In last week’s cover story for the magazine, Linda Villarosa wrote masterfully about how the intertwined crisis of black infant and maternal mortality is related not to the genetics of race but to the lived experience of being a black woman in this country. We asked readers to share their stories of struggling to receive proper prenatal and postnatal care, and hundreds of people responded. Below is a selection of some of the stories.
‘We Often Feel Lonely on This Birth Path’
As soon as I learned I was pregnant back in September, it was like a switch turned on, and I started seeing story after story about the risks associated with childbirth and motherhood for black women. It felt like a cruel trick. I knew for me to remain calm and confident throughout the process, I would need to seek a health care provider who would provide warm, focused and passionate care. That is how I ended up at a birthing center. I saw an OB for screenings, but my primary prenatal care has been provided by a licensed midwife practitioner and her staff. The level of attention and detail is so much more pronounced with her versus with our doctor visits.
We are not anti-science, or anti-drugs, or anti-medicine. We also know that receiving care through a birthing center is a privilege all cannot afford. However, in light of what we know, and the care often experienced by black women in formal health care institutions, we feel we have no choice but to go this route.
[For more on this story by The New York Times Magazine, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...ernal-mortality.html]
Comments (0)