“After planning and educating myself for a natural birth for my entire pregnancy, at my 37-week appointment, my OB did a vaginal exam. She roughly searched around for my cervix and when she couldn't reach it, with her hand still inside me, she asked, "Has anyone said the 'C' word to you yet"? I left that appointment feeling that my body was broken. I had a failed induction that ended in a traumatic Cesarean which brought on severe postpartum depression and PTSD. In every aspect of my pregnancy, birth, and postpartum I was treated as a problem to be managed, not as a human being with my own desires. It set the stage for many years of struggle and suffering for me and my family."

-Jen, Denver CO