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During an attempted home delivery, freelance journalist Priscilla Blossom's son became wedged in the birth canal. She was transported across the road to a medical facility, where she ultimately delivered a baby weighing approximately 9.5 pounds. Though she felt detached from the sensations in her body, she managed to push her baby out, only to sustain a fourth-degree laceration—a severe vaginal tear.
"It was months before I could sit like a regular person again, and I had to haul one of those inflatable ring cushions with me everywhere I went," Blossom recalls. "My physician warned that if I wanted another child, I should choose a cesarean, because a future vaginal delivery could cause further tearing, and I could end up with lifelong incontinence. Part of me wants more children, but given everything I've endured, including the trauma, I'm not sure I'll risk it again."
More: Can Vaginismus Make Childbirth Harder?
Blossom's experience reflects a broader pattern across the United States. The New York Times reported 28 maternal fatalities for every 100,000 live births in 2013, climbing from 23 in 2005.
"In labor, injuries can happen from incorrect pushing technique (pushing against the face rather than down through the vagina, for instance), tripping or losing footing, shifting positions while an epidural or other intervention is being administered, panicking during intense contractions, or countless other scenarios," explains Darby Morris, founder of Sweetbay Doula.
Morris pointed out that a significant share of injuries stem from mistakes made in clinical settings. Still, doulas can offer a layer of support that hospital staff typically don't—walking clients through dense medical terminology and providing steady emotional grounding throughout labor.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has emphasized that continuous, personalized emotional support, including from a doula, leads to better results for those delivering. Structural inequities also drive mortality gaps for people holding multiple marginalized identities. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates Black mothers are three times more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes than white mothers, and Black infants face similar elevated risk.
More: How a Strong Immune System May Influence Preterm Birth Risk
Babies themselves can also sustain harm during delivery. Stanford Children's Health lists potential injuries including caput succedaneum, cephalohematoma, surface bruising or forceps impressions, subconjunctival hemorrhage, facial nerve paralysis, brachial plexus palsy, and bone fractures.
Trauma and physical damage linked to childbirth continue to pose a public health challenge, and rates are unfortunately trending upward. Even so, the involvement of a trained third-party professional like a doula offers a meaningful path toward reducing harm going forward.
By Danielle Corcione
