Birth Stories in Color

In collaboration with Pacify Health, this month’s episodes will focus on the doulas. You’ll hear conversations with four Pacify Doulas, getting a chance to reflect on “ The Other Side” of birth. Today we meet Zoerina Ledwidge. A college assignment captured Zoerina’s attention; it was a report on the maternal mortality rates in the DC area. She took into account the disproportionate findings regard...

Yasmin had a natural inclination to work with babies at an early age. She thought she would be a gynecologist or pediatrician; the pain of seeing sick children shifted her career plans.  She became a teacher instead, and her love for being an educator was helpful when choosing birth work. After training in birth and postpartum work, she included lactation and even explored a path to midwifery. Yas...

In collaboration with Pacify Health, this month’s episodes will focus on the doulas. You’ll hear conversations with four Pacify Doulas, getting a chance to reflect on “ The Other Side” of birth. Today we meet Lare Ngofa. Free-Spirited, science-loving Lare is a birth and postpartum doula who entered the birth worker world when she caught her baby cousin at age 16. She deepened her knowledge of holi...

This is a story about loss and rebirth; specifically what the Medical Industrial Complex deems a “near miss.” A maternal near miss occurs when someone nearly died but survived a complication that occurred during pregnancy, childbirth, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy.  Consider where your mind, body, and spirit are sitting during the time you read and listen to this story.  Shawnise e...

Oona-Ife and Anthony were hosting friends at their home when they decided she should take a pregnancy test. She took the test because she had spent the night throwing up after a night of eating steak and butter pecan ice cream. They learned they were expecting a baby, and the news brought so much joy that they had to stifle their excitement from their guests. Anthony even snuck out of the house to...

Gianna and Evan have welcomed three children into the world. The words joy, blessing, and purpose have marked each pregnancy and birth. They learned that they would be having a girl after the birth of two sons. Their daughter's birth would make her the first girl born on Evan's side of the family in over 100 years. After having two healthy and normal pregnancies, she thought," What are the odds th...

MyLin and Lindsay started their lives together after marriage with the hopes of expansion. When they decided to have more children, they were not fully aware of the obstacles they would encounter. The sticker shock regarding Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) expense steered them towards traditional or old-school insemination with a known donor. Patience over almost two years and a devastating anembr...

Michah met pregnancy with sickness in the form of a heavy dose of Hyperemesis Gravidarum, also known as HG. It is a condition that presents in pregnancy as severe and persistent nausea and vomiting caused by hormone fluctuations. HG caused Michah to experience weight loss, food aversions, and anxiety about her baby's growth. She found comfort in the power of watermelon and OTC nutrition shakes. De...

Fear and triumph are two words that Ashlee Grant uses to describe her collective birthing experiences. She would navigate the uneasiness of a first pregnancy after miscarriage culminating in a surgical birth of her and her husband's choosing, solidifying their bond as partners. She found the still, small voice that strengthened their resolve.  Ashlee entered the second pregnancy as a new version o...

Visualization is a powerful tool, especially for preparing for labor; it can turn our hopes into expectations. Much was the case for Danielle Henderson as she and her husband, Jeff, began preparing for a home birth for their first child. She was healthy and did not feel that the hospital was the best setting for her birth. This idea was new for her family, as everyone else had birthed at a hospita...

Before meeting her partner Tony, Brittany Turner didn't think it would be possible for her to have children. After suffering three miscarriages, she had been on a journey to understand the cause of her losses. There is undergoing bloodwork, genetic testing, and numerous ultrasounds, with no definite answer. So when she and Tony decided they were ready to expand their family together, they were ple...

For Vienna Fernandez, the births of her children have provided the most significant life lessons about who she was, who she is, and who she is still striving to be. As a birthing mother of three, each experience was different in its own right, pulling back new layers of learning each time. When pregnant with her first child, there was a sense of loneliness. She and her husband lived in a space tha...

Letitia and Brandon Gordon discovered they were expecting their second child when she was in nursing school. She found herself in a season of busyness and wanted to complete as much schoolwork as possible while managing her own business and their family. Much to their surprise, Leticia started noticing signs of labor when she was 28 weeks gestation. After informing her doctor of her concerns, her...

“It’s not the baby. It’s you.” These are the words that Jennifer Walton would hear from her medical provider as he determined with a quick cervical check that she would need to deliver her baby via surgical birth. He later told her that she would never be able to deliver vaginally because a baby couldn’t fit through her pelvis. Jennifer didn’t want a c-section and made that clear to her provider....

Ashlee Johnson's passion for birthwork grew from her first pregnancy and childbirth. She would bring forth life three times with a dedicated birth team. She welcomed being pregnant and can recall the first pregnancy as an enjoyable time despite hearing so many negative stories that people felt compelled to share with her. It would be a chance encounter, during her first pregnancy, with one woman t...

During a global pandemic, Ashley and Adrian would welcome their first child while living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The safety and travel restrictions limited their access to their family, causing Ashley to feel immediately dependent on her doctor. Despite being inclined to more natural resources for medical support, she felt that pregnancy made her want to stick to what the doctor said th...

A seemingly normal pregnancy was quickly unraveled when Beatriz received the news that she had preeclampsia. She had been managing a plan to birth at home with a hospital-based midwife to support any medical challenges and a homebirth midwife to support the birthing space she wanted. A top of the list item was a midwife that spoke Spanish, as her husband is a monolingual Spanish speaker. Unfortuna...

Adenike and Brandi have a strong connection with their ancestor's presence in their lives. So when they decided to expand their family, they weren't surprised when they showed up, guided, and protected them during the birth of their daughter. Their pregnancy journey involved five tries with Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). After two unsuccessful attempts at home, they decided to get support at a s...

Dr. Vernette Kountz holds many titles, but she sums it all up as just "Black girl magic trying to create a legacy." As the mother of seven children - three biological, two bonus girls from marriage, and having birthed as a surrogate to twin girls in 2018, she has a pretty dynamic outlook on motherhood. This has been impacted by her call to birthwork; wearing so many hats within it; she's creating...

Ivory and Ernest welcomed their baby girl to their family this year as they managed the uncertainties of life as the pandemic has waged on. They opened up with us to share their journey through childbirth and the lessons they learned from their individual and coupled experiences. A previous miscarriage had introduced a fear of pregnancy loss that loomed for a while. Their healing has enabled them...

Gianna Fay, a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM), tapped into herself as a resource as she ventured into her pregnancies. She also called upon people she had connected with along her journey as a birthworker. She started her first pregnancy living and working in Alaska. Gianna had access to the military base for care and where she worked. Allowing her to try out "centering pregnancy" at the base and th...

Aureyl describes that when she found out, she was pregnant, and when her body began confirming, it was two different time frames. Late in 2019, her husband got a stomach bug while traveling, which resolved itself within a day. Aureyl started feeling sick a few days later and thought she had caught the same bug her husband had. Yet even after returning home from their trip, she was still feeling un...

Joining us for her second birth story share, Erica Maddox came back with a whole new set of skills as an experienced birth worker, allowing her to show up for herself in a way that helped her create an experience that helped her heal. Erica was a teen mom when she experienced early delivery with her first child. Twelve years later, she would deliver her son early, but she prepared herself for that...

A journey of many places and re-focus on perspective about her work and life, Rokhaya decided to see how life would be in Jamaica. With the help of a friend who happened to be a travel agent, Rokhaya made arrangements for her first visit there, one of those being set up with a tour driver. This tour driver would end up being her husband, and come March 2nd; they would be forced to make lasting roo...

Chelsea always knew that her first child would be a son. However, she couldn't predict the circumstances of when she would become pregnant. A global pandemic would bring her aspirations of acting to a screeching halt as production stopped. She shifted gears as she needed to prepare for caring for herself and a new baby. Emotional issues developed as her relationship with her partner deteriorated....