childbirth
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'I Am Battle-Tested': Va. Gubernatorial Candidate Jennifer Carroll Foy Says Her Commitment to Black Maternal Health Is Personal
Former Democratic Virginia delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy almost didn’t live to become a gubernatorial candidate. As she shared with Elle on Monday, she almost died giving birth to her twin boys three years ago, “because, as is the case for many Black women, white doctors and nurses downplayed and dismissed her excruciating postpartum pain.” The…
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Why Was 'Childbirth' Trending on Twitter? Because It’s Kind of a Big Deal
If you’re reading this, at some point you were born—and whether naturally, with an epidural or via cesarean section, it was indisputably a major physical event for the woman who carried you, no matter how much she may have wanted to welcome you into the world. In fact, it may have been so traumatic she…
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Jodie Turner-Smith Reflects on 'the Sacred Process of Creating a Family' Amid 'Systemic Racism' in New Essay
The prospect of giving birth as a Black woman is currently as daunting as it is joyful. Black maternal health has become a major topic of discussion in recent years—one we’ve covered extensively here at The Glow Up—as mortality rates for Black mothers have risen to three to four times those of their white counterparts;…
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Having a Baby While Black: NATAL Is the Podcast Pregnant Black Parents Have Been Waiting For
It’s a question you normally wouldn’t ask a stranger, but ever since starting a podcast about black people and pregnancy, Martina Abrahams Ilunga and Gabrielle Horton have fielded it constantly: Do they plan on having kids? Horton and Ilunga are the executive producers and hosts of a new docuseries, NATAL, which focuses on the entirety…
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Couple Releases Video of Arizona Doctor Dropping Baby After Hospital Withholds Apology
Derrick and Monique Rodgers say hospital staff dropped their newborn baby on its head moments after it was born. All they wanted was an apology. When they failed to receive one, they released a video of the incident. The Rodgerses say that Chandler Regional Medical Center in Arizona has given lip service. The couple were…
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How to Get That Glow Down Below, aka Minding Your Lady Business
What would you do to get that glow down below? I mean, we obsess over the delicate skin on our faces, and we invest in sunglasses and eye creams like they’re 401(k)s. We work out and try to eat right to keep everything on our bodies glowing and tight, but when it comes to self-care…
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Serena Williams Covers Vogue With Daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.
For your daily dose of adorable, Serena Williams and her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., are on February’s Vogue cover. In the interview, Williams discusses everything from her post-birth health emergency to the emotional ups and downs of motherhood. Shortly after giving birth, Williams complained about having shortness of breath, and with her history of…
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The Complicated Business of Giving Birth: Motherhood and Mortality
Here’s a not-so-fun and very frightening fact: Did you know that the U.S. has the highest rate of deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth in the developed world, indiscriminately affecting women across races, backgrounds, educations and income levels? Did you know that over half of those deaths are preventable? And, if that news isn’t disturbing…
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Why Giving Birth Is Deadly for Black Women … and Why It Might Get Worse
Mothers dying during pregnancy and childbirth is a crisis most Americans believe impacts only countries experiencing extreme poverty with shortages of food, health care providers, medicine, water and housing. Most people think of developing or war-torn nations where there are inadequate hospitals and little government infrastructure. But when it comes to maternal health and mortality…