FORT SMITH, Ark. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ranks Arkansas with the first highest maternal mortality rate in the United States, with 40 mothers dying for every 100,000 live births compared to the national average of about 20 mothers.
In Arkansas, Black women die from maternal mortality at a rate of 71 per 100,000 live births in comparison to about 28 for non-Hispanic white women.
Right now, the Black Maternal Health Caucus is pushing to pass the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act. The act contains 13 bills aimed at addressing the medical disparity among Black pregnant women.
The American Pregnancy Association says having a doula as a member of the birth team decreases the overall cesarean rate by 50%, the length of labor by 25%, the use of oxytocin by 40%, and requests for an epidural by 60%.
Back in February, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) partnered with UJIMA Maternity Network to begin training 10 doulas as a first step in a goal to train 40 doulas in the state of Arkansas by the end of the year.
Now, those ladies are halfway through their training. One of the doula trainees, Leah James, says the journey has been transformative.
"I envisioned all my births in water. I wanted to be submerged in water. I wanted just to be like music and bubbles and flowy feathers slide, but none of that happened that way," James said.
She says all of her births were unique. "My first child, I had to be bedridden at 32 weeks. My second child, I had to be in the hospital for two months," she said.
James adds the birth of her third child was the most difficult. "I was not paid attention to when I was expressing the level of pain that I was experiencing."
She says the dismissed discomfort she experienced for weeks led to the birth of a 10-pound baby.
"It did end in an emergency C-section," James said. "Maybe if I would have pressed more, ad maybe if they would have listened more, the results would have been different."
But now, James will press for other mothers through her work as a doula.
"Just being able to change the narrative for someone else, to encourage them and coach them through," she said. "I want their birth plan to look like whatever it is that they're wanting to, and I'm going to do my best to facilitate that."
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