On a personal note, this is why I care about #maternityhealth.
Two years ago, my childhood friend was pregnant with her 3rd child in the U.S. She woke up in the middle of the night in tremendous pain. Everything happened within minutes. An ambulance was called, family members summoned to take care of her two older children, and her husband followed the ambulance in his car. But unfortunately, my friend died in the ambulance en route to the hospital from a ruptured uterine blood clot.
Did the doctors miss something? Could it have been prevented? I’ll never know. But the heartache and devastation of her death that wreaked upon her family and friends was unbearable. And I couldn’t help thinking about all the women in the world who have died while trying to bring life into the world.
Fast forward a few months, and I was in m first trimester with my last child. A simple shopping trip turned dramatic when I doubled over in pain and realized I might be miscarrying. A swift trip to the ER gave me the news that yes, I very well might be losing my baby, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. As the nurse told me, if you are miscarrying, all we can do is make you comfortable and let it run its course. I was shocked. I was sure there would be some magic remedy to stop the bleeding, but not in this case. I was discharged and told to take it easy.
Weeks later, I was back in a different ER with a more aggressive doctor, who decided to take a detailed ultrasound. What he found was a subchorionic hematoma, which is a fancy way of saying I had a large blood clot pressing on the placenta and threatening it to rupture. Images of my friend’s death came rushing back, and I realized how potentially dangerous this could be. I was prescribed complete bed rest for at least one month. Thus, began my most complicated pregnancy ever: regular ultrasounds, weekly doctor’s visits, full bed rest, an entire family to help and support me, and more pain as well as discomfort than I could have ever imagined.
And yet, I was lucky. Because even though the U.S. is not number one in global maternal health -in fact, it is 50!- it was still better than many, many other countries. And because I had great insurance (another detriment to maternal health in the states), I was given every medical consideration and access to the best doctors.
This seemed grossly unfair, and even in my pain-induced state, I recognized the irony of this. Depending on where a woman lives and how much money or coverage she has, her medical care and attention can vary. Thus, one woman’s baby is unintentionally valued over another’s. How I wish it weren’t so!
For this reasons and so many others, I support Every Mother Counts. I am attending a screening and event for this wonderful organization and can’t wait to see how I can help mothers across the world. Join me at www.everymothercounts.org.
SEE VIDEO: Glimpse At Every Mother Counts Nonprofit
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