Empowering Our Mothers- Before, During, After Childbirth

Today's Valuable Free Resources/Links:

·        FREE Resource Link: Triad Baby Shower -  oliviasherd.com

Summary

In this episode, I introduce you to Alicia Saunders.

Alicia is the founder of Olivia’s Herd LLC, a brand created by a mom for Moms. The organization was named after the founder’s late daughter Olivia who was stillborn at nine months in 2020. Their purpose is to empower Mothers before, during, and after childbirth regardless of the outcome. They strive to impact and empower mothers holistically wherever they are in their journey of motherhood.

In addition to leading this great organization, Alicia is often invited to speak on, and lead conversations surrounding the current maternal health crisis for black mothers in our country.

Alicia also serves as Co- Chair of two patient advisory boards for Kaiser Permanente aimed at changing the birthing outcome for women of color.

Today she speaks about:

Maternal health crisis for black mothers. (0:09)

Support for bereaved mothers. (1:39)

Maternal health and empowerment. (11:44)

Maternal health disparities and advocacy. (17:33)

Maternal and infant mortality crisis. (25:45)

Join me for this episode of Mommy Heal Thyself to learn how to empower mothers before, during, and after childbirth.

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Intro  0:00 

Welcome to Mommy Heal Thyself.  We featured guests that provide you with the tools, resources and strategies you need to say no to a life of pain and suffering all forms of preventable disease, toxic drugs and unnecessary surgeries. We hope to inspire you to boldly reclaim your ability to heal, and to serve ones to love.

Dr Michelle  0:09 

Welcome to another episode of mommy heal thyself today I have a fantastic guest with me. Her name is Alicia Saunders and she is the founder of Olivia's heard LLC, a brand created by mom for moms. The organization was named for the founders late daughter Olivia, who was stillborn at nine months in 2020. Their purpose is to empower mothers before during and after childbirth. Regardless of the outcome. They strive to impact and empower mothers holistically. Wherever they are in their journey to motherhood. In addition to leading this great organization, Alicia is often invited to speak on and lead conversations surrounding the current maternal health crisis for black mothers in our country. Alicia also serves as the co chair of two patient advisory boards for Kaiser Permanente aimed at changing the birth outcomes for women of color. Alicia, thank you so very much for joining us today.

Alicia  1:23 

No problem. Thank you for having me.

Dr Michelle  1:25 

Awesome. Well, I would love for you to tell us a little bit more about your journey, how you got to this particular point in creating this phenomenal organization.

Alicia  1:39 

Sure. So I often say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. My background is actually a law. However, I started doing this work when my with my daughter that passed in 2020. So like you read in my bio, my daughter was still born at nine months and 2020 She got her umbilical cord wrapped around her foot in a knot. And so that was in the middle of the pandemic. A very awful experience to go through at anytime and definitely during the middle of a global pandemic. And so since that time, I have been tapped on her shoulder to walk this path of maternal health and addressing the disparities and inequities that women of color experience. And so that's how this organization got started with that journey, so we're four years, almost four years in and four before to the difference that we can make for black moms.

Dr Michelle  2:47 

So now, when you talk about disparities, what kind of disparities are you referring to and what are the outcomes or the negative outcomes that you are addressing with your organization?

Alicia  3:02 

So as many people know, or many people may not know there is a huge maternal health crisis in this country. For women of color, I am in Georgia and Georgia is within the top three states were states to be pregnant. And part of the maternal health crisis for black women is access to care. It's, you know, the inequities that we experience when we go to the doctor for prenatal care whether they take our concerns seriously. So it's a myriad of things that creates this inequity for women of color that are in their childbearing years. So it's, it's we all came from a woman and so that's why we it's important for us to prioritize our black mothers and address this crisis that we're currently experiencing.

Dr Michelle  4:02 

So you know, when we talk about the horrible rates of negative outcomes with childbirth we're actually seeing that across the board, you know, in all of our communities. So now, what are some of the things that your organization is doing to help with this? One of the first thing I would like to do I went to your site, and I love this beautiful quote on here, where you said, You are not alone. When a mother elephant loses a child, the hurt surrounds her and showers her with love and support until she's ready to move again. And Olivia is heard we are there for each other's hurt. Showering Angel moms with love and support until they're ready to move. Again. I'd love for you to tell us a little bit more about what that looks like and what's

Alicia  4:54 

for sure. So I want to talk about it from two angles. The first angle is you know, addressing the quote so what I lost my I loved elephants before, but when I lost my daughter in 2021 of the Northside Hospital here in Atlanta, they had this whole palliative care for women type of Center for women who experience what I went through and so when I lost my daughter, I came home with a box it appears in a book that's almost like a survivor's guide. And so one of the things I noticed that there were elephants all over the book. There in the box, they had things in the box with elephants. And so it just really piqued my curiosity, why the correlation and so I asked, and I began to do my own research on elephants and what I found was that when a mother elephant loses a baby, the entire herd centers around circles around her as she lays there beside the D deceased baby elephant, sometimes for days and hurt circles around her until she's ready to move on. And so I wanted to create a brand that can offer that to women. who have been through what I've gone through because one in four women experience this type of traumatic experience in terms of empathy, loss, stillborn miscarriage, things of that nature. So it's it's it's when really

Dr Michelle  6:34 

wait a minute, Olivia. Sorry, Alicia. You have to say that again, because I did not know that I am blown away by the statistic. Please, please. Yeah,

Alicia  6:50 

for sure. So one in four women experience miscarriage, stillborn or either, you know, infancy loss so shortly after the baby is born, and so if you think about it, you can literally be in a room full of women, and count 1234 You know, and it's just that common. But the thing is, it's a battle, because it's not something that women talk about, or that's just talk of talked about, in general, you're not I mean, you have to think about a mother who lot who had a miscarriage or you know, like me, stillborn I had to deliver her she was seven pounds one ounce. I do have other children, but there's some women that have gone through that that do not have other children but that does not make them a mother you know, their mom, their baby is just in heaven. And so they still need support because they're fighting a silent battle. Every day that you know, people don't know about and so like I said, when I created this brand I wanted to be able to provide support for that community. The angel community is like Angel ball community is what I call it, but on the other side of the fence to you know, answer your question, what we're doing to help address this maternal health crisis is a myriad of things but one of the things is awareness, and advocacy, self advocacy, you know, you know, being I often tell people when I speak about this and I'm invited to participate in different things, and they asked me a question like that what would be my advice to pregnant moms, especially women of color, is to be your own advocate and be a partner in your prenatal journey with your provider, you know, ask the question, if something doesn't feel right, inquire about it. You know, just don't stay at home for two of my pregnancy, so my daughter that I lost, that was still morning, Olivia. That's the one a 2020 If that wasn't enough, I developed postpartum preeclampsia. I had no symptoms whatsoever, zero symptoms. The only way that it was caught is because I went back to my doctor within seven days just for a regular checkup after delivering her and my blood pressure was through the roof. And they immediately sent me to the hospital where I was admitted for a couple of days to be treated for preeclampsia. And again, I had no symptoms whatsoever. And so that's something to be able to look out for with my son who is my rainbow baby. And Rainbow baby is a baby born after a loss. So I'm with him. I also I developed diabetes and I also they were monitoring me for preeclampsia throughout that pregnancy. So I had to take low dose aspirin and be remotely monitored for preeclampsia and then for gestational diabetes, but like like clockwork, after I delivered him, I developed postpartum preeclampsia again, wow. And had to be admitted to the hospital but this time, because I had that the education and the knowledge and in the things that to know what to look for. I was able to look look out for those things. You know, talk to my husband about those things. And so within seven days of after delivering him, I started having heart palpitations. I had a blood pressure machine at home so I was able to check my own blood pressure and it was elevated and I went to the hospital and like I said I was admitted and treated for preeclampsia. And so I can say it My biggest thing that I would recommend for people were poor mothers it was like I said is be a partner. You know ask the question, if you're not satisfied with the care that you're receiving go somewhere else, because you're alive literally does the PICC line. If you don't feel comfortable with your provider, it's okay to choose somebody else for your health and for the health of your baby. And so that's some of the things that we do is provide awareness and then we connect moms with resources. So you know if it's prenatal care or if, if it's an insurance issue and they need to be connected on that front, you know, whatever it is, we try to connect them to that resource to help them along that journey. Awesome.

Dr Michelle  11:44 

I mean, you bring up so many phenomenal points. And one of the most important things that you're bringing up is that of moms being empowered, you know to realize that this is your health. This is your baby. This is your life. No one can care about you, your health and your baby more than you. You know. So it is so important for us to advocate for ourselves and you are not the first woman that I've spoken to that has given me one of these stories. And the reality is that unfortunately in our quote unquote medical paradigm or quote unquote, health care system, we as women are not taken seriously. A lot of times, you know, I've had so many conversations with women who have had certain symptoms and they go into their practitioner and they're like, oh, it's not a big deal, or they don't even listen to me. They don't even chart it. And so when you say that you have to be a mama bear to advocate for yourself. Oh my gosh, that is on point that is on point.

Alicia  12:46 

So you absolutely. I can think of 20 as you're talking I'm saying I'm picking my firstborn daughter, her heart rate was decelerating. And when I went to the hospital, they were gonna send me home. But fortunately, she had what they called I'm now I feel like I'm a medical specialty at a DEA sale. And they were like, No, we're gonna go ahead and induce you and deliver her and now I'm grateful to for that provider making that call because had they sent me home and, you know, my daughter had been in distress and, you know, I was I was, what 38 weeks and that time, you know, you know we would have had a different outcome. So like I said, just because your journey your life, your baby yeah, be an advocate for yourself and you know, be present as persistent if you need to. And

Dr Michelle  13:39 

I love this idea of the elephants how they circle around, you know, the woman who has recently lost and and I think one of the things that we are encouraging our women to do for a loss. We really need to encircle each other before any crisis occurs as a really smart way of preventing a crisis because the beauty of you sharing your story Alicia and I thank you for being so vulnerable, and sharing what I can only imagine to be an extremely painful experience. But your story is going to help other women to know what to pay attention to and to feel empowered and to know as you said, You are not alone. This is not a journey that God ever intended for us to have alone. And there's so many so many lonely mothers, not even just single mothers. Sometimes you may have mothers who are in relationships, and yet they still feel alone.

Unknown Speaker  14:39 

Right absolutely.

Dr Michelle  14:42 

So now tell us a little bit more about a special event that you guys have coming up.

Alicia  14:50 

Yes, absolutely. Um, in a more practical sense of, you know, answering your earlier question about what we're doing. So this year we door black maternal health week. So you know, for those of you that don't know, black Maternal Health Week is recognized April the 11th through the 17th of every year. And so this week dorm black maternal health week on April the 20th. We're hosting our third annual try it baby shower. And so triad is passive, meaning I like to put meanings to things. But the triad is the mom, the baby in the community. And so it's going to be a mass baby shower. Initially, our focus was going to be just for single moms low income families, and we do have some homeless women that we are servicing but we are opening the doors up to any mom that is currently expecting. And what we'll be doing at that event is providing free baby supplies. You know, baby starter kit

Alicia  16:01 

you know, you're working adult and just to have, you know, the news of a baby to be a financial stressor. So we want to provide a little bit of relief for those moms but not only that, we will have vital maternal health information there as well. So we will have some OBGYN present. We're going to have a high risk nurse practitioner that deals just she treats strictly women that have high risk pregnancies. And then we also have a licensed mental health therapist there as well to talk about you know that our mental state our mental and emotional state during pregnancy that's before pregnancy. You know if it's an issue of trying to conceive and you can't conceive, during pregnancy, you know, managing, you know, everything that we experience, our bodies changing, you know, our life is gonna change now that we're gonna have a kid and then of course after pregnancy, because you know, the biggest thing is postpartum depression, but you know, I think, as women, us paying attention to our mental and emotional state, no matter what stage you're in on your path to motherhood is important. So we hope to address those things on this date and women to leave feeling more empowered, more knowledgeable, and of course, you know, with so few tangible things to help them with their on along on their journey.

Dr Michelle  17:31 

And you know, as a childbirth educator and doula we have lots of different hats. This just makes me giddy with excitement. Especially what you were saying in terms of reaching out to our homeless community. You know, what some one of the things that I really enjoyed was that we had a doula who actually taught some of our women how to be doula so that we can work with women in the homeless community. So many times we do not realize that there are a lot of women who don't have a home that are giving birth alone in these hospitals. You know, so ah, this is exciting. Now, for those of us who are not in the Atlanta area are there certain things that we can do to interact with your organization to benefit from what you have created?

Alicia  18:27 

For sure. So, first thing I want to say we registration is currently open for moms that want to attend the event that are in the Atlanta metro area, and beyond. And, you know, if there's some people out there that want to, you know, sponsor or donate, you could find all the information on our website as well. And then to ask your question directly, yes, we welcome any type of putting all in this together. And I will also direct those individuals to our website, which is a Libya's heard.com And that's Olivia. Olivia Winton. So Olivia has heard that.com Reach out to us connect with us. We will love to partner near and far because like I said, we all came from a woman and we have to take care of our women, especially our black mothers and our women of color and surround them support them be their community. Just like elephants do not just even in the process of grief but just period. And so please yeah, definitely reach out to us. We would love to partner

Dr Michelle  19:36 

so we're gonna have we're gonna have that link in the show notes. So ladies, I encourage you. This is that week that she's talking about because even though we've recorded this in the future, we're going to disseminate this and broadcast this during that black maternal health week. So if you are anywhere near the Atlanta area, and I know a lot of you guys are or if you know of a woman who is pregnant, or who may be trying to get pregnant waiting to get pregnant, you know, like I said, don't wait till that moment. Preparation is 90% of the battle you know, so we get back I'd say look, if you're a grandma if you're, you know, auntie, or even if you're a dad, you know, all of you out there if you know a woman who is of childbirth age, regardless of whether or not she's pregnant, encourage her to sign up for the event in terms of learning more about this particular area of health. So you cannot go to the event unless you're pregnant. But you can reach out to Alicia to learn more about how you can improve your health outcomes. So now before we go, I'd love for you to share with us a little bit more about what is the state of maternal health care in our nation at this point in time because I think that many people are not really cognizant of the fact that we are not doing well even when you compare us to other nations. So give us a little you know, splash of cold water to wake us up.

Alicia  21:17 

Oh, the I mean, I can't I can put it in one word is dire. You know, black women, women of color are dying. Babies are dying. And all these things can be preventable. Some of it, you know can be preventable and largely a lot of it and it's for a We are dying and the maternal outcomes are far worse than our white counterparts. And a lot of it has to do with access to care. You know that the health disparities inequities and so that's why it's important for some out with one word is being an advocate. We all know. We all came from a woman. I can't say that enough. We all have moms. And so it's so important that we ever this is everybody's problem. This is not just Yes, a woman a woman problem. This is everybody's problem. And we have to take care of our women, specifically our black mothers. You hear so many stories, just like the cheerleader I want to say in Kansas City. This just came out recently that died. Her daughter was stillborn I believe it two or three weeks and she died of sepsis. And so it is happening every day. everywhere, not just in Georgia. Everywhere. This is a maternal prices. All over and it's something that we all need to wake up and pay attention to and just do our part, whatever that may be sure that we have better outcomes for our black moms. So

Dr Michelle  22:59 

what are the things that are contributing to these negative outcomes? With regards to you say health disparities, but what are some of the resources that are available to people that they may not even know about?

Alicia  23:15 

So I think some of the things that are contributing like I said Access to care is a big one. Let's take Georgia for example. You know, some of these rural areas don't have maybe adequate facilities for women to receive prenatal care. Or it may be a situation where you know someone is dealing with the other social determinants of health, like, you know, there might be a housing insecurity or a food insecurity and all these things relate. All these things relate to each other. And so if someone you know, let's take you we talked a little bit about the homeless, and you know, them being alone, but if someone's hopeless, are they really concerned with their health? Or is that a top priority for them? So it's a myriad of things that attributed to it. I mean, you know, racism, you know, is the one or not being taken seriously, like you said, I know when I was delivering my daughter, Olivia. The provider took you know, and I know he meant well, but it just just show you like some how we're perceived. He told me I was strong. I am, but this was a very traumatic thing to go through. And, you know, just because I'm started doesn't mean that I don't have pain, you know, us being taken seriously. You mentioned that earlier when we go to visits and being just told, Oh, don't worry about that. This is just a normal symptom of privacy. No, you know, if it does, it doesn't look right. And you know, the person that you're being treated or place that you're not going if you feel like they're not taking you somewhere else, you'd have to be an advocate for yourself. And, you know, reach out and that's what we want. To do is provide those resources. Make those connections for those moms, for those grandmas for those dads, you know, uncles, excuse me, uncles and aunts, you know, because we all know a woman, you know, and we all know someone that may be pregnant or you know, like you say, are thinking about getting pregnant and you know, or whatever, wherever, wherever you may be on your journey journey. We want to make a connection for you to ensure that it's a smooth one and that we can do the best possible outcome as possible.

Dr Michelle  25:44 

And you know, the other thing that you mentioned was for us to really have confidence in our intuition. You know, when you know, deep with inside of you off, it doesn't matter what that other person is saying. If the Spirit is leading you to know that something is off, be still and have the courage to stand firm in that knowing, you know, a lot of times they discount our knowing and we may not have access to all the fancy jargon and the spicy diagnosis and the fancy lingo, but it's something inside of you that spirit is inside of you that says keep pushing, keep on advocating for yourself and your baby and your community because we need that beautiful angel to not be an angel too early to come to earth and to be here amongst us. To guide us and lead us because truly, where will we be without our children? The children are our future. So, Alicia, is there anything else that you would like to share with our community before we leave for today?

Alicia  26:57 

I think we covered I just want to remind everybody to this is a problem for everyone. This is not just a problem for women. This is not just something that we should turn our eyes at. This is a crisis that we are in and it's everybody's problem. And we all can do something about it. If what you may look different from what I can do, what I can contribute, but we can all do something to ensure that our mothers and our babies are safe because like you said, there that's our future. And so just today, you know right now think about what you can do how you can contribute to help in this material crisis that we're having.

Dr Michelle  27:41 

Thank you so very much for all that you do. Not only on behalf of the angels, but on behalf of the living that are here. What you're doing is critical. To how we move forward as a community as a nation as a world. Next time my beautiful ladies Peace and blessings.

Closing: Thank you for tuning in for this episode of Mommy Heal Thyself, if you liked what we're doing here, please share subscribe, like us and leave a comment. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai