Navigating Plus Size Pregnancy and a Fat Phobic Midwife: Chelsey’s Story

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Content Warning: fat phobia, labour interventions, COVID delivery, birth trauma, post-birth hemorrhage 

On today’s episode, Chelsey Creed shares her experience of having her first baby as a plus size person and the fat phobia she faced from her midwife. Chelsey’s experience is so relatable in that a lot of gestational parents face fat phobia in their care and this has a big impact on how they feel about and relate to their bodies and their pregnancy journeys. Chelsey also talks about delivery after COVID hit, her experience as a first-time mom delivering a baby including induction, pain relief options, the impact of fat phobia on her care during delivery, and the scary experience of hemorrhaging post-delivery. Chelsey shares her story in an honest and open way and talks about how she approached the delivery of her second child. Thank you to Chelsey for shining a light on fat phobia in perinatal care!

Highlights: 

1:29 - Wanting and looking for a midwife for obstetric care

3:38 - Covid hit at 28 weeks; worrying about hospital policies for delivery, end of pregnancy during Covid

8:41 - Delivery started; not being informed about procedures and being told “you don’t know because this is your first baby”

15:45 - Midwife stated she couldn’t deliver baby because she didn’t write down her pre-pregnancy BMI, induction started and very intense and unable to move around due to interventions

22:25 - Chelsey went into freeze mode and was unable to advocate for herself

25:51 - Pain relief; morphine, epidural and how it felt

30:17 - Transferred care to OB from Midwife and getting to 10cm

32:10 - Pushing with no guidance and not being able to feel contractions

34:03 - Baby arrived after 3 hours of pushing, midwife thought baby would be big

45:08 - Post delivery; bonding with baby, tired, felt good

46:58 - 7 hours postpartum Chelsey started hemorrhaging, feeling very scared and helpless again, midwife said “I knew this would happen, but I was too tired so I went home”

50:12 - Midwifery care postpartum; baby lost too much weight had to transfer to pediatrician, decided to end midwifery care, was able to complain to midwife clinic

1:02:13 - Impact of this experience on her 2nd birth, Chelsey advocated for a new midwife and what she wanted in her care plan and labour and delivery plan and it was a healing experience

1:06:37 - Having a doula made a big difference in her support, thinking about mental preparation for 2nd birth

1:11:05 - Birth trauma is not your fault, you deserve quality care, you’re not alone, Chelsey went to therapy to process her experience. 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

You can find us at www.perinatalwellbeing.ca on Instagram @perinatalwellbeing_ontario or by email [e-mail]

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms discussed in this or any episode please reach out to me at [e-mail] and I can help you find support in your area or online. 

Check out Postpartum Support International at www.postpartum.net for more information about Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders as well as free online support groups and a provider directory. 

You can look for an individual therapist on www.psychologytoday.com . 

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