by Devin Bailey-Nicholas
On the
subject of birth in regards to Black women, there is a necessity to reclaim,
remember, and reignite the passion for art and science of childbearing. If we continue to allow those from outside of
our community to dictate our needs and throw out lazy solutions to cure the
health disparities that disproportionately effect us, our babies will continue
to die and our bodies will continue to be unnecessarily cut on and mistreated. In the United States, the infant mortality
rate is 7 deaths per 1000 live births, lagging behind the majority of “First”
world countries. Our maternal mortality
rate isn't any better at about 12.7 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Now check
this, the infant mortality rate for Black babies is 2x that of their white
counterparts. The Black maternal mortality rate is 2.7x that of white
women. Don't believe the hype that this
is simply due to teenage, uneducated, poor & nutritionally deficient
pregnancies. Unfortunately, Black rates of infant and maternal mortality are at
the same rate regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds. As a matter of fact, a Havard educated Black
mother has a higher chance of her baby dying before the age of 1, than a white
mother who has never graduated high school.
Accordingly,
there are many factors that affect these rates, one of the biggest factors is
stress—especially from institutional and systematic racism. Long term stress due to oppression, prejudice
can effect pregnancy by releasing a hormone from the brain that can cause
premature contractions (please see “Unnatural Causes” documentary, “When the
Bough Breaks” segment). Remember,
premature babies (babies born before 37 weeks gestation) are at a higher risk
for dying before their first birthday.
So, what do
we do? We flood our respective
communities, lodges, churches, mosques, temples, fraternities, sororities,
biker and social clubs with information about birth. We must discuss our options in where we
birth: home, hospital, birthing center?
Do we want an OB-GYN, Midwife, Doula? Do we want to do a free/unassisted
birth? What ever we choose, we must be
informed. Individually we educate
ourselves, so collectively we save our mothers and babies. We must encourage breastfeeding, because not
only does a breastfed baby have a better chance to make it past the age of 1,
but breastfeeding has been also been linked to lower the risk of breast cancer.
At this time, the number of Black women with breast cancer are climbing.
Another thing
our village must do is support our pregnant mothers no matter the age, no
matter how many children they have. Open
the door for pregnant mothers, give up your seat from pregnant moms, and
congratulate them. Don't bring
unnecessary confusion, drama, and gossip to the ear of a pregnant woman—she is
baring life, she doesn't need to hear or see death and violence. Nurture
pregnant and new moms with nutritious foods for prenatal and postpartum
recovery. Visit new babies when families
are ready, not when you want to see the baby.
If you stop by a new mother's home bring a meal, or offer to cook. Tend to the older children for a while so mom
and new baby can get some rest. Help a
new mom wrap her stomach or clean her staples/stitches. It's time for our community to do the work
and be the village everyone keeps talking about, by taking responsibility for
each other.
Devin Bailey-Nicholas is a mother of 2, wife, ICTC
trained Full Circle Doula, Traditional Healer, and Founder of Community Birth
Companion, a grass roots non-profit org working to decrease infant and maternal
mortality rates in Opelousas, LA. Communitybirthcompanion.org
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