E6 Show Notes

[MUSIC: Stems from Lauhala Dreams – Solis]

It’s springtime and the year is twenty-fifty. I’m sitting in the lobby of my local birth center, here in South Central LA. If you can believe it, there are birth centers in almost every city and rural town across the US. 

But this, is one of the oldest. And it’s my favorite. I first came to this birth center twenty-five years ago. It was here that I first met midwife Kimberly Durdin, That’s when I started working on Black maternal health. 

Everything is the same, except the center is bigger now. It spans the entire block. The  walls are still dressed with those big, beautiful murals of Black and Brown pregnant people, all painted in bold poses.

I’m here waiting for Ife, my granddaughter. 

She’s a new mom. And it’s her first trip outside the house since her 15-day postpartum rest protocol.

She and her baby, Ama, are here for their first postpartum group visit. You know (smiling), Baby Ama and I share birthdays. Can you imagine? Our family is now four generations deep. 

I’m so proud of Ife. When she first told me she was pregnant, I asked if I could be her doula. And she said yes.

I made sure I was at every prenatal visit with Ife and her midwife. And I prepared fresh food for her everyday. 

During the last month of pregnancy, when it was hard for Ife to get around, I encouraged her to keep moving. We took daily walks at our local park. I made sure to massage her feet and back after. 

And when she gave birth at home, I was there, by her side, holding her hand. Helping my grandbaby, with her baby! Wow, we really make a great team, she and I. 

I can’t help but smile as I see Ife enter the lobby. My heart swells as I see her baby Ama nestled on her chest.

 

This future is everything I want for Black families, but where are we now? What is the work we have to do now to reach Ife and Ama in 2050?

[MUSIC: Show ID]

I’m Kaytura Felix and you’re listening to Deep Care. A podcast about the Black community midwives transforming Black families and futures. 

[MUSIC: Show ID out]

For the past 5 episodes we’ve been witnessing the full reach of community midwives, and how the three Kim’s — Kimberly Durdin, Kim Onile, and Kim Homer are filling in the gaps of conventional medicine to show us what deep care looks like in action. 

In this final episode, we dare to dream. 

[MUSIC: The Release – Cobalt Tones]

With our midwives and mothers, we open our imaginations to the future of Black birth in the U.S.  

My very first interview was actually not with any of the three midwives you’ve gotten to know this season. My research actually began in a suburb just outside of Philadelphia, with Midwife Asasiya Wilson, the first midwife on my list.

In February 2024, we began reaching out to midwives across the Northeast, inviting them to participate in our study. Within an hour, Asasiya had responded. She was the first to answer. She was calm and confident on the phone when she agreed to participate.

And if you know how busy Black community midwives are?! This was a big deal for our team. I saw the hand of fate. Providence. The Ancestors!

 

KF: Asasiya taught me early on about what it takes for Black community midwives to show up. The early morning calls, the late nights attending births, and the hours dedicated to caring for others, with little time for yourself or family. 

[MUSIC: The Release – Cobalt Tones ends] 

 

KF: You know you’ve been doing this for 11 years now. What does the future look like for you? 

Asasiya Muhammed: Yeah. The things that I feel I can plan for in my future is that I want to transition into a more normal schedule of life. I want to have a more like, “Oh, you work these days, and then you go home, and that’s it.” And then you can plan vacations, or you can spend time with your children and not worry. I think that’s what I’m working towards is that kind of normalcy. 

[MUSIC: Stems from Rife – Woolfson]

 

KF: Without a sustainable path forward, our dream cannot exist. 

We talked a lot this season about the “what needs to happen” for birth, there’s also the “what needs to happen” for midwives. 

 

Asasiya Muhammed: If I have to do this for another three years, if I try to take good care of myself, I think I’ll be fine. But like I know midwives who are still working — like some of the ones that you’re going to talk to probably– have been midwives for 40 years, 30 years. And they live like that, and they’ve just become accustomed to it. 

 

KF: So what needs to happen to keep midwives like Asasiya here for the long run? What would it look like if we gave deep care to the midwives who give so much of themselves to their clients and families?  

It’s going to take all of us. We need help from lawmakers, leaders in health care, grassroots organizers, AND everyday community members  to make our dream of safe, joyful births real. 

To understand what that looks like, let’s go back to the beginning. 

[MUSIC: Stems from Rife – Woolfson end]

 

We can’t forget that the foundation of this problem, as Kim Homer says, is racism. 

 

Kim Homer: It doesn’t matter where you come from, once you step over that threshold to get care, your color is seen first.

 

KF: It’s not our race or skin color that undermines Black people’s health, it’s racism. The root of the high Black maternal death rate  is systemic underinvestment in Black communities. It’s the absence of care. And it’s going to take systemic solutions to truly fix it. And there are a few areas where we can start.

[MUSIC: Open Wings – Liron Meyuhas]

 

KF: First, we need to increase the number of midwives  around the country. We need more midwives providing care to Black birthing people in their homes and birth centers. 

 

Asasiya Muhammed: I mean the thing that just keeps coming into my head is // we need more institutions that offer midwifery education as a path. There has to be significant focus on community-based care… And not in, how do you say, an afterthought or performative like, “Oh, yeah, let’s give you this one-hour class on cultural competence, and now you know everything that you need to know.” I think community-based midwifery should be part of midwifery education in a real way, like a full-bodied effort.

 

KF: Over the past decade, community births have nearly doubled, but that number accounts for around 2 percent of all births in the US. And research shows that more people are interested in community birth than have access to it.

With more trained midwives, Black birthing people will have that option. 

And that means more families experiencing deep care.

[MUSIC: Open Wings – Liron Meyuhas ends]

 

KF: Access to care is just the beginning. Birthing people need to know that midwifery is a safe and joyful option. Midwives cannot be sidelined or ignored. Their expertise and training must be fully embraced by physicians and hospital staff.

[MUSIC: Tamuz Dekel – Fleeting Wave]

 

KF: Remember Joya? our moms’ group leader in Los Angeles?

She wants to see doctors proactively share midwifery care as a legitimate option for patients.

 

Joya Lewis: It shouldn’t just be like one way to do things. // I feel like both should be talked about, like… /. Even when you go to see your OB and // they’re asking you about your birth plan, and if you don’t know too much, like oh, ” well, have you ever considered a midwife if you don’t feel like this care is right for you?” And if you’re a black birthing person, “If you feel like you want a more cultural approach to your birth, have you ever considered black midwifery care?” 

Joya Lewis: You know that would be nice if they could bring that up. //  Like when you’re doing research and unless you know exactly what to look for, how do you find it? 

 

KF: Joya is talking to the spirit of collaborative care. 

 

Doctors working with midwives and letting their patients know about midwifery care….

Midwives, physicians, and other specialists working hand-in-hand to support their clients…

Longer prenatal and postnatal visits….

Provider care covering the baby, the birthing person, and the entire family. 

This (!) is what collaborative care can and should look like. 

[MUSIC: Tamuz Dekel – Fleeting Wave ends]

 

KF: You know, we cannot talk about all these changes without talking about MONEY. 

The high out-of-pocket costs for midwifery care was a concern brought up in the majority of our 114 interviews. 

Of course, we heard of innovative ways that midwives are making care accessible, like with payment plans.

 It’s great to accommodate families. But let’s be clear.

[MUSIC: Stems from Jimit – Do U?]

 

These plans are only needed because most insurance companies do not cover community midwifery care.

KF:  Brittney Murray, who we first met in the first episode, spoke to me about insurance.

 

Brittney Murray: This is the actual necessary healthcare necessity that should be covered by insurance, absolutely. And please don’t take 50 or 100 years to do that. They can be doing that five years from now. They could be doing that now. If the insurance companies could see the quality of care that I got versus the $20,000 C-section, like, insurances could be paying much less and their patients getting even better care. I wish they could see the correlation between that. 

[MUSIC: Jimit – Do U? Fades out]

 

KF: My team and I spent 2 years conducting interviews… I was so focused on being prepared, so eager to learn from them… that  I was caught off guard when Brittney turned to me, and asked me about my own dreams…  

 

KF: So what else would you like me to know? Is there a question that… we have not as yet covered?

Brittney Murray: I would like to know of the research that you’ve gathered already, where do you think that Black birthing and midwifery is going based off the research you have? I’m excited.

KF: Yeah yeah, so um…

KF: I didn’t have an answer to Brittney’s question then. But I have one now.

[MUSIC: Stems from Limbaka – Omri Smadar]

 

KF: I want a future where maternal health disparities are read about in museums rather than unfolding in our hospital rooms. Or worse, on death certificates. 

Where the work of Southern grandmidwives is honored. And passed down to new generations of community midwives. 

Where midwifery is acknowledged and respected. And fairly compensated! 

I want birth centers in every neighborhood, and midwives working side by side with OBs. 

Where the midwifery model of care is the foundation of pregnancy and birthing care in the U.S.

Oh, and if I didn’t say it earlier…. I dream that in the not so distant future, we will all have access to FREE and quality healthcare. 

The struggles surrounding high out-of-pocket costs, and finding competent providers will be in our rear-view mirror in 2050!

I want this and so much more for my future granddaughter and all birthing people.

[MUSIC: Stems from Limbaka – Omri Smadar end]

 

KF: When I tell you we covered a lot of ground with this project? Believe me. 

[MUSIC: Strings from Lauhala Dreams – Solis]

 

Ezinne Dawson: Yeah, that’s true. Yeah. I think it’s important that people really understand that this is a family event. Birth is not an illness. 

 

That’s Midwife Ezinne Dawson.

We started this episode with my first interview, in Philly. Ezinne was the last. 5000 miles west, ALL the way in Hawaii. 

On the island of Oahu, she supports home births for many Black military families stationed there. Ezinne was called to midwifery after her own homebirth 

[MUSIC: Strings from Lauhala Dreams – Solis out]

 

Ezinne Dawson: Like I will never forget having my children around the tub when I birthed my baby. It’s not wrong. There’s nothing wrong with that. Let the children see. 

[MUSIC: Stems from Clear View – Okaya]

 

KF: For Ezinne and all the midwives we spoke to, birthing is more than a physical act. It is a deeply spiritual and transformative life event. 

 

Ezinne Dawson: We all are born with inherent power. I truly believe that, but we forget that power because of conditioning, social norms, whatever. And I believe that when a woman is able to birth her baby in her own space that she has created, it revitalizes and reminds her of that power that she came into the world with. 

 

KF: That power is contagious. Spending time with these midwives, with the families they serve…

I too became a believer that MORE is possible. That deep care is possible for each and every birth.  And clients like Joya, are helping to spread that news.

 

Joya Lewis:  I was like, “Yeah. If you ever find out you’re pregnant,” because I’m the first one in my friend group to have a baby, I’m like, “let me know because I got resources now. I can hit up my midwives. They’ll be happy to have you. Just let me know.” 

[MUSIC: Stems from Clear View – Okaya end]

 

As you can imagine, this series didn’t cover everything that needs to happen to make our dream a reality. 

But we do know the building blocks of deep care ~ 

the fusing together of clinical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual dimensions to meet families where they are. 

[MUSIC: Cobalt Tones – Release]

 

When deep care is present, we can start to imagine the abundant possibilities of a safe, dignified, and beautiful birth.

At the beginning of this project, I could not have imagined the compassionate and selfless people that I would meet, the beautiful births that I would witness, and that deep care would touch my soul.

I didn’t know that I, too, would be forever transformed. I started healing my own birth trauma through this project. I am so much more aware of the impact of pregnancy and childbirth in our society. I now understand my role in the struggle for birth justice in this country.

I can’t tell you just how grateful I am and will always be to these Black community midwives and their families.

And it all started in Midwife Asasiya’s office.

 

Asasiya Wilson: Thank you. 

KF: Thank you. I mean, I’m really grateful for that opportunity. I’ve gotten so much support in doing this, Asasiya. It blows my mind that people like you say yes. And you’re out there. You’re doing your work. You’re on social media. You’re doing a lot of education, right? And so I just think it’ll take all of us doing all our little pieces, right? Midwives do their piece. Friends of midwives do their piece. Friends of friends of friends of midwives do their piece. 

[MUSIC: Cobalt Tones – Release slowly shifts to reverb, and then stops after the bell]

[SFX: Meditation bell dings and slowly fades out]

 

KF: So, that’s how I see this work. That’s how I hold this work.

Asasiya Wilson: Yeah. We’re in the same business. Everyone just plays their part.

KF: Plays their part. Everyone just plays their part. And every part is important.

Asasiya Wilson: 100% 100% 

KF: Right? Every part is important. So I’m going to turn this off. Thank you.

[Recorder turns off]

[pause]

[MUSIC: Show ID Gentle Cue]

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