Do you know the story of your conception and birth? Are you aware of how it has informed your life, your relationship with your body, reproductive potential and sexual expression, the conception and births of your own children, and the messaging about pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting you will pass on to your children and those you influence? Much of the focus of #BlackMaternalHealthWeek will be on socioeconomic factors and cultural biases that affect maternal healthcare and outcomes and this is important. It is also important to highlight the role generational trauma plays in black women's birthing experiences. There is a story in this photo that I don't have permission to share in its entirety, but I will tell you that it includes a history of sexual trauma, cervical cancer, infant loss, laboring alone, mothering alone, financial insecurity, guilt, shame, regret, and continued loss of reproductive health. This is the story of my conception and birth. If we want to improve outcomes, we must also be willing to have courageous conversations around what we have internalized, perpetuate, and continue to be complicit in in our homes and communities. We must be willing to do our own inner work to heal ourselves and our lineages. Otherwise, all we're doing is putting a bandage on a gaping wound. #bmhw19 #motherbirthing #motherwounds #decolonizebirth https://www.instagram.com/p/BwLctCLgqy0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rmb6s0bra1oj
