HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Kristen Uitenham is washing dishes. Well, not exactly. She’s washing baby bottles, breast pumps and storage bottles.
She just got home from work after picking up her 9-month-old son.
"The cycle resets," Uitenham said laughing.
She laughs now. But there was a time when she couldn't.
"I really wanted a natural birth and to have as little intervention as possible," Uitenham told WCPO 9 News.
Uitenham said she always wanted to be a mom. When she got pregnant, she started reading medical journals because she knew all about Black maternal health rates — rates that meant she was three times more likely to die than a white mom, according to the CDC.
It’s why she developed a detailed birth plan.
"That plan really got torn to shreds," Uitenham said. "They were like, 'This is how it’s going to go.'"
Uitenham describes her birth story — and what went wrong — in the video below:
She still ended up in surgery.
"His heart rate was dropping," Uitenham said. "And he wasn’t recovering as well as they would have liked."
Corinn Taylor has heard many stories like Uitenham's. She even has her own.
"I felt dismissed," she said.
Taylor is a mom of three. She’s also a nurse who says poor Black maternal health rates stem from our country’s history of slavery.
"Back then, they weren’t seen as human beings. They were seen as property," Taylor said. "And that systemic way of thinking has led all the way to present day of women not being heard."
For much of the last year, Taylor’s been leading focus groups of Black women in the Tri-State. The goal is to amplify their stories because even though infant mortality rates have improved, Taylor says the experiences of many women have not.
“How do we improve this? Listen to Black women,” she said.
She wants people to listen to women like Uitenham, an engineer who hired a doula for her son’s birth — yet still felt ignored. She eventually needed a cesarean section.
"My first question, of course, was: Is he OK?" Uitenham said.
He was, but at one point when her son came back into her room, he sucked a pacifier. A sign on his crib said, "no pacifiers." She told her team that, and she made a bigger sign.
It happened again.
That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was emblematic of much of her experience. So while it wasn't the birth story Uitenham wanted, as she plays on the ground with her now 9-month-old son in his playpen, it's hard to think too much about that.
"We both made it out alive," she said. "And that’s not a given."
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Want to learn more?
Hear more stories like Uitenham's at a Black maternal health panel on April 17. It's free to register. For more information, click this link.
It's happening here:
Holloman Center for Social Justice — Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio
Thursday, April 17 · 6:30-8 p.m.
3539 Reading Road Suite 100 Cincinnati, OH 45229
