Serena Williams is certainly a household name with her fame as a tennis superstar and a strong woman.
She recently made headlines with her pregnancy and then the birth of her daughter. Serena was even on the recent Vogue cover with Alexis Olympia, her newborn baby.
In the interview accompanying her Vogue cover, Serena shared her experience giving birth and the challenges that black moms regularly face. Following a relatively easy pregnancy, Serena had an emergency C-section after Olivia’s heart rate went dangerously low while Serena was having contractions. That went perfectly well, and Serena told Vogue how she felt holding Olympia for the first time:
“That was an amazing feeling […] And then everything went bad.”
The following day, Serena experienced shortness of breath.
She was fully aware of her blood clot history and the fact that she hadn’t taken her daily anticoagulants because of surgery. This led her to assume that she was experiencing a pulmonary embolism, something she’s had before.
Serena told a nurse “that she needed a CT scan with contrast and IV heparin (a blood thinner) right away.” According to the interview, Serena insisted. The doctor did an ultrasound of Serena’s legs, but she insisted yet again that this was not the test she needed. When the ultrasound didn’t show anything, she got that CT scan. It revealed small blood clots in her lungs, and she got on a drip right away.
Unfortunately, Serena’s week only got worse.
Because of the coughing from the pulmonary embolism, Serena’s C-section wound opened. When she went back into surgery, there was a large hematoma in her abdomen caused by the blood thinner that had saved her life from the blood clots. She then headed back to the operating room, where surgeons inserted a filter into a major vein as a way to stop more clots from going into the lungs. Serena ended up spending “the first six weeks of motherhood unable to get out of bed.”
Serena’s story went viral between her fame and the experience of doctors not listening to her.
Very recently, she took to Facebook to share her thoughts on the whole experience, along with an adorable video of Olympia.
Serena began the post by writing:
“I didn’t expect that sharing our family’s story of Olympia’s birth and all of complications after giving birth would start such an outpouring of discussion from women – especially black women – who have faced similar complications and women whose problems go unaddressed.”
She also pointed out statistics relevant to her experience:
“According to the CDC […] black women are over 3 times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes.”
Serena went on to say that she hopes sharing her story with the world will help the country take steps to close that gap. She also made sure to state:
“EVERY mother, regardless of race, or background deserves to have a healthy pregnancy and childbirth.”
Showing that she is a superstar on and off the tennis court, Serena said that she is actually glad that “it happened to me.”
She explained:
“It made me stronger and it made me appreciate women – both women with and without kids – even more. We are powerful!!!”
The tennis star ended her post by thanking everyone who has shared their story and encouraging people to keep doing so.
“I encourage you to continue to tell those stories. This helps. We can help others. Our voices are our power.”
Hopefully, Serena’s story, and those shared by others in response to it, will be the impetus we need to improve the way mothers, particularly women of color, in the United States experience childbirth.
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