Tamiya is a Birth and Postpartum Doula at Ovia Health, the leading maternity and family benefits solution for employers and health plans. As one of the first in her friend group to have a baby, Tamiya remembers moments from the early weeks with her son and the appreciation she felt for a friend who came over, took the baby, and told her to take a long shower. She learned about doulas shortly after, but didn’t think to train as one herself until three years later at a community meeting where community members requested doula services from the health department and advocated for the ways doulas can impact outcomes.
Serena Williams opens upabout the complications and dismissals from medical staff that nearly ended her life during childbirth.
Time and time again Black women are held to a lower regard when it comes to their pain, concerns, and especially their pregnancies and childbirth as if they are not allowed to question or go against the system that oftentimes has already made up their mind about them before even giving them a chance.