jackie_reads_314's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative fast-paced

4.75


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tmchopra's review

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challenging informative fast-paced

4.5


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mmrohbock's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

4.5⭐
Content warnings: Pregnancy, maternal mortality, racism, death

Remember when the J&J vaccine was paused in the US because 6 in 6,000,000 women vaccinated experienced blood clots? As a white American woman, I am more likely to die in childbirth than to experience vaccine-related complications and that's honestly wild given that our health care systems is one of the best in the world.

Anushay Hossain dives into the reasons why women are not believed for the medical pain they experience and how this directly correlates with the maternal mortality rate. She goes beyond the important statistics to share stories of the people who make up those numbers.

I learned:
+The root of the word "hysteria" is the Greek word for uterus so women are termed as hysteric because of our anatomy 🙄
+Due to hormonal cycles screwing with research trial data, women were largely excluded from medical research trials and it wasnt until 2016(!!!) that the NIH recognized this bias and mandated that studies receiving research grant money must include women
+Because many research trials do not include women, it makes doctors less likely to diagnose women with medical issues because women can (and often do) experience different symptoms than men for the same medical issue
+Doulas are extremely important for women especially women of color because their advocacy for women during birth results in better recognition of medical issues occuring during or after birth
+Women of color have much higher maternal mortality rates because they are even less listened to by their doctors and nurses so midwife and birth centers prioritize mothers of color to help ensure they receive the advocacy they need
+Covid made so many of these issues even worse as less people were allowed to attend doctors appointments or be in birthing rooms resulting in less advocacy for women, particularly women of color

I read the ARC of this book and I do hope this book continues to be edited. There were several long chapters where it felt like the focus of the book became lost. I loved the focus of race in this book but wish there had been more trans representation or other minority issues.

Even so, I think this book is incredibly important for all women and men to read, especially anyone who plans to have kids and especially for people of color and their allies. There are so many challenges that surround the care we give to expecting and new mothers in this country that many aren't exposed to until having children. This book taught me so much and I plan to continue learning and thinking about how I can use this book to make change.

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