My Black Birth Story
My name is India King Robins.
I am a 33-year-old mom living in New Orleans, LA.
I delivered my daughter by cesarean on March 5, 2020 after being in labor for 40+ hours with two white midwives that didn't give me adequate care. I was induced due to having high blood pressure the last 3 weeks of pregnancy. I labored with my Black wife and Black doula by my side for 2 days. After 12 hours of labor, the induction process was intensified with more interventions, therefore, I decided to get an epidural for the pain. After a few hours, I realized that I was feeling all of the contractions and that the epidural had failed. I was told by one white midwife that I was not feeling pain, that I just wanted the process to be easy and that if I was going to quit and get a c-section, I should just let her know as soon as possible. It was later proven that my epidural had failed (only after a Black nurse advocated for me), and I was given two more epidurals that worked for less than one hour each. The next midwife that I worked with barely visited me as I labored during her shift. When I complained, she made excuses and told me that if I wanted her to be in my room giving me constant attention, I was supposed to communicate that ahead of time. I chose to have a cesarean after being exhausted physically and mentally from the pain I had endured the past two days.
After I had my baby, there were multiple situations in the hospital where doctors and nurses didn't listen to my concerns regarding my care and my baby's care. They made choices without fully informing me or getting my consent when treating my daughter for jaundice, including feeding her formula and giving her a pacifier while she was in the nursery against my request. We had to advocate for time to visit with her so that I could attempt to nurse and ensure we bonded with our baby. The hospital staff also failed to keep my wife informed about our baby's care. She was referred to as my sister and husband by staff, and doctors failed to acknowledge her when coming into our room multiple times. Additionally, the white midwife that claimed I didn't feel pain was supposed to come and provide care to me. Before she checked my vitals, she sat without asking and said she wanted to talk about what happened since I complained about not getting proper care. She failed to accept my feedback and gave excuses about the care I was given, including blaming me for not getting to know her better and hurting the feelings of the other midwife by giving said feedback. She continued to talk about how she was overworked and sacrificed time with her family to care for us.
Two weeks after delivery, I realized that my body wasn't healing properly. I complained about stomach pain to one midwife and was told to walk more. After having symptoms that appeared like COVID-19, in addition to my stomach pain, they scheduled a COVID-19 test for me and told me to quarantine myself from my family in the house. I did this for two days. I continued to have a high fever and chills, so I reached out to the emergency line to get ahold of whichever midwife was on call. She didn’t have many answers for me other than to take Tylenol and Ibuprofen until my COVID-19 test came back. The next day, I asked more questions via the online portal, and she told me that they couldn't help me any longer because they were not COVID-19 specialists. I went to the emergency room of another hospital later that day and was admitted. It turns out that I didn't have COVID-19; my pains were because I had a post-cesarean infection that was causing my fever, chills, stomach pain, etc., which were the same symptoms that I was told to report before being discharged from the hospital initially as they could be signs of infection.
At the new hospital, I was treated with more respect, however, my care was still subpar. I was given an antibiotic and contrast for a CT scan that caused my kidney to become injured. I was not told about the potential risks before being administered the contrast or medication. I also had to get a procedure to remove the infection—the medication I was given didn't prevent me from feeling intense pain. I was hospitalized for 8 days alone, totaling 10 days of separation from my 2 week old baby. Due to the pandemic, I wasn't able to have any visitors. I had to pump every couple of hours to keep my breast supply up, while my wife took care of our baby alone. I couldn't eat for days and felt very powerless and afraid while in the hospital. When I was finally discharged, I had to continue intensive care for myself at home in order to reach health goals.
I am still healing from my birth experience.
I am only 4 months postpartum, so the wounds are still fresh.
I believe it's important for Black women to speak about what is happening to us in the healthcare industry. No matter how much I prepared, I wasn't prepared for this.
