CHICAGO �� Shakia Banks has heard the horror stories: Of young, expectant mothers like her who gave birth and ended up comatose. Of mothers who died during delivery or soon after.
Banks, 25, who is expecting twins, said she generally felt fine after her first two babies were born _ except in the days after she delivered her second son, born a month premature. Soon after delivery, she began hemorrhaging.
"I was just, like, constantly bleeding," Banks said. "I didn't even remember, my mom had to tell me. She was like, 'They couldn't stop the bleeding.' And I was like, 'Really, I was bleeding that bad?"
She was, her mother said.
Banks' mother followed up with her doctors, and eventually they got the bleeding under control, she said. However, many mothers aren't as fortunate. About 700 women across the country die every year during pregnancy or delivery or from related complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. America's maternal mortality rate is the highest of any developed nation, and the U.S. is the only such country where this death rate is rising. Most of the deaths are preventable, experts say.
In an effort to help change that trend and reduce the number of infants who die before their first birthdays, the Sinai Health System's Community Institute in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood throws baby showers for pregnant women. The goal is to give each of the soon-to-be mothers in attendance the tools and education needed for healthier pregnancies, deliveries and babies.
Sixty women attended the recent sixth annual shower.
"We're heavily into education and educating moms," said Lee V. Smith, director of case management at the community institute. "We discovered some mothers didn't know about the developmental stages of babies. Other mothers didn't know breastfeeding, for example, is a very good determinant for keeping a baby healthy."
Educating and supporting other mothers is a personal mission for Nancy Maruyama, executive director of the nonprofit SIDS of Illinois, one of those who spoke at the recent gathering. Her son Brendan died of sudden infant death syndrome in 1985. One of the only things she has left of him, after more than three decades, is an audio recording her sister made of baby Brendan, giggling, before his death at 4 months old. It's her ringtone.
"There's a little saying," Maruyama said. "When you lose your husband or wife, you're a widow or widower. When you lose your parents, you're an orphan. But when you lose a child, it is so bad that there isn't even a word for it."
Others speakers included Angela Ellison, a nurse who discussed maternal death. Her connection to the topic, like Maruyama's, is personal: On Christmas Eve 1969, her mother died from a blood clot. She had just given birth. Ellison was 9 and sitting in a hair salon when she found out.
"You make sure you go get your checkup," Ellison said. At 6 weeks, when many babies first visit the doctor, mothers should seek care too, she said.
The U.S. rate of pregnancy-related deaths has trended upward since the CDC began collecting data in 1986. Acknowledging the comparatively high rate of maternal deaths in the United States, a bipartisan committee of U.S. senators voted June 28 to approve a budget package that would include $50 million for reducing maternal death. The proposal's fate in the House is unknown.
"The truth of the matter is, we don't really invest in the well-being of expectant families at a level that matches how much we value them in our country," said Dr. Neel Shah, director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs, which aims to reduce the rate at which women giving birth receive cesarean sections. He and his colleagues say the procedure, which may result in avoidable complications, is overused and often unnecessary.
Shah, also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said significant disparities among people of different races drives the rise in maternal mortality.
"It's not just that women are dying, it's the fact that these mortality rates are being almost entirely driven by black women," Shah said. "If you're a black woman in the United States, you're three to four times more likely to die than if you're a white woman."
Native Americans are also three to four times as likely to die in childbirth or due to pregnancy-related causes, according to March for Moms, a coalition of maternal well-being organizations Shah co-founded last year.
At the Sinai shower, many of the soon-to-be parents were unaware of the risks facing U.S. mothers. Many said they learned a lot.
"I feel like I'm a new mom all over again," said Leticia Valcazar, 30, of the Brighton Park neighborhood.
Valcazar and her husband are expecting a baby boy. They already have four children, but Valcazar said the refresher was always welcome.
"I am so glad my husband came with me, so he could see what we go through or what could happen," Valcazar said.
"You never know if it could happen to you," she said. "You just never know."
