5 things every Mama must know to be sure they are heard at your next health care visit.

Join us for this episode of "Save Yourself First Mama" as we dive into the five essential things every mother must know in order to ensure their voices are truly heard during their next healthcare visit. From understanding your rights to communicating effectively with medical professionals, we will equip you with the tools and knowledge needed to take control of your own care. Tune in and learn how to advocate for yourself and make sure your health and well-being are always a priority. Don't miss out on this empowering and informative episode – because your voice matters. Be sure to check out "Save Yourself Mama" guide on Amazon for even more tips and advice on how to confidently navigate the healthcare system and prioritize your own well-being. Let's make your next healthcare visit a truly empowering experience.

Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode ! Don’t forget to grab your copy of her empowering, life saving book, "Save Yourself Mama" – the essential guide for every woman aiming to understand and mitigate the risks of maternal mortality. Stay informed, stay empowered, and let’s continue this journey together!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review – your support means the world. Follow us on instagram @saveyourselfmama for more life-saving tips, inspiring stories, and exclusive updates. Until next time, take care, stay safe, and remember: your health is your greatest wealth and the greatest gift you can bestow on yourself, your family and community.

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Transcript

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone) 0:08

Hey, there you are listened to the first episode of save yourself. First mamma. This podcast is based on a book. Written. Vimy ivica koozie. The book is called, save yourself mama. And it is a guide that is available. Pretty much every everywhere that you get your books. And it's available on Amazon, on wines and Nobles. And in the book. You'll be able to understand better the actual statistics of maternal mortality. Especially for us black women for minorities. You'll be able to recognize better those. Symptoms and signs that you really need to make sure that you're well versed on so that when something is wrong, you can get the care that you need. And also which signs or symptoms that you definitely don't want to ignore? And also you get a lot of incredible tips and tools to be seen and heard in healthcare setting. But really any search setting where you're going to be getting maternal health. Care. And then of course just understanding the risks of childbirth. Both, intrapartum and postpartum. How to prevent them in certain cases. And then you started telling your story and the importance of sharing these stories. I am just one person. I'm doing my part. And I always love to build a community around me, of others. And not just other mothers fathers, caregivers, community supporters, anyone that. Is around a mama or has a potential to be around one or wants to be one. Or support a primary caregiver for a child. It's important that we all come together to really redesign the system and make it better. So not of. Talked about the book. I hope you'll support me in that endeavor. I'd love to hear from you. If you do get it and read it ways to support me or even a review on Amazon. Reaching out through the, save yourself, mama, Instagram page. You can always send it a direct message there. I'd love to hear from you. Again, I'm not an expert in any way. I am just a fellow mom. Who's had her own personal experiences. I have found experiences that I've also heard from my family members. Friends, colleagues. That I love to share on here. And I'd love to hear from you as well. So in this episode, we are going to talk about. Just a few things that you just really need to have in your tool belt before you really good at any appointment. And this is you don't have to be pregnant, I think to know this, but. I know that this was not common knowledge for me. When I first. Started my journey into figuring out, first of all, my fertility status. All those things. The first thing that is, it's just speaking up and I know that's such a generic thing. I feel like everyone says because speak up. But it's really not easy because I think once you get into these settings, we tend to give our power and drop our power at the door. Because we think that. Everybody in the uniforms and the white codes. They're the ones who know everything. And now we sometimes feel very afraid to question. Or a doubt, their judgment. And that's not a good way to go in there. So I want you to flip that mindset. If you're someone that your parents told you never to question authority or. Question a doctor you're like, you're a late bloomer like me. You need to flip that and always actually go in. Prepared to speak up. Prepared to voice your concerns, prepared to ask any questions regardless of how it lands on anyone, because yes, some people might roll their eyes at you or give you the how dare you question my authority. Look be sure to. Always question how be ready to ask any questions and this is not this is where politely PO politeness can kill. Where some of us are just so you know, stuck on being polite and not ruffling any feathers. Please don't go into any of your medical appointments with that. Mindset. And when you read the book, it talks about going in with almost like you're, if you're going on a guide on a guided tour or something through Mount Everest. And, you want someone who's done this, been there, done that, who knows what they're doing and can guide you in pointing in the right direction. But you're still going to question things, right? You're going to ask questions. You're going to speak up if you feel doubts or you, if you hesitate about something. So is this the same mentality? They're like a monk or a guru, right? They're not. The authority or the end all be all for you. Cause really you're actually the one who's in charge, your body the best. So you're the only one who can advocate, More quickly about what's going on with you. Than anyone else. Okay. And then the other is just what you should prepare in advance. So I think a lot of us just tend to show up again to be led. And some of these appointments, we don't really know. What to get ready for how to really use them meaningfully. And sometimes we can feel rushed because that one hour goes so fast, right? By the time. All the people go in, get in the room. You don't really. You feel like you didn't really address the main things you've got in for so little bit of preparation in advance comes out. So I always had a notebook. Or Google notes or something like that in your somewhere where you keep notes in your phone. And I just had a little tab open where I do questions for the doctor, so that. Or for my provider whenever, not setting, I can just flip to it and go, okay, here are the questions I want to ask. Cause. Yes. You only have a limited time and some of you know how inaccessible sometimes. It can be to reach. Certain providers with questions, so that's your time to address it. So come prepared. And then the other is just like your history. Cause sometimes we tend to be a little bit annoyed by having to tell your history over and over how many times you've been pregnant or the pills. You're on, so have that again, written down in some kind of a document that you can reference quickly. All the surgeries you've had. So something, your notes is great. That's on your phone that you can pull up very easily. And if you maybe have a little journal in your bag that you always take again, that has that. It's just nice to not have to always pull that from memory. It can really make a big difference in your. In your experience. Okay. And then. Being specific. Now, if you're going for a routine follow up. Lots of very different, but if you're, if something's new, something's urgent, something's different happening to you and you're going to sick care. You want to have an idea of being more specific about what it is that you are going for. Because all the providers, they have a playbook that they use of at scripted and the questions that they ask you. And this is again, all in the book, so that you're more familiar with that, but. When something does go wrong or you feel like something's off. You want to be specific? You want to say Hey, this feels different, or I'm not understanding this. Can you be clear about this? Oh, this is the issue I'm having. How are you going to address this? All this, of course. Calmly respectfully. And I actually don't put that on you. My, my. The people who are working, you're working with. She would always come from a calm and respectful tone. And the moment that you feel like that's not being given to you. Is that person speaking to you. feeling disrespected, feeling on heard. You feel like maybe they're raising their voice. You can just tell that they're not regulated, something's going on in their world. Yeah. And there. Putting that on you and that's absolutely is unacceptable and should never happen. So I always say a quest, give yourself the skills because you're in charge of your emotions, right? You don't have to let their emotions detect. Do you know I guess dictate yours. You can always manage yourself whether that's taking some deep breaths. But you can also change it out. So you can say, Hey, I can tell that you are. Your tone has changed with me, or I can hear, that you knew you're not hearing me. Is there someone else that I can speak to at this time, or maybe you can come back in. If there's time and it's not emergent. And these are all things that are within your right. And you can just ask it in a calm, curious way. And always remember that there's people that you can call on to advocate for you. The roles that you can ask for as, is there a clinical manager or a charge nurse or a director or a social worker or a patient advocate. And these are all people in those settings that are better trained to handle any heated situations that may be going on. Don't go it alone. And then of course the biggest advocate that you can ever have in those settings is someone who's that, your friend, your family member, your doula. Those are, it's always great to have an extra set of ear. In case you missed anything. That support goes a long way, especially in a stressful situation. And is it pointing to know that just physiologically what's going on with you and your pregnant? Your mood could be a little bit harder to manage your mood, especially postpartum. So yeah, so it's okay to have that support both going in, and if you don't have it going in, you can request for people whose roles that is to support you in that way. And then of course, Take notes. Make sure that you're understanding what's being said to you. Don't be afraid to pause, to write things down. And then also there's something called, like teaching back. So if people are spewing out a bunch of things to you that we bought you should do while she's not due. Just say, Hey, can I just make sure that I understand that? Can I repeat this back to you to make sure that I understood. You know what, you're what you're saying. Anyway, I hope these tips have. We're helpful to you. I hope that you have. as successful and productive. Next maternal health appointments or just health appointment in general. But always don't forget that you deserve to feel heard, to feel seen and to be understood no matter where you get your healthcare. Until then I hope you continue to take charge of your health. PAMA