Giving Birth to Hope

A growing number of women are seeking support from their cultural communities during pregnancy and childbirth. For Ashley Rogers, finding a Black doula made all the difference.

- JAVACIA HARRIS BOWSER

Ashley Rogers didn't expect to have a cesarean birth. Her pregnancy had been uneventful, and she had been planning a natural birth after her first child had been born via C-section 11 years earlier. So in July 2021, when doctors told her a C-section would be the safest way to deliver, "I was freaking out," Ashley recalls. Luckily, in addition to her husband, Marley, Ashley had her doula, Nadia Gramby, by her side.

"I remember lying on the table and Nadia coming over. She whispered, 'It's going to be OK. You got this.' And I was totally fine after that!" says Ashley, who gave birth to her son, Makaio, that day.

For Black birth workers like Nadia, a doula based in Birmingham, AL, it's moments like these that crystallize the decision to dedicate their lives to caring not just for expectant mothers, but for expectant Black mothers.

The United States has the highest maternal death rate of any developed nation in the world, and while rates are declining in most countries, the numbers have been steadily rising in the U.S. over the past three decades. For Black women, the statistics are even more daunting. In 2020, the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births-nearly three times the rate for non-Hispanic white women.

After working in human resources for 15 years, Nadia became a certified doula five years ago. "I never looked back," she says. "I was called to this by God."

Today Nadia is a birth and postpartum doula and a childbirth educator, meaning she offers her clients emotional support before, during, and after birth, as well as childbirth education, which makes them aware of their rights in the birth room and beyond. She's also studying to become a certified professional midwife, which would enable her to manage the medical care of mom and baby before and during birth.