MyBaby4Me: 9 Months of Work to Improve Outcomes for Moms and Babies

 

Life with Transportation Challenges The majority of our women do not have cars....or at least reliable cars or cars in working order.  Even though Memphis is a big metropolitan area, the MATA (area transportation authority) routes and timing of buses are far from adequate for the needs they have for themselves and their families.   Part of MyBaby4Me is providing free transportation to and from our group meetings; we don't want the lack of transportation to be a barrier to our women growing and learning.  So, Uber and Lyft have become 2nd nature to us....more to Lynn as he is the chief people-hauler-arranger.  Lynn lines up multiple back-to-back trips and then reversing the process for the return home after class.  That has proven challenging; since we are the ones ordering the rides, the services communicate with us about arrival time, driver profile and vehicle description/license plate info.  We, in turn need to call or text the family to give them those details, as well as when the driver is expected to arrive.  We have had Uber/Lyft cancel at the last minute, leave a woman and her children stranded because they didn't get to the car fast enough, and one driver who chain-smoked in his car the whole ride with a pregnant woman and her young child.   Effective July 1st, we entered into a contract with a black woman-owned business called MedHaul.  They have a federal grant to improve birth outcomes for black women so a partnership with them is a perfect match (another miracle for our miracle book).  Their drivers will actually communicate directly with the woman we have ordered the ride for, will go to their door and help them to the car, provide car seats and boosters as needed, and can be scheduled in advance.  AND, because of the nature of the grant, we can provide transportation to grocery stores, pharmacies and medical appts. because those things improve birth outcomes.  MedHaul has been such a blessing and has reduced our project operating expenses.  Even more important is that women and their children are treated with care and respect.
MyBaby4Me On the Move! We shared the news of the NAACP remodeling project in our last blog. We are excited that construction began on August 1st, which required that we move our classes to a different location during the construction process. It was a priority for the NAACP to keep classes in the same neighborhood familiar to our women. And then, a librarian from the close-by branch of the Memphis Public Library contacted the NAACP and offered to partner. We found a new best friend! The library has a goal of our women seeing them as a community resource and wants everyone to have a free library card. We have a goal of having an ADA accessible and inclusive environment that will allow us access multiple days/week and allow us to feed women and their children in that space. We began meeting at the library during the first week of August and our women are now checking out books on child development and getting help with job searches and resume skills via library programs.
Baby coming soon! Shartravia was 17 when she conceived and is 18 years old now. She comes from a family environment that has been chaotic with a mom who has used drugs and no longer has custody of her children. Shartravia shared with us that she wanted her life to be different. She has been a motivated learner. She was staying in a single room in a boarding house; it was probably the worst living environment we have ever seen....and was evicted from that place on July 31st because it is being torn down. We have worked hard to help her identify a stable place to live by the time of her due date (September 5th). Shartravia asked if we could host a baby shower for her at the NAACP offices. We were glad to do so, and had a "Layettes with Love" donation all ready to give her. We set the date for a Saturday in July and she invited 20-25 people. We ordered a cake, decorated the room, put the layette donations out on a table and sent an Uber to pick Shartravia up. She was all dressed up for the occasion; no one she invited came....not even her mother. Oh how my momma heart hurt for her as she worked her cell phone and we heard "I thought you'all was comin to my Baby Shower" on the repeat. It was a hard day and an example of the fragile or non-existent or rapidly changing support systems our MyBaby4Me moms have. We showed her extra love that day as we took her home and reminded her that because of her resolve to create a different kind of life for her baby, he will never feel what she was feeling that day. Shartravia has now settled in to live with her father and his girlfriend, who are excited about the pregnancy and baby and supporting her. We are delivering her layette, diapers, and a donated crib and changing table to her this week. We are encouraging her to engage in a H.S. completion program. Shartravia has accepted the opportunity to be a part of the Nurse Family Partnership program here in Memphis and has her own home visiting nurse for weekly visits with her and her baby. For all of the challenges, we see resilience and a hope for a different life for her and her baby.
The Impact of Blood Pressure on Black Maternal Health Outcomes When the autopsy results for Olympic athlete Tori Bowles were released, it got the attention of our MyBaby4Me women.  It had been determined that she died when 8 months pregnant.  It is well-established that black women have higher rates of death associated with pregnancy than women of other races. Blood pressure is a big contributor to that mortality rate.  More black women begin their pregnancy with elevated blood pressure, more black women develop blood pressure problems during a pregnancy (and they come on more suddenly) and more black women develop blood pressure complications in the weeks and months following delivery. We wanted our women to hear about these risks and the steps they could take to identify to manage those risks. We were so fortunate to be connected with Dr. Ashley Matthews, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine and directs the Family Practice Residency Program. The UT places a special emphasis on OB training for their FP doctors, because many of them go on to practice in rural areas.  Dr. Matthews was eager to come and speak to our MyBaby4Me classes, and it was a powerful experience.  To have a black female physician (who came in scrubs from her work) who understands the fear our women experience and gave them information they trust was very meaningful to them. We can't necessarily measure impact of those efforts (measuring things that are prevented from happening is hard), but our women took the discussion seriously.
Where is Home Now? How is Housing Related to Health? "My dad kicked me and my baby out."   "I won't be at that address tomorrow cuz I moved from my sister's place to stay with my momma."  "My dad and his girlfriend have an extra bedroom that I can stay in." "I gotta get out of here but don't have no place to live." "The housing inspectors be comin' Tuesday and gonna tell me I need to take my babies and go to a motel because the mold is so bad here."  "I feel safe here as long as I keep my door locked." All things we have heard in the past weeks. For most of us, we have an address that we come and go from each day, sleep in the same bed every night, and (hopefully) have clothes and a closet, a kitchen with a fridge, stove and food and supportive family that we share those things with.  What happens when none of that is true? When home is an elusive concept? How do we reinforce safe sleep for an infant if the only sleep surface is an air mattress? How do our families receive mail when their address on file is somewhere many moves ago? Where do they go when their slumlord doesn't provide or repair the air conditioning and the heat index is 110 degrees?   One of our women has an apartment infested by rats.  She has a king-sized mattress, but it is on the floor.  She texted us and asked if we could get her a bed frame to get the mattress off the floor.  The rats have chewed through clothing in the apartment and now are chewing on the mattress while she is in bed.  Her landlord is unresponsive to the issue. She pays $875/month for her apartment + utilities. Which comes first?  Poverty or housing insecurity or the ability to find a livable wage job or transportation to get to work or child care so you can go to work?
Getting the MyBaby4Me Brand Out There! We continue to be included/invited to have vendor tables at events with partners.  Our communication staff with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints have provided us some materials that help us set up a professional-looking display and have something to provide to the pregnant women and families that come to these events. Recently we participated in an event that was held to honor and promote breastfeeding during National Breastfeeding Month.  We love talking with women and meeting new partners and sharing news about the resources of MyBaby4Me.
Sights and Sounds of the Mid-South Summer Have you ever heard a cicada?  We began hearing them here around July 4th and they haven't stopped.  They have an exceptionally loud screech....think of Utah crickets multiplied.  What's more is that a single cicada can sound like a thousand.  How people in the south think that sitting on their porches on summer evenings listening to cicadas is relaxing, we will never understand.  One cicada got through our front door; he was undetected until later that day and it was worse than seeing the big cockroaches that lived with us for the first few months!   And this is the "Bike Arch" at Overton Park.  It makes our hearts happy when we drive this route in Memphis.  Dedicated in 2014, it marks a bike/pedestrian path through the park. Originally, a freeway was planned to be constructed through this green space; opponents fought that plan and this bike arch by a local artist celebrates the preservation of that green space for public use.
A Full Term Pregnancy is 40 Weeks....We Hit the 40 Week Mark of Our Missionary Service We cheer our pregnant women every week that goes by and they are able to get that much closer to having a baby close to their due date.  Prematurity is one of the major causes of Infant Mortality. There are so many parallels between those 40 weeks of pregnancy and our first 40 weeks of our mission.  When a woman finds out she is pregnant, she may be anxious, scared, unsure of how life will look at the end of that 40 weeks, unsure of how she will "become" a mother and know how to mother.  Relationships change, self-identity changes, lifestyle changes, jobs/income may change, housing may shift.....a LOT to adjust to. As missionaries receive their mission call and leave home to serve, many of the same things happen.  Initial anxiety and uncertainty about one's assignment, a new living environment, leaving friends/family/community and gaining new friends/family/community and "becoming" something different or more than we were before. Excitement, anxiety, worry, anticipation are common emotions with both new experiences. Just as motherhood changes a woman, our missionary service has changed us.  We have marked 40 weeks but aren't done yet!  We are planning for the possibility of more classes in other parts of Memphis, the possibility of MyBaby4Me in other cities in the South, on how best to transition this project with new missionaries and celebrating the births of healthy babies and their first birthdays!
Going Through Hard Times In Romans 8:28, Paul wrote: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God...."  As we get to know our women and their challenges, we think about how hard their lives have been and (in many cases) still are. We are drawn to a General Conference address by Elder James B. Martino.  "Our Heavenly Father, who loves us completely and perfectly, permits us to have experiences that will allow us to develop the traits and attributes we need to become more Christlike.  Our trials come in many forms, but each will allow us to become more like the Savior as we learn to recognize the good that comes from each experience.  As we understand this doctrine, we gain greater assurance of our Father's love. We may never know in this life why we face what we do, but we can feel confident that we can grow from the experience." With appreciation for your support, Lynn and Joell Archibald