by muneera1978 | Jan 7, 2015 | birth, death, maternal mortality
Today I am reminded about the faces behind the numbers of the maternal mortality crisis here in America. I talk about the high maternal death rate in this country all the time, but it is different when it is someone you know… A mother of a past student who I kept in contact with, passed away recently from complications after the birth of twins. As I sit and hold my infant son, I think to myself how these two little ones will never know their mother’s touch, her voice…her laugh. Keisha (pseudonym) had a distinctive laugh, it was tooth-full and rich, always accompanied with a hand raise. We connected outside of our parent-teacher roles, as black women in helping fields (she was a social worker), we had a lot in common. She had a calm, easy-going manner unless someone messed with her baby! She did not play, when it came to her only daughter at the time. I know how much she loved her daughter and how much she fought for her daughter to receive the best education possible. So, I know what an amazing mom she would have been to these two babies. There was a 13 year gap between her oldest daughter and these two little ones, I can only imagine how excited she must have been to feel them moving inside her body, rubbing her belly, talking to them… The anticipation she must have felt going into the hospital believing that she would see them soon and get to hold them. This very real person was a mother, sister, daughter, granddaughter, aunt, and friend. Her story...
