Jamara Brooks-Parmer bin get eight months belle wit twins and bin go shopping wit her husband.
Na normal dey for Miami, Florida, but sometin no gel.
She say “I bin get pounding headache early for morning wey I neva get before and take painkillers sleep. But afta we enta store, eye start to dey turn me and I tell my husband make e take my friend continue di shopping, make I siddon on top bench rest.”
But as soon as her husband see as her face don pale turn, e know say she don fall sick seriously.
On di way to di car, Jamera bin get seizure and dem rush am go hospital.
By di time doctors rush to do emergency C-section, she don get three more seizure.
“Di next tin I remember na say I dey wake up for recovery room”.
Jamara bin dey diagnosed wit eclampsia, wey be deadly high blood pressure condition wey dey cause seizures.
E shock pipo becos dem bin no diagnose am wit pre-eclampsia wey dey related and less dangerous condition wey dey normally come before am.
Wetin be eclampsia and pre-eclampsia?
Pre-eclampsia dey normally come for di second half of pregnancy, e dey first show wit high blood pressure (hypertension) and protein for inside urine.
Dem dey normally notice am if mama dey go ante-natal regularly but if e no dey diagnosed and monitored fit turn di worse complication of eclampsia and HELLP syndrome,
Dis week di US Food and Drug Administration approve blood test wey go fit find pregnant women wey get risk of pre-eclampsia.
Dis new test fit be early warning by picking out di symptoms wey pregnant women get wey go tell dem say within two weeks dem go get di condition.
Di mata of eclampsia get more awareness afta di sudden death of US Olympic athlete Tori Bowie wen she bin dey eight months pregnant.
Dis condition dey affect black women for America pass and fit don cause di death of di track star wey be World Champion sprinter and win gold for di 2016 Olympic.
Two of Bowie teammates, Allyson Felix and Tianna Bartoletta bin also get pre-eclampsia during dia pregnancies and all of dem plus Bowiee dey black.
Di numbers no too clear but di thought be say 3-8% of women worldwide dey get pre-eclampsia.
Symptoms na protein for piss, severe headaches, sight wahala, below ribs pain, vomiting, or swelling for hands, feet or face.
For di United States, di rate of pre-eclampsia for African American women dey 60% higher dan for white women, na wetin di US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tok.
Jamara wey be African American say some her symptoms bin dey ignored.
“I bin get excessive swelling, and wen I tell doctors, dem go shift am go one side say, ‘you dey carry two so your bodi fit dey retain plenti fluid’. Dem only tell me say make I dey hydrated.”
Wen she dey recover na wen Jamara find out say she nearly die.
“Afta I wake, my mama tell me say, ‘you born di babies, dem gats deliver. Na either you or dem, or all of you’.”
For 2015, Jamara carry belle again but she say her experience bin beta pass.
Her doctor na black and Jamara say she dey more aware but also her doctor fight for her more. She say dem no fit comot race for di mata.
“Wen I bin dey 34 weeks pregnant my blood pressure dey high, she no waste anytime to born my daughter. Now I be advocate and dey spread awareness for my community about dis life threatening conditions wey I bin no sabi”.
Black women at risk
Na for one eclampsia support group wey Jamara meet Ebony Ford from Washington DC .
Di 36 year old maternal health advocate Ebony na new mama wey give birth two months ago prematurely to her second pikin Roman.
Ebony wey also be black woman get her first eclampsia experience wen she get belle wit her daughter Reign five years ago.
“At 25 weeks, I start to dey face small swelling for ankle ankle, and I bin get high BP for one appointment.”
“I bin dey fear and expect say dem go do me blood test but dem tell me say everitin dey fine. E no too tay di swelling grow wella for my hands and fit, I bin no fit brethe well. My sight bin dey blurry and e be like pesin de siddon for my chest.”
Ebony still dey 6 months pregnant but she go hospital do check up.
“Na dia I find say my blood pressure reach 262 ova 154. Di doctor say she no understand how I still dey conscious.”
“As I dey tell my family di news for phone na im blood work show say I dey complete organ failure.”
Di tests show say Ebony get HELLP syndrome wey be rare liver and blood clotting disorder wey fit affect pregnant women and lead to sepsis and organ failure.
“Dem decide say na dat day I go born wit emergency C-section but first dem induce coma for me before.
“Di last tin I remember say I tell my husband na say I love am just dey cry.”
Her daughter comot weighing just 0.88kg.
“I believe say dem overlook my pre-eclampsia. My doctor no take my high BP serious and decide say e no go do my blood tests dat week.”
She wait almost four years before she decide to born again but she decide to use anoda team.
“Dem arrange plan for me and tell me di symptoms wey I go chook eye for. Later, wen my belle don reach 30 weeks, I start to see symptoms of pre-eclampsia again. We see say di baby stop to dey grow, my placenta dey misbehave and I gatz stay hospital make dem monitor me. At exactly 31 weeks, breathing palava start.”
Her doctors decide say she go born her son Roman for dat 31 weeks and im comot on 6 April at 0.91kg.
Maternal death rate
Both Jamara and Ebony survive but plenti women dey die.
Around 70,000 and 500,000 babies dey die around di world evri year from pre-eclampsia wahala, according to di CDC.
“Eclampsia na disease wey dey caused by di placenta, di organ wey dey give oxygen and nutrients for growing baby, ” na wetin Manu Vatish wey be professor of obstetrics for Oxford University for UK tok.
“And if di woman start to get seizures, e go dey very hard to stabilize mama, deliver pikin and make sure say mama dey fine.
“E dey clear say some element for di biology of pregnancy dey different for black women.
“So if you dey Africa, degree of under nutrition dey, lack of multi nutrients and minerals. But also, say you get black ancestry mean say you get higher risk to get di disease.”
US Department of Health say many factors dey to contribute to di differences wey include structural racism, implicit bias and difference for quality of antenatal care.
Prof Vatish say e experience dat kain bias for im clinical experience.
“Dem dey dismiss pipo wey be black and Asian and I don see am through a lot of my career.
“Dem no dey ansa dia concerns, dem no dey get pain relief wit di speed wey white pipo dey get dia own .
“Dis kain widespread bad behaviour by staff dey put black and Asian woman for disadvantage.”
Ebony say she lucky say she get beta antenatal team wey chook eye for her concerns.
“One passive appointment almost kill me.”
