Going through nearly 30 hours of excruciating labour with her first born, Nadine cried out to nurses and doctors for an epidural or a caesarean but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
After the pain worsened, jeopardising the baby's survival, she was quickly wheeled in for an emergency C-section.
The clinical psychologist choked back tears recounting her harrowing experience to a senate hearing into women's health.
"It wasn't medical issues that was the difference, it was being listened to and having compassionate care," she told the committee on Monday in Sydney.
"I asked multiple times and I wasn't even acknowledged... it felt shaming and I felt like it was my fault.
"I cried every day for seven months."
The parliamentary inquiry, established in August, has been tasked with elevating women's voices and experiences in the healthcare system to investigate medical barriers hindering their health and better treatment strategies.
Birth injuries cost Australia $17.5 billion per year, with more than one million mothers suffering ongoing physical and psychological conditions, research has found.
Western Sydney University midwifery academic Hannah Dahlen, who worked on a leading study collating the birth experiences of more than 8800 women across Australia from 2016 to 2021, said physical and psychological issues went hand in hand.
Among the key findings the inquiry heard on Monday was how a third of women reported decreased physical health, a similar proportion said they had pelvic floor problems and three in 10 women said their emotional wellbeing was poor, all after their babies were delivered.
But her analysis found that these experiences were not being listened to by health professionals.
"We've often called postpartum care the Cinderella of maternity care, because the baby is out and they're breathing, the mother is alive and nothing else really matters," Professor Dahlen told the inquiry.
"We've got to change that mentality and absolutely need to invest in post-natal support."
Edwina Mead, a mother of three, said she was never given a clinical reason for an emergency caesarean at hospital.
"For months afterwards, physical complications, including 12 weeks of unexplained bleeding and a misdiagnosed severe fungal infection that lasted for 10 months, were repeatedly dismissed as my period and eczema," she said on Monday.
"My direct plea for help was treated as an overreaction... my story is not isolated."
Nimarta Verma, who migrated from Thailand, said she nearly lost her baby during birth but felt even more disrespected when health professionals dismissed her requests to be allowed to breastfeed her newborn.
"What I didn't know is the Australian dream would mean fighting for my right to breastfeed in the very hospital where I gave birth."
Ms Verma said she was left with a high risk of pelvic injury compounded by postpartum mental health issues.
"I gave her (my daughter) life and somewhere in the giving, I lost my own," she said.
