Women's experiences · Birth injury
"I Can't Look After My Own Baby": When Birth Injuries Take Over Your Life
The short answer
Some women leave hospital not with one injury, but several: pelvic floor damage, hip or pubic bone injuries, hernias, severe abdominal separation, wound complications, and the trauma of the birth itself. When injuries pile up, recovery can stall for months or years. Women describe being unable to lift their baby, work, cook or shower without help. If your injuries were caused or made worse by care that fell short, compensation can cover far more than pain and suffering. It can include the value of the care your family has given you, paid help, lost income, equipment and home changes. And whatever happened, you deserve someone coordinating your care, so you aren't left to manage it alone.
The life you didn't expect.
Before the birth, you were strong. Maybe you worked full-time, trained most days, ran your household without thinking about it.
Now, months later, you can stand for a few minutes before your back and hips give out. Maybe you use a wheelchair to leave the house. Maybe you've had surgery after surgery. Maybe your mum or partner does almost all the caring for your baby, while you watch from the couch, or a hospital bed in the lounge room.
You might have had to sell your home, move in with family, or stop working. You might not recognise your own body in the mirror.
Women in online support groups describe exactly this, and almost all of them say the same thing: "I didn't know this could happen."
The injuries women don't see coming
Most antenatal classes cover tears and caesarean recovery. Few cover what women describe after a long, difficult labour, or one that ended in an emergency caesarean:
- Pelvic floor injuries: muscles that are torn, weakened, or locked tight and painful
- Hip and pubic bone injuries: pain at the front of the pelvis or deep in the hips, sometimes after hours of pushing in difficult positions
- Severe abdominal separation (diastasis recti), which can cause back pain, a rounded belly and weak core support. Pregnancy, Birth and Baby explains abdominal separation and its treatment.
- Caesarean complications, such as infection, adhesions (internal scar tissue), and bladder or bowel injury. The Royal Women's Hospital lists these in its caesarean birth fact sheet. My article on caesarean safety and your legal rights explains more.
- Haemorrhage and its aftermath: long-term exhaustion, anaemia, sometimes hysterectomy. See postpartum haemorrhage.
- Psychological injury: postnatal depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress
Any one of these is hard. Several at once, while caring for a newborn, can be overwhelming. I've written more about the range of injuries mothers can suffer in maternal birth injuries: what we must talk about.
Why recovery stalls
Women with multiple birth injuries often describe the same problems with their care:
- No one is in charge. A hip specialist, a gynaecologist, a surgeon, a physio and a psychologist all treat one piece, and no one sees the whole picture.
- Treatment is sequenced slowly. Pelvic floor physio waits until the hip surgery is done. Abdominal repair waits until the pelvic floor improves.
- Being dismissed. Symptoms are put down to "normal recovery", or to anxiety. See when being dismissed by a doctor becomes a legal issue.
- Cost and access. The Australian Physiotherapy Association has called for Medicare funding for pelvic health physiotherapy, because access depends so heavily on where you live and what you can afford.
Ask for a coordinator
Ask your GP to act as the "hub" of your care: to hold all the specialist letters, track the plan, and make sure your physios are working together, not against each other. Some women keep a one-page summary of every injury, treatment and appointment to bring to each visit.
In plain terms: you shouldn't have to be your own case manager while recovering from major injuries. But until someone takes that role, a simple timeline helps.
The Australian Physiotherapy Association's position statement on physical birth trauma recommends multidisciplinary care, and notes recovery support may be needed for a year or more.
The grief of not being able to mother the way you planned
This is often the deepest wound. Not being able to lift your baby. Watching someone else bath them, settle them, take them to the park. Feeling like a burden to the people helping you. Feeling guilty for needing so much.
Many women hold on to one thing they can do, such as feeding, reading, or simply being close. That matters more than you may realise.
It's also completely understandable to feel grief, anger and loss. COPE explains that birth trauma can be physical as well as psychological, and that up to one in three people may experience a traumatic birth.
If this is landing for you, and your life has been turned upside down by injuries from your birth, I'd be glad to listen. You don't need to have the energy to fight. You just need to start with a conversation.
What a claim can cover when injury changes everything
Not every injury after birth is caused by negligence. But where care fell short, and that caused or worsened your injuries, the law recognises that the impact goes far beyond pain.
The care your family gives you.
If your partner, mum or others have been caring for you, and doing the parenting and household work you can't, that care has a value. In NSW and Victoria, it can be claimed if it's needed for at least 6 hours a week for at least 6 consecutive months, at rates capped by law. That's set out in the NSW Civil Liability Act and explained for Victoria by the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office. For a woman needing full-time help, this can be a very significant part of a claim.
Losing your ability to care for your children.
In some states you can also claim when your injury stops you caring for your children and someone else has to do it.
Lost income and super.
If you've had to stop work or reduce hours, past and future lost earnings can be claimed. In NSW, earnings above about three times average weekly earnings are disregarded. Current litigation tables put that at about $4,778 a week.
Treatment, equipment and home changes.
Surgery, physiotherapy, psychology, mobility aids, a hospital bed, home modifications, and sometimes the cost of moving to a more suitable home.
The financial fallout.
Debt from medical bills, selling a home or losing an income can be part of the picture. My article on when medical negligence causes financial debt explains how.
For the full list of what a claim can cover, see living with a birth injury, and what a claim can cover. For one woman's story of making sense of a birth that changed her life, see "Breaking the silence".
Support for you and your family
- PANDA: perinatal mental health helpline for parents and families, 1300 726 306
- Gidget Foundation: free counselling for new parents
- Your GP, for a mental health care plan and coordinated referrals
- A hospital or community social worker, for practical and financial support
If you're ever feeling unsafe, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim for the care my family gives me after a birth injury?
Yes, if the injury was caused by negligence and the care meets the thresholds: in NSW and Victoria, at least 6 hours a week for at least 6 consecutive months. It's paid at capped rates.
Is it normal to have so many injuries after one birth?
It's not common, but it does happen, particularly after very long labours, difficult instrument births, or emergency caesareans. Multiple injuries are a reason to ask questions about how the birth was managed.
I'm too exhausted to think about a claim.
That's completely understandable. A first conversation doesn't commit you to anything. A good lawyer will do the heavy lifting, but time limits apply, so it's worth getting advice early.
Can I claim if I've moved to another state since the birth?
Yes. Generally, the law of the state where the treatment happened applies, wherever you live now.
A closing thought
You didn't fail at recovering. You were handed injuries that would floor anyone, and you're still here, still trying, still loving your baby from wherever you are.
So here's a question to sit with: if the financial and practical weight of this were lifted, what would you want your recovery to look like?
Keep reading: Birth trauma and obstetric negligence · Delayed and missed diagnosis claims
This article is general information only. It is not medical or legal advice, and it doesn't replace advice from your own doctor, midwife or physiotherapist. Reading it does not create a lawyer–client relationship. If you are in crisis, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000 in an emergency.
