I had a plan. To have a natural birth in water. No surgery. No medication. And I even heard the word preeclampsia, albeit in passing, as a reason I would not be able to birth in water if this life-threatening condition arose. I felt informed and then moved through an effortless and healthy pregnancy. Until the 37-week mark.
I felt healthy and ready to deliver any day. However, I didn't know that any day meant almost three weeks earlier than anticipated.
Read MoreAs Adoption Awareness Month is celebrated in the news with group adoptions across the country, we as black women need to question the common sense narratives that we are fed about adoption.
When my partner and I began the process for becoming parents through adoption, I was focused on my journey, and the joy of welcoming a new little person into our family. We were quickly bombarded with a narrative about the journey of our child’s first parents; adoption is a choice, it is an act of love, and the strongest thing a mother could ever do. I wanted to believe all of this, because, everyone wins! The child has a new family, the first parents get a new start, and the adoptive parent(s) are now parents!
Read MoreOn November 20th, those of us who support movements to save black and trans lives, remember the black trans women and men whose lives and deaths testify to the intersections of transphobia and racism. But what happens when the mourning is over? Too often black trans faces are hyper-visible when we are memorializing those we have lost, but missing at other times. And trans people are almost completely absent from birth justice and maternal health conferences, working groups and task forces. It’s time to challenge the erasure of trans folks from conversations about birth justice.
Read MoreWhat started as an idea, metamorphosed into a day of intention and a space with great history filled with Black women activists, researchers, birth workers, visionaries and clinicians collectively sick and tired of being sick and tired. Tired we were, but invigorated we felt. On a dewy Sunday morning, I stood in a circle of 18 strong, all locking hands. Breathing slowly in ...and then out, the smell of sage filling my lungs, I followed the requests to call out the names of my ancestors and foremothers. Lannie, Betty, Thelma, Anna...When prompted to share one word that would allow me to remain grounded throughout the meeting, I yelled out, “Legacy.” Starting the convening in this way reinforced my affinity to maternal health equity and birth justice work.
Read MoreExpectant mothers are magnets for attention. Strangers in elevators comment on their baby bumps. Co-workers offer unprompted advice. Family and friends pass judgment on everything from epidurals to pregnancy diet to breastfeeding.
Read MoreBlack Women Birthworkers were honored at the Human Rights in Childbirth U.S. Summit Birthing Justice Forum & Maternal-Child Health Champion Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles on May 26, 2016.
Black Woman Birthing Justice (BWBJ) collective members Chinyere Oparah, Linda Jones, Dantia Hudson and Sayida Peprah were a strong presence at the Human Rights in Childbirth U.S. Summit Birthing Justice Forum. We contributed powerfully in the discussions on creating a U.S. “consensus statement” to define and identify key action steps toward establish birth justice in America. Through the stories and testimonies that BWBJ has collected over the years on the Black experience of childbirth in California, we were able to bring the key birth justice elements of concern and priority for Black folks, to the table. It is always valuable that we are in the room, when conversations are happening about birth in America. Too often, we are only talked about, but not conversed with, regarding our needs.
Walking into the big, bright group room in a Family Practice clinic you, a pregnant person is greeted with smiles and enthusiasm from the group facilitators. A midwife, a doctor, resident, Certified Nursing Assistant, and Registered Nurse. You are guided to make a name tag, take your own blood pressure and weight, and then record it in your own personal prenatal log and resource book. You sit down and await your turn, to get a belly and heartone check, with one of the facilitators, doctor or midwife. This is done in the same room, but away from the group. Music is playing in the background and a snack of cheese, hummus, veggies, and drinks are being munched on. Resource books come out, a self-assessment worksheet is completed, and the chatting begins. “How are you doing today?” “How are things going?” “Oh yeah’ that’s happening to me too” with giggles in between.The facilitator sitting in the circle, chats along and visits, as well. All facilitators return back to the circle.
Read MoreReflecting on my daughter’s first birthday, I recall all the tender moments of her birth. One intense push after I felt her head press through the “ring of fearlessness”, her body appeared. I scooped her up out of the water and immediately burst into tears. Entering a state of pure bliss, I cried tears of joy that my baby was finally here. And I rode that oxytocin high for weeks after her birth.
Read MoreMy daughter was in the 0.05 percentile of babies’ birth weight for much of the first year of her life.
She looked perfect to me the day I welcomed her to this world: tiny toes that begged to be kissed, a heartstoppingly beautiful pouty mouth and a head full of spiky black hair. She even had a perfectly respectable birthweight at over 7 pounds. But to the medical profession, she rapidly became a problem: she just wasn’t gaining weight fast enough to keep up with their charts. I took their concerns seriously. I breastfed her on demand–sometimes when she was having a growth spurt it felt like I was glued to my rocker and Boppy pillow. I attended my local breastfeeding support group religiously, weighed her almost obsessively and tried all their techniques. But she remained stubbornly a little 0.05 percentile baby, who often choked and cried when I tried to nurse her.
Read MoreThe Black community is facing a horrific health crisis that isn't gaining enough attention. The high infant mortality rate of Black/African-American women is an alarming statistic. The United States faces 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births nationally, but behind these numbers hide severe racial disparities. In Oakland alone, the Alameda County Public Health Department reports that black infants pass away twice as often (8.7 deaths per 1,000 live births) as non-Hispanic white infants (3 deaths per 1,000 live births). These alarming statistics have been consistent both nationally and locally for the past decade, and despite numerous calls to action, the root causes have yet to be addressed.
Read MoreMy decision to have a natural birth came very easy. I was lucky enough to have been raised around warrior women whom although all from very different walks of life made the decision to bring forth life as naturally as possible. During my pregnancy I realized a lot of women weren't afforded that option. In a world where technology supersedes all, natural birth is considered archaic and in some cases unsafe. I learned about the medical industry and how it kept its claws deep in maternal affairs with complete disregard for the female body.
Read MoreWhen my partner and I began the process for becoming parents through adoption, I was focused on my journey, and the joy of welcoming a new little person into our family. We were quickly bombarded with a narrative about the journey of our child’s first parents; adoption is a choice, it is an act of love, and the strongest thing a mother could ever do.
Read MoreWhat started as an idea, metamorphosed into a day of intention and a space with great history filled with Black women activists, researchers, birth workers, visionaries and clinicians collectively sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Read MoreBlack Women Birthing Justice are featured in a short video compiled by Sarah Hoenicke, Sarah Cahlan and Drew Costley. Birthing Hope was created a part of an investigative journalist piece by Oakland North, and featured in the East Bay Express.
Read MoreA little over a month ago, I underwent the Birth Arts International (BAI) training in Philadelphia, PA. Taught by a former midwife, my course included a two-day weekend intensive alongside seven other individuals from various walks of life.
Read MoreIn April 2018, the Black Mamas Matter Alliance sponsored the first ever Black Maternal Awareness Week to highlight the shameful tragedy of preventable maternal deaths of women during childbirth – a burden disproportionally experienced by Black women.
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