The OB NP

Raising awareness and encouraging advocacy

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Where do I begin? Despite advances to research and technology, the maternal mortality rate in America in higher than it should be in 2025. Today, I want to illustrate the realities of the black maternal experience through a story. By sharing this patient’s experience, it not only brings attention to the crisis but also helps to personalize the risk by demonstrating how close individuals can come to becoming another statistic.

For this story, our patients’ name is, Quinn.

Let’s Get Into It

Quinn, a 37-year-old woman was six days post baby. She had her third c-section and was recovering well, however she noticed she was having a lot of leg swelling. The swelling was so intense that she was using ibuprofen to help her with the leg pain not the c-section pain. She had tried increasing her water intake and going for walks throughout the day, but this was not improving her pain or swelling. She called the nurse a few days before and informed her of her symptoms and was told that postpartum swelling was normal and if her blood pressures were within normal range there was no concern.

At this point, on day six, she was starting to feel short of breath, but because she is asthmatic and her asthma is often triggered by springtime allergies, she attributed her shortness of breath to this. It was spring and she had been going for daily walks outside. It was not uncommon for her to have this reaction.

That afternoon she took her inhaler. Since she is a nurse, she also listened to the front of her lungs which were clear. That evening, she was getting ready for bed and felt extremely short of breath just from walking up two flights of stairs which she does multiple times per day. She put on her Apple Watch, and her heart rate was 47 (normal range for an adult is 60-100). This alarmed her so she took her blood pressure, and it was severely elevated. She waited 15 minutes knowing she would be instructed to do so by the nurse if she called to inform the clinic. She retook her blood pressure which was even higher. It also dawned on her that she had really bad pain under her ribs on the right side that morning that was worse when she was lying down. She called the nurse to inform them, and the nurse told Quinn to go to the urgent care. The nurse was able to see the wait times and told her which location to go to as it did not have a wait.

*Side note: due to the insurance Quinn had she could not go directly to the emergency room, she had to be seen in an urgent care first. *

When Quinn arrived at urgent care she checked in and told the front desk/medical assistant her symptoms, that she was six days postpartum, and included that she had a history of severe preeclampsia in her first pregnancy. She was brought back to the room alone as it was 2021 and no one else was allowed. Her mom was with her and waited in the waiting room. During her intake, she informed the nurse of everything—her leg swelling, her interventions with her inhaler and ibuprofen for the pain, her history of preeclampsia, and now that she had seen her weight, she mentioned that her weight was significantly more than when she went to the hospital six days prior to give birth.

Lucky for Quinn, her room was right outside of the nurses’ station, so she was able to hear all their conversations. Quinn heard her nurse tell the doctor everything that she had told her. After a few minutes, the doctor came into her room and attempted to repeat back the information that the nurse told her.  She would occasionally ask Quinn a question but never waited for her answer. The doctor instead would answer for Quinn or interrupt Quinn as she was speaking. The doctor discussed her plan with Quinn, which was blood work, an x-ray, the same inhaler Quinn used at home, and Toradol (this is basically a stronger version of ibuprofen). This is after both the nurse and Quinn informed the doctor that the inhaler and ibuprofen were tried with no improvement. Quinn heard her nurse outside telling the doctor that Quinn had tried both treatments at home without improvement. The doctor still proceeded with her plan.

An IV was started by the medical assistant, labs were drawn, and Quinn was taken to x-ray. It is a gift and a curse to be able to see your labs right away—Quinn was able to see all her results as they were coming in while she waited. She was told her blood clotted and had to be drawn a second time. Her x-ray showed questionable areas of concern and now she was told that she needed a CT with contrast. And when I say she was told…she was told. There was no discussion on risks/benefits; no questions asked regarding if this postpartum mother was breastfeeding. She planned to go along with the recommendation, but she was not made a part of her care or the decision. She was taken to CT desperately needing to pump. After CT, she was brought back to the room and was told her blood clotted…again. Quinn understood and her blood was drawn…again.

Quinn began to hear conversations at the nurses’ station about how “she probably has COVID; test her for COVID.” Her nurse desperately tried to advocate for Quinn. She stated that Quinn was tested before her admission to the hospital. The result was negative. The doctor replied, “yeah, but she probably has gone out since then.” The nurse countered this by asking, “with a 6-day old baby after a c-section?”  The nurse was brushed aside and after a few minutes, came in to test Quinn for COVID.

The doctor returned to the room with, “Good news! The COVID test is negative. But the CT shows you have pneumonia, so we will get you some antibiotics and send you home to your baby! Your liver enzymes are high but your blood keeps clotting so that is probably why. Have you been around anyone sick?” Quinn responded that she had not been around anyone sick, that she hadn’t had any cold symptoms, and hasn’t gone anywhere but to walk around her neighborhood. The doctor then asks, “where did you deliver your baby?” Quinn informs the doctor of the hospital name.

Back at the nurses’ station, the doctor can be heard talking with the nurse about Quinn. The doctor was asking, why Quinn came all the way out here when she lives closer to a different location. She was heard saying that Quinn was confused on where she delivered because the insurance does not deliver to that hospital, “she must have meant X hospital”. Quinn, who again is a nurse—was aware that the insurance severed ties with X hospital the doctor was mentioning since she worked for the insurance company. And not to mention, Quinn delivered another child at the hospital she told the doctor about; she was not confused.

After five hours (yes five) the doctor calls the OB doctor on call at the nearest hospital to the urgent care because “Quinn was confused on where she delivered, she probably delivered at X hospital” she heard the doctor say. She then gives report to the OB, who responded very upset, “Why are you just calling me now?! She has severe pre-eclampsia she needs to be admitted to labor and delivery ASAP.” The doctor responded “Oh, I didn’t call because I wanted to let you rest.” It was close to 5 am at this point. The OB tells the doctor that it is her job to be awake and that she is happy to admit Quinn to her hospital or she could go to her delivering hospital. At that point the doctor asks the OB if Quinn really delivered at the hospital, she told the doctor “because there was no contract with that hospital” in which the OB answered that Quinn did in fact deliver there. The OB informed the doctor of the new contract with said hospital and told the doctor that the information of Quinn’s delivery was in the chart already.

The doctor returned to Quinn’s room and told Quinn that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for pre-eclampsia and asked which hospital she wanted to be admitted to. Since the other hospital was an hour away and the delivering hospital was about 20 minutes from her home, she picked her delivering hospital so that she could easily get breast milk from the hospital to home. The doctor said, “oh is anyone with you? They can come back now.”  She then called the delivering hospital and told them about the admission but then stated that Quinn also had pneumonia. Unfortunately, the hospital did not have a doctor working that day that could care for Quinn’s pneumonia, so the hospital an hour away it was. 

The medical assistant wheeled her out to her car with her mom. Quinn thanked him for all he did. He responded, “What do you mean, you came in here and diagnosed yourself.”

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This story is my story. A former labor and delivery nurse and a nurse practitioner who had so many moments of neglect as a patient. I do not go into facilities mentioning what I do for a living. I want to see how I am treated before that information is known—even though the medical assistant caught on quickly and called me out on it at the second blood draw.  🙂 Sadly, this is not the only experience that I have had when delivering my children, however it is the one that sticks with me the most.

Medical breakdown

I realize that not everyone reading this has a medical background, so let’s break this down:

• When I came into the urgent care, I told them why I was there but spoke in a way that was a nurse giving report to another nurse. Having had severe pre-eclampsia once before, I knew that that was where I was heading this time.
• Talking about a patient at a nurses’ station is usually fine when it comes to planning for their care. But to speak about a patient and argue about why they are at a particular location; to speak as though I don’t know you’re giving me the same medication that I’ve already tried; and to act as though your patient doesn’t know where they delivered is a little much. And at this point, she knew that I was a nurse because I was so frustrated with her not letting me speak and answering for me that I told her I was a nurse (I left out nurse practitioner).
• My blood was hemolyzing when I looked at my results, my liver enzymes were elevated, and my platelets were tanking which was a clear sign to HELLP syndrome which can be fatal if left untreated.
• The diagnosis of pneumonia the doctor still wanted to say I had after talking with the OB, was my body retaining so much fluid that it was reaching my lungs and if untreated, could have been fatal. When I was finally discharged from the hospital, I lost 30 pounds which was solely from the fluid I was retaining.

If I had been discharged with pneumonia, I just would’ve gone to the emergency room. There was no way myself or my mom was going to allow me to go home. But many patients do go home and that is what is scary. In 2025 with the knowledge base we have, no one should still be dying in preventable situations like these.

What Can You Do? As a Patient.

• Listen with open ears. Most healthcare workers truly want to help you. However, if something seems off to you, trust your gut.
• Assign someone in your family or support group to be your voice if you cannot or do not feel that you can be a voice for yourself.
• Talk to your nurse. If you don’t feel supported, ask for the charge nurse or the patient advocate for the hospital.
• Please speak up. Nothing can improve without your input. This doesn’t mean to review the hospital food (it is made for everyone, it’s not supposed to have salt, pepper, etc; the hospital must be mindful of everyone—yes these are real reviews) but speak up when it comes to valid mistreatment or negligence.

What Can You Do? As a Healthcare Worker.

• Listen.  Sometimes you have to break the time constraints to listen. Listening can tell you a lot about your patient and may even answer some questions you may have.
• Look. You can learn a lot by actively listening and paying attention to someone’s body language. Looking also helps you to assess. Does the person look the way they are describing their health to you?
• Leave the bias at home. No one is perfect, we all have our biases. Check them at the door and be open.
• Gage your patients’ learning and use Layman’s terms. Do not assume your patients don’t know anything about their bodies and if there are questions, avoid medical jargon.

Let’s Circle Back

Remember the quotes at the beginning? Let’s go back to those.

Quote #1: I witnessed another nurse saying this (loudly I might add) at the nurses’ station. If anyone medical is reading this and remembers nursing school, then they should remember that we are taught about how different cultures deal with pain. Some cultures are more stoic, and others are more animated. Neither way is wrong. I would advise our healthcare workers (which is anyone who cares for the patient—nurse, medical assistant, provider, etc.) to remember that not all patients are going to react the way you would or the way another person would. We are all made differently for a reason. Our job is to support, let’s do that without judgement.

Quote #2: this was said to me after having my first child who was in NICU for a week. I had severe preeclampsia and had to deliver my son early. This was before the days of baby friendly hospitals, so he was born, I saw him for 2 minutes, and then he was swept off to the NICU. Because of the medication I was on I couldn’t leave my room to see him. The day after he was born, I asked my nurse “when do you think I will get to see my baby”. The answer was not that day. Ok, fine it is out of my hands, and I responded with just, “Ok”. However, what the nurse did not know was that I was also in my second semester of nursing school, which I was not expecting to have to leave so early and I had just been told that I could not return until the following year. Between that news, not seeing my son, and postpartum hormones I cried to myself when I thought I was alone. Regardless of this nurse not knowing my whole story, she could have been supportive in that moment. As providers, we must remember empathy and what that means. You don’t need to know someone’s entire life or situation to be able to empathize with someone.

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I want to stress that my intention in sharing these experiences is not to place blame, but rather to foster awareness. The purpose of this site is to provide you with the knowledge and resources necessary to make informed decisions regarding your health and wellbeing.

If someone with my background, a labor and delivery nurse and a nurse practitioner specializing in women’s health, can face these challenges, it’s clear that anyone can. My hope is that, through awareness and education, we can all support one another more compassionately.