3 minute read
'TRYING TO BE A MOM IS HARD'
WORDS BY NOOR HINDI · PHOTOS BY ILENIA PEZZANITI
Akron's Black babies die before their 1st birthday at 3 times the rate of white babies. Why? We dig in.
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Katrina Davis delivered her baby boy, D’Angelo, at 25 weeks. She says the doctors called him a micro-preemie because he was born weighing just 2 pounds, 3 ounces.
The leading cause of death for infants in Ohio is premature birth.
At the time, Katrina had to go into emergency labor because she developed preeclampsia, a condition where pregnant women get high blood pressure and a high level of protein in their urine, causing their hands, feet and legs to swell. If untreated, it can lead to death for the mother and the baby.
When Katrina went to the hospital, she says she could barely walk, and her face was so swollen she couldn’t see. Her blood pressure was a dangerously high 186/142. Though she successfully delivered her son, he couldn’t leave the hospital for months and had to constantly be monitored by doctors.
Before delivering D’Angelo, Katrina was under a lot of stress. Her husband was cheating on her. She was the sole caretaker for her other two kids, ages 10 and 6, and working two jobs. She says she was extremely overwhelmed and often felt guilty for not spending enough time with her children.
“In my head I knew me working these jobs would benefit them, and that’s what I kept telling myself,” she says. “But they don’t see you at work. They don’t see the money coming in. They don’t see the house is paid. They just see that mom’s not home.”
Dr. Jennifer Savitski, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cleveland Clinic/Akron General, says infant mortality rates are related to maternal stress levels — especially among Black moms — which are causing preterm deliveries and greater chances that Black babies won’t make it to their first birthday.
Ohio has the eighth-worst infant mortality rate in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. Infant mortality is defined as the death of a live-born baby before their first birthday.
Most of the infant deaths occurred in zip codes 44305, which includes parts of Middlebury and Goodyear Heights; 44306, which includes East Akron; 44310, which includes North Hill and Chapel Hill; and 44320, which includes West Akron.
Many resources exist in Akron for mothers, and connections to agencies and resources are growing. Still, Akron’s infant mortality rate continues to be among the highest in the state, and Ohio’s is among the highest in the country.
And while it’ll take years before we see a drastic change in numbers, this year, Akron continued its Full Term First Birthday initiative, which aims to reduce infant mortality among Akron’s Black babies.
Within the report is an acknowledgment of the “insidious role of racism, implicit bias and structural racism in shaping culturally unresponsive organizational cultures and practices.”
So while infant mortality rates in Akron have decreased over the years, it’s going to take more effort in continually addressing the structural racism and lack of economic opportunity for Black women in Akron.
