The idea for the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project gestated within me over a period of several years. It was in the early 1990s that I began to be curious about maternal death in my country, after an unusual couple-they were both obstetricians-enrolled for care at the Farm Midwifery Center, Summertown TN, for their first pregnancy and birth. I learned from them and from a nurse-midwife who wrote a remembrance about a close friend that death was still an occasional possibility for U.S. women during pregnancy, birth and the year after the end of pregnancy. Curious about how many deaths occurred per year and what factors might be causing them, I began looking for information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). I learned from the officials with whom I talked at both agencies how little they actually know about the continuing problem of preventable maternal death in the U.S.
Sounds commendable, doesn't it?? You look at all these names and go through slides reading a small summary about what happened to these mothers. You see things about eclampsia/toxemia and wonder why on earth DR's allowed a woman to get so severe that she passed away. I've seen stories of perfectly healthy women just dropping and wondered why. All these deaths seem like medical error!
However, thanks to the power of google, you can find other information aside from what Ina has. I haven't seen a single death, so far, that is due to medical error. I am at file 13/211. I've seen a mother that suffered abuse from her partner then went into a seizure leading to stroke and heart attack. Mom was just a few days postpartum. Sadly, one of her children would die at this partners hands just six months later. Ina conveniently left out the fact that this mother had been beaten the morning she suffered from the seizure. You also see a story about a 15 year old girl with toxemia. What Ina fails to share is that this child was part of a secret polygamist group who had NOT gotten prenatal care nor would anyone allow her to see a DR. By the time her mother stepped in, it was too late. In one story, a mother drops from eclampsia while getting ready to go to the DR. Does the summary state that the mother had been in a car accident the night before?? Nope. The article about the mother from her local paper doesn't say a word about eclampsia. One story shared was about a mother who had a miscarriage/stillbirth in the 5th month and developed an infection (ie becoming septic) that damaged her organs leaving her comatose. What Ina fails to share is that this mother was a homebirther (planning her 5th) who possibly already had heart damage from a medication she had taken the year before. She had never had a single complication so they figured things would be fine! Two stories were about mothers who had splenic artery aneurysm. Unfortunately, this is due to pregnancy and the weight of the uterus during the 3rd trimester. The only mother who died from actual medical error was one who had placenta pieces left behind and became septic. One other case that stood out to me was a woman who was induced with twins (numbers 8 and 9) at over 41 weeks. Baby A was born perfectly fine but then baby 2 was breech and it's cord prolapsed. They rushed mom for an emergency c-section where she began to hemmorhage. Mom was given a hysterectomy, but due to her being a Jehovah's Witness, she refused a transfusion and died. We also had a mother that committed suicide due to PP Psychosis.
If you are like me, I find the site interesting considering Ina tries so hard to blame our obstetrical care system. With the case of the abuse victim, Ina has used her name but didn't address the circumstances. In the last case, she has blamed the DR for doing a c-section for the breech twin (whose cord prolapsed). I truly cannot believe she would take cases of dead mothers and blame the medical system when most of the cases she shares have nothing to do with it. Some cases are due to pregnancy and, as much as I hate to say it, would of happened no matter what. The only way to prevent a major event from occurring that is pregnancy induced is to prevent pregnancy. No woman knows if she will be the one that this happens to though.
I will be going through every single story Ina shares. Let's see exactly what information this site holds. So far, it isn't saying what she claims to be saying.
