Oh hey yall! We’re back by popular demand! Did you miss us?!

Our Friday Night Fish Fry series is not only about bringing our community together; we also want to use this space to bring about awareness, and this week we want to focus on Black Maternal Health Week.

The month of April is recognized in the United States as National Minority Health Month – a month-long initiative to advance health equity across the country on behalf of all racial and ethnic minorities. Black Maternal Health Week takes place every year during the week of April 11-17. This week is intended to bring forth awareness , activism, and community building to discuss the disparities in pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths and complications in this country between black women and their white counterparts.

Black women experience poor maternal health that is deeply rooted in racism, sexism, and classism. Due to these -isms and other systemic barriers, Black women have more pregnancy and child birth complications such as preeclampsia and blood clots. Unfortunately, black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy related death than white women. These haunting statistics have caught national attention, and this week President Biden issued the first ever Presidential Proclamation marking Black Maternal Health Week to bringing awareness to this issue. Madam Vice President Harris echoed this sentiment earlier this week when she stated that “Black women are facing a crisis when it comes to maternal health.”

During the 2nd year of my doctoral program I became pregnant. Along with the morning sickness that came like clockwork right before my 9am class, I had gestational diabetes, everything ached, and my mood was horrible. I flipped out on a Walmart worker because it was November 1st and they hadn’t marked down the Halloween candy. Aside from my fiance, I was out in the Midwest all alone, my family was back down South. I cried a lot, but I had a great friend in my cohort and my professor who stuck by my side. They were even there the day I got the dreaded news.

During a routine check up, my blood pressure was through the roof! My OB/GYN admitted me to the hospital immediately, and it was discovered I had preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder that can have effects on the kidneys and liver, and it can be fatal. I didn’t have any signs but some women do such as swelling of the hands and feet. The only cure for preeclampsia is to have the baby. So this little boy was about to get his eviction notice! I was induced, the first drug didn’t work, then I received Pitocin and the contractions came on hard. Fun fact: With each contraction I would sing “I Wanna Be Your Lover” by Prince…I can’t make this stuff up. With preeclamsia and gestational diabetes complications were high, and unfortunately with each contraction my little guy’s heart rate went down…bye bye vaginal birth!

A c-section was not what I planned, and I remembered what my grandma always told me ” If you want to make G-d laugh, make plans.” But deep inside I felt like a failure, I had to be induced and now a C-section. Before I was wheeled off into the operation room, my professor who spent most of the night with me and my fiance, held my hand and said to me “Girl you carried that baby for 9 months, don’t you dare beat yourself up!” Well I had a C-section, and our little guy arrived on March 22, 2012 at 6:46 pm ( y’all go play those numbers!). But, there was more. He had a low blood sugar due to my gestational diabetes and an infection, and he was wheeled off to the NICU. Another blow to my heart! Given that I had a c-section, I wasn’t able to hold my baby boy, and it would be 24 hours before I saw him! He spent 7 days in the NICU, and dad and I would stay almost all day. I tried my best not to beat myself up. Thankfully I found support in the other NICU parents and my friends; they helped to lift me up.

Well our baby isn’t so much of a baby anymore. He plays video games, talks a little too much, and he complains, and has a very old soul like a 75 year old man, reason we gave him the nickname Mr. Fredrickson (in your spare time go watch Up on Disney+). He’s the love of our lives, my one and only, and even though it was a difficult journey to bring him into this world, I thank G-d for him each and every day. I also thank our village, especially my professor who was there for me every step of the way.

Note to all mothers to be…take care of yourself! Mindfulness and meditation are great during pregnancy. Try your best to eat as healthy as possible. Don’t take on too much, ask for help and when it is offered TAKE IT! And if your birth plans go out the window, take it from this C-section mama, it’s ok!!! Your health and your baby are what matters! I stumbled upon this podcast about a year ago, the stories were very familiar. Natal is a docuseries about having a baby while black. Check out it out on

Baked Ziti

Now I know you don’t think I was going leave you without a recipe! Being new parents who were doc students with 2 fur babies, we took all the help we could get! And that help usually came in the form of food! If your village is up to it , start a meal train at mealtrain.com! Folks can sign up to bring meals, you can make requests, and you can also request gift cards from Grubhub, Door Dash and local restaurants. We got a lot of pasta dishes and casseroles! Interesting I found out fried fish and spaghetti are a thing in the Midwest; that place never ceases to amaze me.

1 box ziti pasta

1 jar pasta sauce ( homemade is best, but if not I suggest Rao’s or Victoria)

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 casserole dish

Cook pasta according to package for al dente (usually about 9 minutes)

While pasta is cooking, in large mixing bowl combine the ricotta, marinara sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder.

Once pasta is done cooking, drain and add it to the mixing bowl. Toss to coat with the sauce mixture. Add your pasta mixture to your greased casserole dish

Bake for 20 minutes or until your cheese is brown and bubbly

Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley

*This dish can be frozen*