The Wells family wanted to share their birth experiences as an African American family with the intention of contributing BIPOC voices to this birthing community. We are honored to have been chosen. We would like to invite and welcome families to share their individual stories, which collectively are so important to contributing to systemic change.
Tracy’s first pregnancy was pretty cool, with no complications. Having suffered an ischemic stroke at the age of 29 due to birth control, Nuvaring, which resulted in permanent partial vision loss, he knew all too well the cost of not listening to doctors. Given this obvious trauma, Tracy entered the pregnancy cautiously, knowing that there could be risks with increased hormones in her body and that she needed to be under the care of doctors and hospitals again. However, her first pregnancy was healthy and full term. She went to 41 weeks and 1 day and then was induced because she was running close to Christmas and wanted to make sure her doctor was there. Her daughter was born healthy at 8 pounds, 8 ounces, vaginally and without an epidural. The whole experience was much quicker than she expected, having gone into false labor the previous month – only to be sent home. It was clear that she had been laboring with contractions throughout the intervening month. She entered the hospital at midnight and gave birth at 4:30 am. Tracy and Bradford are incredibly grateful to have spent the entire first year of their daughter’s life uninterrupted by Covid, traveling frequently to visit family and friends scattered across the country.
When she and her husband were thinking about having a second, they wanted a little more time. They consulted the fertility specialists at Kindbody who told Tracy unequivocally that she was not a good candidate for egg freezing due to her low egg count, but she should try to get pregnant straight away without them. She was told to give it 3 months and come back if she wasn’t pregnant, needless to say- she didn’t come back. In May 2022 the couple had planned to take their first getaway without their eldest and had to reschedule at the last minute due to their planned carer contracting Covid. They rebooked for June and traveled, cautiously, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. They had an amazing time, while trying to have a baby, they came home and immediately got sick with Covid. The plague started with her husband, then Tracy and finally their daughter. After her bout with Covid was confirmed, Tracy also noticed she was overdue and took a pregnancy test – which was also positive. She was sick for no less than 2 weeks! In addition, this time she dealt with morning sickness, endless heartburn, vomiting, and pain under the sand that required physical therapy throughout the pregnancy. Still, it was a happy time as there was a big baby boom in her family, a close cousin who had given birth to a girl the previous month and her sister had given birth to a boy just 5 months before.
Despite knowing that black maternal health is generally abysmal in a hospital setting in the US, and because of her past experience of being ignored by doctors while suffering a stroke, Tracy decides to have another hospital birth. She had a positive experience the first time, and to minimize the amount of change and try to control what she could, in hopes of repeating another healthy pregnancy and birth, she kept everything the same. Same doctor, same hospital, same birth plan. And luckily, the birth worked pretty close to her plan. She went into spontaneous labor at 39 and 3 days, gave birth as long as she could at home, went to hospital at 20:45 and her son was born at 23:55. With her brains and a lot of planning, she was able to have another unmedicated birth, in the hands of those she trusted.
Tracy Wells Bio
Tracy and her husband Bradford live in Los Angeles with their 4-year-old daughter Pearl and 6-week-old son Clay. Tracy is in sales and plans events on the side. Cuddling while reading with her kids, live music, the outdoors, baking and traveling keep her happy. You can connect with Tracy by leaving a comment here.
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Relative bravely
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