Having A Baby In The States As A Black Woman

Disclaimer: This is my experience of having a baby in the States as a black woman and this could have happened to any woman of any race.

My First Time Giving Birth In the US

Right before my husband exited the military I gave birth to our last child. It was a completely different experience. Here in the States, we don’t have as many ultrasounds. And that made me a little uncomfortable but I knew that was normal. As we all know the mortality rate for women of color is ridiculously high. So I was super nervous during my last trimester and I was completely terrified. I had a talk with my husband about how he needed to advocate for me and keep an eye on everything that was happening. I told him if something doesn’t look right please speak up.

Most of the staff was very pleasant and welcoming but the doctor who was supposed to help me deliver was too wrapped up in Covid and she didn’t care about my well-being. I had my daughter in June of 2022 and at that time the rates of Covid weren’t as high anymore. She refused to come in the room unless I had my mask on and that was no problem when were waiting to get to 10 cm. She knew that I couldn’t wear my mask while giving birth so she went to put on a hazmat suit and completely missed my daughter's birth. I almost had to go to the OR because I was given too much epidural, had difficulty breathing, and had no energy to push. I was barely pushing and my daughter’s cord was wrapped around her neck so either I needed to do one big push or I was going to have a c-section. I was giving up and so was the whole team. I could see the fear in my husband’s eyes as he told me I had to push but was too exhausted to react. Luckily, one amazing black nurse came in and said NO ma’am, and got behind me and told me to get it together and push. I thank GOD for her because she didn’t want me to go to the OR unless I truly needed to. I gave one big push and her head was out then they removed the cord from around her neck. Then I gave one last push and she was out.

I think the worst part of my experience was the epidural. I've had epidurals with my other two daughters and had no complications. But the anesthesiologist couldn't get the needle in my back right and it was so painful going in and coming out and she did it twice before she called her supervisor. The supervisor put it in with no problem and then left the room and left the first lady to give me the dosage which was way too high. FYI for natural births it should be to your belly button and for c-sections it is to your chest, mine was to my collarbone. I felt like I could barely breathe so I pressed the button but there was a nurse already coming in to give me something because my blood pressure had gotten really low. She did the cold test and I could only feel it on my neck and face so they turned it off and sat me up straight to level it out in my body.

After we were settled in my room with our baby the anesthesiologist came in to check on me and told me she thought that I was super sensitive to epidural and she only gave me a third of what I was supposed to have so that's the reason it went so quickly through my body. But honestly, I knew I was giving too much and she wanted to save herself.

The mortality rate for black women during childbirth as of 2021 is 69.9 per 100,000 live births. Why is this? How can we fix this? I was truly scared to give birth here thankfully I made it through and had another beautiful baby. This is not to discourage anyone from becoming a mother or having more beautiful babies but to encourage you to find the right medical providers and have a great support system.