*Content warning: birth trauma, medical trauma, medical neglect, mature and stressful themes. *Free + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources Moms Advocating For MomsS23 survivors Markeda, Kristen and Amanda have created a nonprofit, Moms Advocating for Moms, in hopes to create a future where maternal well-being is prioritized, disparities are addressed, and every mother has the resources and support she needs to thrive: https://www.momsadvocatingformoms.org/take-actionhttps://linktr.ee/momsadvocatingformoms Please sign the survivors petitions below to improve midwifery education and regulation in Texashttps://www.change.org/p/improve-midwifery-education-and-regulation-in-texas?recruiter=1336781649&recruited_by_id=74bf3b50-fd98-11ee-9e3f-a55a14340b5a&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_medium=copylink Malik's Law https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB4553 M.A.M.A. has helped file a Texas bill called Malik's Law, which is intended to implement requirements for midwives in Texas to report birth outcomes in hopes of improving transparency and data collection in the midwifery field in partnership with Senator Claudia Ordaz. *Sources:ACTH Treatment of Infantile Spasmshttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3092432/ American College of Nurse Midwiveshttps://midwife.org/ American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)https://www.acog.org/ Hypothermia Therapy (Neonatal Cooling)https://hiehelpcenter.org/treatment/hypothermia-therapy/#:~:text=Hypothermiatherapyinvolvescoolingthe,degreesFahrenheit Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/hypoxic-ischemic-encephalopathy-hie Ina May’s Guide to Childbirthhttps://birthworks.org/product/ina-mays-guide-to-childbirth/March of Dimeshttps://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/about-us Meconium Aspiration Syndromehttps://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/meconium-aspiration-syndrome National Midwifery Institutehttps://www.nationalmidwiferyinstitute.com/midwifery NICU Levelshttps://www.childrenscolorado.org/doctors-and-departments/departments/neonatal-intensive-care-unit/nicu-family-resources/nicu-levels/#:~:text=WhatisaLevelIV,theirgestationalageatbirth. North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)https://narm.org/ Office for Civil Rightshttps://www.hhs.gov/ocr/index.htmlPhenobarbitalhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532277/#:~:text=Phenobarbitalsapotentcytochrome,possibleinteractionbetweenthemedications. State investigating Dallas birth center and midwives, following multiple complaints from patientshttps://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/investigates/state-investigating-dallas-birth-center-midwives-following-multiple-complaints-from-patients/287-ea77eb18-c637-44d4-aaa2-fe8fd7a2fcef Texas Administrative Code Rule §115.117https://texas-sos.appianportalsgov.com/rules-and-meetings?interface=LANDING_PAGE Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR)https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/ Applying for a new License with TDLR:https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/midwives/apply.htmTexas Health and Human Services Birthing Centershttps://www.hhs.texas.gov/providers/health-care-facilities-regulation/birthing-centersTotal body cooling: Saving babies' lives after emergency deliveryhttps://utswmed.org/medblog/total-body-cooling-saving-babies-lives-after-emergency-delivery/ What is ACTH Therapy (Corticotropin/ACTHAR Gel) for Infantile Spasms?https://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/Pharmacy/ACTHInjections.pdf When Do Babies Start Crawling?https://www.pampers.com/en-us/baby/development/article/when-do-babies-crawl Zucker School of Medicine, Amos Grunebaum, MDhttps://faculty.medicine.hofstra.edu/13732-amos-grunebaum/publications *SWW S23 Theme Song & Artwork: Thank you so much to Emily Wolfe for covering Glad Rag’s original song, U Think U for us this season!Hear more from Emily Wolfe:On SpotifyOn Apple Musichttps://www.emilywolfemusic.com/instagram.com/emilywolfemusicGlad Rags: https://www.gladragsmusic.com/ The S23 cover art is by the Amazing Sara StewartFollow Something Was Wrong:Website: somethingwaswrong.com IG: instagram.com/somethingwaswrongpodcastTikTok: tiktok.com/@somethingwaswrongpodcast Follow Tiffany Reese:Website: tiffanyreese.me IG: instagram.com/lookiebooSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: Who is Sarah and what is her birth story?
Hi, my name is Sarah. Me and my husband, we met in February of 2018. We got engaged in March the next month, and we got married in May. So it was a whirlwind courtship, engagement, marriage, the whole thing. It was wonderful. Shortly thereafter, by August, I found out I was pregnant with Tuff, my son. I was pregnant with him at the rodeo in Las Vegas. And there's a tough Hedeman.
He's an old bull rider. And then there's also a tough Cooper. He is a roper. We talked to his mom and I said, my husband wants to name our kid tough. She said, well, just know that that's what you're going to get if you do it. And I said, okay, well, I'm not too scared of that. We need a tough boy from Texas. He was tough from when he was in my belly.
It wasn't because of what happened, although it proved to be so poetic. Yes. I was 31 years old. I had waited a long time to finally have my babies. I had been going to a regular OBGYN. Everything was going well, but I had started to feel anxious. not a real personal connection. I felt like a number. Next pregnant person in the door, out the door, go through the motions.
And maybe I didn't need a lot of attention. There was nothing dramatic about my pregnancy. I'd never even got morning sickness. One of the last times I saw my OB, I walked by her in the doctor's office. She just looked at me like she literally had no idea who I was. And I had been seeing her for 20 plus weeks. And I said, OK, I need to find something else.
Looking at midwives, I was directed to Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth. The premise is basically that your body is made to birth. I was thinking, well, I can do this. I don't have any problems. I'm healthy. Beginning of 2019, I Googled birth centers in Dallas. I called two birthing centers around to schedule a tour, and Origins was the first one to call me back.
I liked what I saw on the website. It seemed like, oh, they have got a lot of experience.
And at this time, Amy Tate, Gina Thompson and Caitlin Wages owned the birth center together.
Yes, the three of them owned it. I was only ever associated or had any really contact with Amy. The other two must have been owners, but in the background. We toured it. Me and my husband went. It's this old Victorian looking house in downtown Dallas. It's got a beautiful park next door. The key factor, though, for me and my husband when we went is there is Baylor, Dallas. They showed us around.
They also showed us this beautiful mirrored cabinet that had all of their safety equipment. They open it up. They said, here's all our safety stuff in case we have any type of emergency. If you're not going to give birth at home, this is where you want to give birth. It is quaint. It's cozy. All the things. But then look right in the backyard. There's Baylor.
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Chapter 2: Why did Sarah choose Origins Birth & Wellness for her delivery?
Then she's in tears, and she said in her 30-something years being at Baylor, she had never seen a miracle like Tuff. He never had a seizure again. Slowly but surely, they took all the tubes off of him, and they realized he didn't need it. And we walked out of the hospital May 14th. We knew we'd seen a miracle. Got the MRI back, and it came back as normal. It showed a few areas of low blood flow.
Ischemia is what they had said. But overall, they still considered it a, quote, normal MRI. And we were told to expect something far, far worse. We had the greatest team taking care of us. But tough to me is nothing but a miracle, a miracle straight from God.
Obviously, everything that the nurses and the doctors did saved his brain from any further damage that was caused by the lack of oxygen through the cooling therapy and the cooling blanket. And the sweet nurses and therapists...
Did Amy Tate or anyone from Origins reach out to you while he was in NICU? What was your contact like with them post delivery?
We all kind of kept in contact really probably via just text message. I wasn't mentally doing so well most of the time while he was there until he started getting better. I would tell them what was going on, keep him up to date. When he did start getting better, I'm like, tell the whole world. Everyone was really thrilled.
We went afterwards with Tuff to Origins, took a picture with the midwives like all the babies do. You know, you go for your post visit. So we did all of that.
Bringing him home must have been such a big deal. Oh my gosh, yes.
But we had to wean him off of phenobarbital. That's a very powerful drug. They told us he had infantile spasms. It's a type of seizure. There was this therapy called ACTH, this hormone, that he got injections twice a day in each leg for two weeks straight. So we had to continue to do those when we brought him home for the infantile spasms. He had a spinal tap at two weeks.
He had all these pokes and prods, EEGs and lines in his belly button. All of these things that you know were extremely painful. And it makes me so sad for him that he had to go through that. My doula, she wrote me a summary. She had said things were a little shocking with how they treated him after the birth. Access to the baby was substandard to say the least.
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Chapter 3: What complications occurred during Sarah's labor and delivery?
Yeah. Because...
is safely in true midwifery care, unlike some I just feel like I'm in some way being like there are, even though I get it, like no allegations have been made, it does seem that people are thinking that I'm somehow associated with these outcomes, which I am so, so, so sad that they happened, but also so thankful that I have absolutely nothing to do with them.
So there have been a few people that have come forward alleging that they were under your care at Origins before you left and they're reporting negligence.
So I don't think that that is factual information.
I can't speak to anything without knowing what it is. Right. I can shed a little bit more insight on that on that piece. But that's when like the shift happened. And that's why I wanted to connect with you, because obviously that's a very different situation. I don't know if you recall Sarah and her son Tuff.
I do recall Sarah. Absolutely I recall Sarah. Yes, I do. I can't speak to her case without permission. I think that there was something called meconium aspiration syndrome that led to her case. But I can't really go into great detail.
Yeah, I know it's tricky with HIPAA violations and all that kind of stuff to like speak to it. So I was going to ask you more like general questions, more of like your processes in terms of how long would you consider too long that someone is pushing before you transfer them?
It really depends on the medical stability of both mom and baby. So if heart rate is stable and there are no signs of distress, so you're listening to the heart every five-ish minutes, every other contraction, basically, while people are pushing, and baby...
sometimes shows you that they're they're not doing great by having what's called a deceleration and if the baby were to have a deceleration then that would be concerning and you would listen longer you may make a change immediately um i think that that that person actually videoed their birth so yeah they did they did provide that
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Chapter 4: How was Sarah's son Tuff stabilized after birth?
I am perfectly fine with a C-section. If what's safest for my baby is to call the OB and get him here right now and let's just get him out, let's do that. And she said, I do think that That's what's safest for you and your baby as long as you're okay with that. And this is a midwife saying this. She's not here trying to push for a natural birth. And I respected her more for that.
And I said, call the doc. I've already got my makeup on. You're telling me I could hold my baby within an hour? Like, let's do this. My second son, Rocky, came out and I just wanted him to breathe. That was it. I could care less what amount of drugs they pumped into me or didn't. I just wanted to hear him cry. And he did. And he's perfect. He's fine. He's all mine.
And it didn't matter that I had a C-section with him. That was the safest option at that point. At the end of the day, it's you and your baby that come home or don't come home. Whoever you birth with, an OB, a midwife, they all just go back to their lives and keep going. They can forget what happened or how traumatic they really were.
Because only you go home with your baby and are left to deal with the doctor appointments. You can feel like they're part of your family and get that warm and fuzzy and the birthing center is beautiful and great. It's just a business. Birthing is business. And I hate to say it like that, but it's 100% true.
And I think that that's why we didn't get transferred to the hospital, because they probably would lose out on money.
What do you hope that listeners will remember when they're hearing these stories this season?
If you have any doubt in your head, get a second opinion or go to the hospital. If something isn't right, advocate for yourself, advocate for your baby. If something is off, it's okay to get out of there. I had that bargain with God that if he'd save my son, I'd tell as many people as possible. I need to tell his story, not only for his sake, but for my sake. I need to get this off my chest.
I finally, this week, joined the Origins Survivors Group. There's big stuff happening because of what went wrong at Origins. I'm very proud of Kristen and all the girls. I'm kind of late to the game, but I'm getting involved. I know you'll move on to other stories and things will happen, but you know what?
This needed to happen for the birth community and obviously for Dallas, but where else is this going to reach? I hope that Malik's Law gets pushed through and we can make birthing safer. It's not about attacking the midwives. It's about making birth safer for the moms and the babies because that just should be the bottom line.
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