THE PRELUDE

Episode Summary

NATAL Executive Producers Martina Abrahams Ilunga and Gabrielle Horton share what inspired the podcast, and what you can expect this season. NATAL premiers April 22, 2020.

Episode Notes

Visit www.natalstories.com to learn more about NATAL, access our resource hub, read our community blog, and donate to our production fund.

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NATAL is produced by You Had Me at Black and The Woodshaw:

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PRELUDE TRANSCRIPT

Martina Abrahams Ilunga: "So preeclampsia, the very condition Beyonce almost died from when she gave birth to the twins, my childhood best friend also had. She went into labor eight weeks early and almost died. This is a real epidemic afflicting Black mothers. We can't afford to not talk about this."

Martina Abrahams Ilunga: Do you remember this tweet?!

Gabrielle Horton: Oh my goodness, actually I do. I didn't even know about preeclampsia until I read Beyonce Vogue cover story, and I think that's when I, you know, I was like, okay, this is something really serious. It's a pregnancy complication with symptoms like swelling, rapid weight gain, and high blood pressure... literally all of the same symptoms that my friend had, and tried to warn her nurses and doctors about. Eventually, they heard her, but it took a while for them to believe her. Had they left her untreated and not really dealt with it, preeclampsia can get deadly, for both the parent and the baby. Their lives are at risk.

When I think back to that viral tweet, you know what really blew my mind? Like after like, retweet after retweet, all of the comments, all of the DMs, I started to realize just how common this experience is. You know, a lot of folks either have direct experience with it or they know someone who did.

Martina: Yeah, when I saw your tweet, I immediately thought about my own mom. She never had preeclampsia, but she had four children and experienced complications with each one of us. And now I hear my friends' stories hint at challenges during their prenatal visits or even in the delivery room, and that's when I realized my mom wasn't unlucky. There's just a bigger story happening here.

Gabrielle: Oh yeah. I couldn't agree more with you. When we look at the state of healthcare in this country for Black parents and their babies, it's concerning. You know, we're really facing a full-blown crisis, where you have parents going in the delivery room and sometimes they almost die and sometimes they actually do die.

And for me, you know, as someone who doesn't even have children yet, this has been really hard for me to grapple with. I have to admit it. It's really been hard for me to grapple with.

Martina: No, I'm in the same boat as you. I don't have children yet, either. But you don't have to have kids to care about this. We all know someone who's given birth or is thinking about having children.

Gabrielle: Absolutely. 

Martina: And we also know that the media tends to paint Black pregnancy and birthing as all doom and gloom.

Gabrielle: You hit the nail right on the head. And the thing is, you and I both know, Martina, whether personally or anecdotally, there are a lot of Black parents out there who have had joyful, happy, and healthy births.

Martina: Yes, absolutely!

Gabrielle: It's just like those success stories, those stories where things are normal and end up with a positive ending, they rarely make the headlines for us.

Martina: They don't. We're ready for the full story. 

Gabrielle: And that's why we created NATAL.

Martina: I'm Martina Abrahams Ilunga.

Gabrielle: And I'm Gabrielle Horton, and you're listening to NATAL, a docuseries about having a baby while Black.

Martina: So, natal is an adjective that means relating to the place or time of one's birth. 

Gabrielle: And one of the many reasons I love this word and am so happy we chose it, is because it really captures our desire to birth new conversations, new ideas, and hopefully some new solutions, and also gets us thinking beyond the physical act of giving birth as well.

Martina: Right! Because childbirthing is really just a sliver of the overall experience of being pregnant when you think about it. You have three trimesters, or nine months initially, then birth, then life after delivery. That's what they call postpartum.

Gabrielle: And over the course of this series, we're going to be bringing these stories directly from Black birthing parents. And it's not just one type of parent you're going to hear from. When we use this term Black birthing parent, we're definitely doing so intentionally. We really feel strongly that this term recognizes that not all parents who get pregnant or give birth, identify as women or even as heterosexual.

Martina: Yup, NATAL storytellers really represent the full spectrum, not just gender and sexuality. They also come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and from California all the way to Massachusetts, down to Tennessee and Texas, they've given birth in different parts of the country, sometimes in hospitals and sometimes at home. But along their journey, for better or for worse, they've received care from doctors, nurses, midwives, and doulas.

Gabrielle: And as you can imagine, that care is impacted by laws, policy, money, stereotypes, ignorance, and of course, good old fashion racism. And don't worry, we're going to get into all of that and more this season.

Martina: The point is, these stories are complex and deeply personal. So we're handing the mic over to Black parents. You'll hear their stories. In their own words.

Gabrielle: And we'll also hear from the advocates: I'm talking the birth workers, researchers, policymakers, and activists, the folks fighting day in and day out for better outcomes for Black birthing parents.

Martina: We're asking them all, "what does care look like?"

Gabrielle: And we really want to know what should care look like, so that together, whether you identify as a parent or not, we can come together to start to build a new reality for Black birthing parents and their babies.

Martina: NATAL is a collab between, You Had Me at Black and The Woodshaw. 

Full NATAL episodes arrive in the world for real, for real on April 22. Subscribe now wherever you get your pods.

Gabrielle: And visit natalstories.com for exclusive content like our parent blog and other resources, and donate to our production fund while you're there.

Martina: Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @natalstories and join the NATAL group on Facebook to keep the conversation going.

Gabrielle: You can find the links to everything in the show notes.

Martina: Special thanks to our partners and sponsors, Black Mamas Matter Alliance.

Gabrielle: The University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and our reporting mentor, Catherine Sifter. 

Martina: The economic hardship reporting project, 

Gabrielle: Coddle

Martina: And special thanks to NATAL advisor, Adizah Eghan. NATAL is executive produced by us, Martina Abrahams Ilunga and Gabrielle Horton.

Gabrielle: Tiara Darnell is the editor who puts it all together.

Martina: Our producers, Jhodie Williams and Taylor Hosking get the stories

Gabrielle: And our sound designer and engineer, Jess Jupiter, hooks it all the way up.