In 2016 pregnant with twins I almost died due to health care professionals negligence. With having insurance from a top provider, and ensuring I had a medical team at one of the top hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia, not receiving proper care was the last thing I worried about. As being deemed a high risk pregnancy I was in the mind space that I would be receiving care that ensured my twins and I would be safe throughout this journey. As my pregnancy persisted my concerns of not being able to keep anything down not even water, went from my providers telling me I had an extreme case of hypermesis to my doctors finally checking me after going back twice only to tell me we had to quickly induce due to Baby A having lost a large amount of fluid. 

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As I got my epidural the professional is telling me how quickly he has to do this process because he is behind (as the needle is being inserted in my back). I felt everything during labor, but again to them I was just another mother overreacting.

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Two blood transfusions later...

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Hours after having my babies I began to notice my extremities mainly my legs had swollen considerably and because I experienced no swelling during my pregnancy I was alarmed. I notified three different nurses and each time they just told me "swelling is normal during pregnancy."

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A few days after delivery, I began to experience severe chest pains to the point I was unable to breathe. Having to leave my newborn babies at home I went back to the hospital to discover that I had a large amount of fluid on my lungs, and not only that but I had a hole in my heart, diagnosed as arterial septal defect and my twin pregnancy put a massive strain on my heart. 

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I waited for what felt like hours to know if I was going to die or not. I was scared, I missed my babies, the only answer I was getting was "good thing you came in today or you would've DIED."

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But I survived.

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Many mothers do not. 

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Having conquered a near death experience, I soon experienced a wave of postpartum depression, that I was not familiar with or educated on. At my 6 week check up I let my doctor know how I was feeling especially as someone who had been diagnosed with depression and severe anxiety years before, and his words were

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"As long as you do not feel like killing anyone, you'll be okay."

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I fought my way to become stronger and seek my own help, but not everyone is able nor has the resources to fight their way through the murky waters of doctors not providing black mothers with the proper care.

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Where was the upholding of the Hippocratic oath?

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Where was a community to help me advocate and provide support during the most vulnerable time in my life?

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In 2016 when my twins were born,

my fight for black maternal health care was born and so was The MomBAE Movement, because it's Moms, Before Anything Else.

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Leesey Bengall

founder, The MomBAE Movement, Inc.