05/06/2020
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I have four children.
As an expectant mother I was listened to in depth and with a sense of empathy.
People believed me when I spoke of my medical history.
If I felt strongly about something I wasn’t seen as aggressive.
I wasn’t stereotyped.
Health workers weren’t afraid to come to my home.
If my husband and I had been pulled over racing to the hospital in labour at 3am, he wouldn’t have been searched and checked if he was on drugs.
Nobody was surprised my husband was in the picture.
Birth workers didn’t think I feel less pain.
My pain was taken seriously.
I was not subject to barriers like poverty, unemployment and discrimination meaning that I was already on an uneven playing field when it came to my physical and mental health.
I was not FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DIE due to complications in childbirth.
I don’t have to lean on statistics to validate my own stories of pregnancy and childbirth.
My experience won’t be dismissed by followers of popular Instagram accounts.
Birth is life changing. It can be gentle. It can be powerful. It can be empowering. It can be traumatic. But I never had to consider my pregnancies and births would be affected by the colour of my skin. .
Stunning images of by shared with permission 🖤