Becoming a mother is a life-changing transformation. It is the premise of the midwife and physiotherapist Ascensió Gómez López, which she reveals in the book Puérpera perdida la vida afero de la vida addressing recovery, sex or contraception. He laments the “dehumanized” social organization that aims to get women “back on the wheel” as soon as possible.
Is a woman born after giving birth?
I am fully convinced. There are things that change your life, and motherhood is one of them.
How would you define puerperium?
unpredictable It is the adaptation by definition without an instruction manual. It’s a free fall.
Are women prepared for pregnancy and childbirth but not for what comes after?
Totally. Cures are underrated. Neither women nor men are born with the caregiving gene active: it’s a learning process.
Many women arrive at pregnancy with little information.
Women’s sexual and reproductive health is the pending subject of medicine. Women don’t know their cycle, they don’t know how their bodies work, they don’t know how fertility works… We put off our bodies, we move away from them. And when we want to be mothers many times we can’t because our ovarian reserve is scarce. Everything is pathologized, it seems that everything will be solved by medicine through some pill and this is not always the case.
Is childbirth seen as the return to normality?
Unfortunately, yes. Socially, motherhood is something that must pass through women’s bodies without leaving a mark. As if it didn’t exist. But the body has a brutal transformation. It is necessary to make visible that the puerperium is a stage of recovery from a very intense process that has been experienced – a pregnancy and a birth – regardless of whether it turned out phenomenal or catastrophic. And creatures have a right to be cared for. But these are things that are not valued, they are something that mothers do, they are women’s things.
Mental recovery after childbirth is also important…
Mental health is largely forgotten during pregnancy and after childbirth. And it conditions the physical recovery. In addition, it is a complete life adaptation process. We must take care of mothers because without them there is no humanity.
Do you agree with maternal and paternal leave?
It seems unfair to me. Women have had maternity leave stagnant at 16 weeks for more than 30 years. Motherhood must be protected and highlighted. We cannot be the same because the body has not undergone the same process. And let’s not say if there were complications! And I don’t care if the non-pregnant partner is a man or a woman. Those who have lived through the whole process need social care… Because without maternity, society is doomed to failure.
How should it have been expanded?
It is very good that they increase the leave for couples, but first we will take care of the women who have to breastfeed. The excuse is that they don’t have employment discrimination, but the fact is that they continue to have it. It is still women who do not have adequate leave. It’s always about producing without emphasizing parenting.
Spain has duties regarding the respectful parties…
Yes. There are UN rulings on obstetric violence in which it is urged to review its action protocols in the health and judicial fields. There are many professionals who are trying to change things, but even more are not. Spain owes a debt to women in all respects.
