KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 24-year-old Taiesha Chairs loves being a mom.
“Sometimes I look at him and just stare at him like wow I really have a baby,” Chairs said.
She looked forward to giving birth, then things changed at her last prenatal visit.
“We did my blood pressure and it was sky high and you need to go to the emergency room right now and I just bawled, I just started crying,” Chairs said.
The hardest part was how her son came into the world.
“I had to be induced and that was really a hard pill to swallow, especially when you know exactly how you want your birth to go,” Chairs said. “You have to advocate for yourself, you have to keep pressing the issue because it could be something that could be life or death.”
Dr. Aja Green runs EleVatethe prenatal care designed for women of color at University Health. She says stress and institutionalized racism can create stress, leading to a higher risk of death for women of color.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Leslie DelasBour
“For women of color it begins at the first visit because they carry that fear,” Green said. “That stress creates cortisol in the body and that cortisone level rise causes inflammation and all that inflammation causes problems with the placenta, which can cause low birth weight and return birth.”
Which is why she advocates that women of color have a practitioner who listens throughout the whole process.
“It gives the patient some of their power back, some of their autonomy back with their care and that will help Black women see that they do have choices and options so that they can have a part in their care. They can see where their steps are made and where their mistakes are made,” Green said.
Chairs says she’s grateful she and her son are both healthy.
“It’s very important to do your research and make sure all your needs are met and make sure that you have a healthcare system that's there to back you up and advocate for you and support you,” Chairs said.
