For every 100,000 live births that occur in South Carolina, an average of 30 mothers die, some during pregnancy, most in post-partum. According to the State Department of Health, around 90% of those deaths are preventable.
Dr. Jennifer Baumstark is certified nurse midwife, associate professor, and program director for the nurse midwife program at the University of South Carolina. Tia Tucker-Cain is a certified full spectrum doula, certified community health worker, and educator. The two community partners recently visited South Carolina Public Radio to brainstorm how they can empower women by educating them on their choices in the birthing process, and how midwives and doulas collaborating with traditional medical care can help improve maternal health outcomes.
This conversation is part of the South Carolina statewide initiative, Voices|Voces, which aims to understand the experiences and perspectives of maternity care patients throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and to bring their voices directly into policy and practice discussions. Voices|Voces is a program of the University of South Carolina’s Institute for Families in Society and supported by the Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare (USC School of Medicine).
TRANSCRIPT:
Baumstark: Only 15% of pregnancies need to be managed, the medical model of care. The rest of them would be fine with the midwifery model of care. So, how do we empower the women in our communities to understand that this is something they can ask for? The other thing that we need to combat is the maternity deserts that we have here.
Tucker-Cain: Oh my gosh. Yeah. I have a family right now, they are actually crossing state lines to go into North Carolina because there's no place here where I live in my community for me to have my baby. We are aligned with a physiological birth. That means there's no induction date. So, you're not driving to the hospital at 4, and now you have to wake someone. It could be 2 o' clock in the afternoon or 4 o' clock in the morning to drive you to North Carolina. If someone is educated, then they are empowered to make the decisions.
Baumstark: I think it would make a gigantic difference in the maternal mortality rate here.
Tucker-Cain: It would.
Baumstark: And also, this work is being done across the nation. There's other countries that the only way that women are cared for is the midwifery model of care.
Tucker-Cain: Exactly.
Baumstark: And their maternal mortality rates are very low. Very low. There's something called “alongside midwifery units.” It's actually a birthing center within a hospital. If we could put in alongside midwifery unit within every hospital, then women would walk into the hospital in labor. They would walk into the alongside midwifery unit if they're low risk enough to do it. And then that's where they would start and that's where they would stay. And then if they risk out, then they would be escorted down to the labor and delivery unit for whatever intervention they need.
Tucker-Cain: In my mind, that would have to be like a societal change and a cultural change. I am a mom. I gave birth in a different state. My experience in New York, it looked completely different than what I witness on a day-to-day basis here.
Baumstark: Those alongside midwifery units would be a really great way to start this shift because it's different here. I had a conversation with somebody and I said, “So, what kind of birth are you thinking about?” And she goes, “Are you kidding me? I just want to survive.”
Tucker-Cain: Mm-hm.
Baumstark: “I want my baby and I to survive.” And I thought to myself, “Wow. That's where we're at.”
Tucker-Cain: Yeah. I've had people say that to me, “Miss Tia, just don't let me die.” To have a baby?? Don't let you die??
Baumstark: Yeah.
Tucker-Cain: Why do you think that that is the thing that is going to happen for you?
Baumstark: Yeah.
Tucker-Cain: Collaborative, care is just…it's imperative. If we're thinking that we want to have better birth outcomes, if we want to have an impact on infant and maternal mortality, collaborative care has to happen so that we can decrease those very stark numbers. And I'm committed to doing that.
Baumstark: Yeah, I'm going to commit to continue to do that and educating our partners in our birthing space who we are, what we do, and how we can help them.
Tucker-Cain: Yep.
Baumstark: Yeah.
Do you have a story you'd like to share for Narrative? Email us at Narrative@SCPublicRadio.org.
