{"id":28533,"date":"2023-07-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpdev.mom.com\/momlife\/how-black-mothers-can-advocate-for-themselves-during-pregnancy"},"modified":"2024-11-13T22:57:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T03:57:43","slug":"how-black-mothers-can-advocate-for-themselves-during-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mom.com\/pregnancy\/how-black-mothers-can-advocate-for-themselves-during-pregnancy","title":{"rendered":"How Black Mothers Can Advocate for Themselves During Pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can remember telling one of my friends that I did not have a birth plan for the delivery of my second son. I was just going to follow whatever my ob-gyn told me to do. She could not believe me. This friend had hired a doula to assist during her pregnancy because she didn’t know exactly which doctor would deliver her baby, and we had previously talked about the risks of maternal mortality for Black mothers<\/a>. We both knew that a healthy pregnancy and healthy delivery were major blessings and were aware of what we could potentially experience, so my statement shocked her.<\/p>

Although my choice seemed to be unbelievable, a lot of work was put into this decision. I had already taken steps to advocate for myself in my health care plan, and it was paying off. I knew without a doubt that my physician would do everything she could and make every decision in the best interest of my baby and me.<\/p>

As it turned out, my delivery was not an easy one, so trusting her became one of the best decisions I could have made. So, how did I get to this point?<\/p>

Below are the steps you can take to advocate for yourself during your pregnancy and for your health in general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can remember telling one of my friends that I did not have a birth plan for the delivery of my second son. I was just going to follow whatever my ob-gyn told me to do. She could not believe me. This friend had hired a doula to assist during her pregnancy because she didn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":206452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2024-11-14T03:57:47Z","apple_news_api_id":"fc6271fe-785d-47c1-a75b-85f62bcb4f66","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2024-11-14T03:57:51Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_GJx_nhdR8GnW4X2K8tPZg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,53,10],"tags":[1621,1917,2361,223],"featured":[],"internal-tag":[],"series":[121],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Black Mothers Can Advocate for Themselves During Pregnancy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"5 ways to speak up for your baby and your own health in the delivery room and during pregnancy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mom.com\/pregnancy\/how-black-mothers-can-advocate-for-themselves-during-pregnancy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Black Mothers Can Advocate for Themselves During Pregnancy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cYou get one body, one life, and you don\u2019t get do-overs. 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