empowering birth experience should be the start to every parenting journey but the reality is most births leave mothers feeling disempowered. A traumatic birth experience is one where the mother didn't feel respected, heard or cared for. These traumatic experiences significantly alter many things that follow - including the mother's mental health, her relationship with her partner and child as well as her own belief systems. We talk to Mihika Marvinkurve, who went through a traumatic birth followed by a positive, empowering one. We explore why and how birth trauma is normalised, the importance of gentle and positive births and some ways in which mothers can cope with traumatic birth experiences.

Mihika is a mother to two lovely girls, a beauty vlogger and a VBACtivist.  She shares fun and honest snippets of her parenting journey on her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/mihika_mavinkurve/