'Health equity does not exist in any state in the U.S.,' said David Radley, a senior scientist at the Commonwealth Fund.

axios.com/2024/04/18/rac…

MUST READ. This is why mothers & babies are dying in this country. This beautiful baby girl came *thisclose* to #stillbirth but her courageous mama stared down #medicalpaternalism & #systemicracism to save her child's life & potentially her own

#empoweredpregnancy PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy

**My Birth Story, Long Post Alert, But Very Important Read**

At my 38 week OB appointment my blood pressure was elevated to 140/100 and my urine dipstick revealed protein 3+. I do have history of controlled hypertension, but prior to this OB visit all of my BP had been normal.

My OB made her concerns of probable imminent preeclampsia and to head to L&D triage to be evaluated and most likely admitted for induction of labor. Fast forward after being evaluated in triage my BP had intermittently normalized, my workup labs were normal.

The OB on call for the hospital (NOT my personal OB) advised I be discharged as everything was “fine” and we could hold off on induction of labor until 39 weeks. I had this gut feeling that although on paper clinically everything looked “fine” that my body was giving forewarning

signs that the imminent danger of preeclampsia were near, and I was right.

After getting the news of wanting to send me home, I called my personal OB and told her my concerns that I do NOT want to go home and I need to stay at the hospital for more monitoring and she agreed it

that it was NOT worth the risk of gambling another week of waiting. My OB told me don’t leave and called over to the hospital and advocated I stay to the on-call OB attending. A few minutes later the on-call OB attending, a white female, came to talk to me and tried to convince

me that I didn’t need to be admitted even after voicing my concerns and mentioned a long wait time I would have for induction since I had no preeclampsia symptoms in which I said was perfectly fine as I wanted to make sure I and Sydney were safe. At this point for my concerns, I

felt the need to advocate and make it aware of my medical knowledge and VALID stats of of patients like myself who are at higher risk for preeclampsia (African American and history of HTN). With advocacy by myself and my personal OB I was arguably admitted for monitoring and IOL

After many hours of waiting in triage until my room was available my blood pressure was never rechecked. Finally I made it to my room on the floor and my nurse took my blood pressure after about a 6 hour span since the normal ones. My first blood pressure read was 176/ 100,

the second one 178/95. At this moment I knew I had developed preeclampsia with severe features and had NOT been previously taken seriously about my concerns. The doctors on call couldn’t believe the blood pressures were real and that possibly this could be from my anxiety.

After a few more severely elevated blood pressure, the on call doctor said “okay yeah we need to start you on magnesium and prepare for induction of labor quickly, good thing you stayed.” At this point I realized I had experienced a true bias and almost was sent home in a

condition that could’ve cost me and my child our lives. I called my mom and sisters in real tears because of the thoughts that could’ve happened to me if I went home, but more so I cried even more so for the many black women I know that were in my position and ended up with

horrific outcomes. I wanted to share this story as of the real importance of advocacy for black women in childbirth is so important and vital. It indeed did NOT matter that I was a physician as I still had pushback on my concerns. I hope this story can help someone out there to

to always remember to fight and advocate for yourself and find a doctor that will do the same.

#preeclampsiaawareness #preeclampsiasurvivor

About 60 babies are stillborn in the U.S. each day. Many parents feel their loss is invisible. They worry no one will know their child’s name. Here we remember their names. projects.propublica.org/stillbirth-mem… Adriana Gallardo Duaa Eldeib zisiga mukulu

We created the #StillbirthMemorial to remember 60 babies — representing the 60 stillbirths that occur in the U.S. each day.

If you’d like to tell your story, we invite you to share your child’s name with others by using our prompts and templates. propublica.org/article/how-to…

A Memorial for the Children Lost to Stillbirth — ProPublica projects.propublica.org/stillbirth-mem… Journalism can be loving and caring. So proud of my colleagues for this work, especially Duaa Eldeib.

This digital memorial is heartbreaking, moving and an incredibly thoughtful way to allow families to tell their own stories.

If you read one thing today, make it this.

Incredible work by Adriana Gallardo, Duaa Eldeib & zisiga mukulu

projects.propublica.org/stillbirth-mem…

What a staggeringly beautiful effort to memorialize stillborn babies for their families. My heart goes out to each one. Thank you ProPublica.