Here we are. Pregnant and headed to see the high-risk doctor for my first visit and
ultrasound for Baby Christian. Excited and knowing God + we have this this time and waiting for blessed results. When I entered the waiting room and signed in, I quickly noticed how many African American women took space over other races that were there. I will say 80% of those waiting in the waiting room were African American which instantly made me question why. Why are there so many women that favored my skin color sitting in this waiting room; all different sizes, ages, and heights? My belief is that I was a high-risk pregnancy because of prior blood clots but was told it was my age. Yep, at the age of 40 God decided to answer our many prayers after a loss in 2017 to surprise us with this baby. As I sat there and looked around, it seemed I was possibly the oldest patient in the waiting room.
According to research a high-risk pregnancy is normally due to weight, age, and/or existing health conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, for example. As we all know these health conditions are higher in African Americans than other races and this means that we’re continuing the unfortunate cycle on to our children with possible miscarriages, preterm labor or babies born with health concerns. Now, I’m no doctor or expert but I pay attention and research a lot. As I continued to visit my high-risk doctor, I noticed each visit how many women were there that looked like me and I shared this with my husband who saw what I talked about when he began going to doctor visits with me. Unfortunately, if you haven’t heard African Americans statistics are higher than our Hispanics, Asians, and White counterparts when it comes to our health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans are more likely to die at early ages from all causes, African American Health .
Our health is one of our most important assets; something I, personally still struggle with. When I reached my maximum weight of 265 I knew I had to do something and focused on my weight loss that took off 60 pounds and I was the happiest of my life. When I began dating my husband, then boyfriend those pounds slowly started coming back and I didn’t have as much control as I wanted. When we found out we were pregnant the first time I was excited and happy. Unfortunately, we lost that baby and as depression set in and a million questions and thoughts in my head, I continued to gain weight and finally looked at myself and did not like what I had done to myself so I got back on my weight loss journey. When we surprisingly got pregnant this time and I was working on my weight loss again, I will say I was not at my desired weight.
But as I’m learning more and more – the way we want, and plan things may not be the way God planned them to be. I started looking up more reasons why African American women were more likely to have high-risk pregnancies or wondering if this was just in my area. I came across an article published in January 2020 by Verywell Family asking the same question, ‘Why Do Black Women Experience More Pregnancy Loss?’ So what is the solution? I hope this blog and each of us can help teach another woman or as I plan to do, teach and mentor our youth girls about these topics that can not only benefit them now but as they age so that we all can live longer, healthier lives and have healthy pregnancies.
Be Blessed…and Healthy