Delivering Bash: My Birth Story

It’s the last day of Black Maternal Health Week and I feel I would like to share my story on pregnancy and delivery.

The above images are from my first pregnancy. I felt great. I felt confident. I had hit my fitness goal the week before finding out I was pregnant. I was ready for not just pregnancy but for delivery too.

At least that’s what I thought. I was so focused on being mentally and physically prepared to deliver a baby vaginally that it didn’t dawn on me that a cesarean (c-section) was even a potential outcome for me. I mean, prior to this picture I had absolutely no bad pregnancy symptoms and after I took this photo, I went on to teach Boss Chick until 36 weeks, continued I have flawless blood pressure and all in all was the patient my doctor admitted she would have put money on having a smooth delivery. Even labor was relatively smooth. I was able to eat Thanksgiving dinner, drive 30 mins home, take a nice shower and lay down a little...all while in labor.

Le sigh. Not all good things can continue. Let’s fast forward a bit....After 3.5 hours of pushing I was faced with the one thing I feared so much that I didn’t even consider it to be an option. A c-section. I lost it. Definitely wasn’t my most shining hour. All I could think of were the statistics that Black women are at higher risk of having complications or death from delivery than any other race even when you control for socioeconomic factors. The articles I had read during my pregnancy about a Serena Williams, Beyoncé and other black women experiencing near death experiences or death during delivery were scrolling through my mind as the doctors prepped me for surgery. Y’all, your girl was TERRIFIED!

But eventually our son was here and he was safe. The labor and delivery had taken a toll on him and therefore, I wasn’t able to see him immediately. The amazing doctors and nurses caring for us attended to him immediately and eventually we heard his first cries. The entire labor and delivery experience has stayed with me for a while. TBH it’s still at the top of mind while I prepare to deliver our second child.