Before M's diagnosis the older girls had found freedom- why are they back on the gram all over again?
I'll be honest and say I've never experienced any racism growing up or really noticed it- but then I'm not black. I hadn't read Candice's experience after giving birth before when Alice gate happened .
"Tell us about experiencing racial bias when you gave birth to Esmé six years ago…
I was overdue and brought in to hospital to be induced. I was put on a drip for 19 hours, which meant I wasn’t allowed to drink any liquids, but after this time I was still barely dilated and so agreed to a C-section. I heard the surgeon say, ‘Can we hurry this one along, I was supposed to be home hours ago.’ The silent understanding was that I was being a bit of an annoyance.
Three days after the C-section I keep telling the midwives I didn’t feel well – their reply? ‘Stay off the mummy websites, you’re hyping yourself up.’ One night Esmé fell asleep on me and managed to burst a sepsis filled sack that was under my c-section wound. I was rushed back to hospital, told I was going into septic shock and had to have emergency surgery which resulted in five weeks in intensive care. I was so scared.
Seven years ago there was no data to support how I felt – but now we know that black women in the UK are five times more likely to die during childbirth. I’ll always remember how before my C-section there was a white woman in a bed across from me, and the hospital staff were so careful and mothering towards her. They treated me like an annoying mosquito bite.".
She was not listened to whilst she was ill and very vulnerable. She was a midwife. Where else are you supposed to go to raise awareness? To then not even be able to talk afterwards because of the aggressive narrative- wow.