Reclaiming Our Voice: A Black Women’s Health Imperative

I never wanted anything so bad in my

life.

I wanted to prove the world. I wanted to

prove my community that I can be

successful. I can get a degree from the

number one H.B.CU. I can get married and

fall in love.

When I had my miscarriage, I was numb. I

didn't know what to do. I didn't know

who to call.

It was hard

when it came down to getting pregnant

again. It was

it was a fear that lived with me.

So when things start to arise like

issues, I'm like, "Hey, can I convince

what I need to do cuz I'm not trying to

lose this baby. Please help me." And I

was constantly dismissed.

16 weeks I created my perfect birth

plan. I was planning my maternity photo

shoot. It was supposed to be at the

beach and we were going to reveal his

godparents there.

And then one night I just wasn't able to

breathe. And so I was like, I don't want

to go to the hospital I was supposed to

give birth in because they had already

turned me away. So I was already that

was the second time they turned me away.

I had gone there about week 14 of my

pregnancy with the same pains that was

in my ribs and they had already given me

morphine for the night and discharged

me. My blood pressure was 186 over 89.

That day I saw that plan crumble like

really fast. The second he said the baby

needs to come out now. There's no way.

There's I can't do that. He's not big

enough. He wasn't even 2 lb yet. My baby

wasn't home with me for the first 2

months of his life.

you're fine, you're young, you're

active. Like, these are the things that

was said to me. A lot of these moms,

unfortunately,

their pain isn't being acknowledged.

It's being dismissed. Some of these moms

aren't making it home.

>> Black women uh maybe some black women um

are not heard as they ought to be heard

because the listener is not sensitive to

that voice.

>> There was 30 other nurses in the room at

this point. They're preparing me for

birth. So, everyone's in there. The

doctors are in there. Everyone's talking

around me, talking to each other. I

believe it's called like the charge

nurse. She came in, she actually held my

hand, got down to my level, like, I got

you. I won't let anything happen to you.

That was the first time in that entire

hospital stay that I actually felt

supported by the medical staff.

We have some evidence that suggests the

result of the biases are diminishing the

health of African-American women and

likely their their infants. Um, but we

do need to do some more research to

really, you know, tease out exactly in

what situations does this happen and

what may be some things that we can

mediate or remediate that problem.

after delivering my baby. I w up being

um diagnosed with delayed

preeacclampsia. I think it was like 4

days that I was hospitalized from this

and

all this could have been prevented if my

OB/GYN would have listened to me.

Is this what motherhood look like? Cuz

they don't tell me none of this. They

don't tell any of this. They give you

all the bells and the whistles. Oh, oh,

it's so beautiful to have a baby, which

it is. It's beautiful bringing life into

this world, but it's not beautiful when

this world don't support you the way

that you need when you're bringing life

into this world.

So, when I found out that I was pregnant

with a girl, the it shift my mindset

shift because now and I love my boys,

but now I have a mini me. I have a black

woman. I just thought about her becoming

a mother.

I wanted to create a space and a

platform that can actually keep record

of these stories. So, not only our

generation can listen and engage with

this, the generations that are coming

after us.

It taught me to advocate for myself and

that I would not I could have prevented

a lot if I spoke up for myself. And so I

became a doula to prepare myself for my

next baby but also be there for the

numerous of women who can't speak up for

themselves who may be scared to speak up

for themselves. I go there to make them

feel safe and supported and that this is

their day their journey and if they need

someone to speak up for them I will be

that person. We have been raised, it has

been ingrained in us to keep other folks

out your business. So we end up

suffering in silence. And with anything

that you hold down layer upon layer upon

layer, eventually it explodes.

>> Many pregnancies are different from one

to the other. But if you're if you um

want to soldier on and and and suffer in

silence, that may cost you your life and

the life of your baby. As hard as it is

to hear, no one can help you if they

don't know. When we tell our stories, we

can create actual change.

I didn't want to tell my pain because I

was embarrassed. You don't have to look

at it that way. You have a voice. Don't

silence it because your story can help

somebody else.

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