Woodbury mom provides community, resources for Black and Brown mothers
Monica Jones is the founder of Melanated Mamas
Monica Jones
That period of pregnancy when you are moving into motherhood is full of questions, doubts and worries. That can be especially true when you know the health care system is not set up to take care of you the way you need.
Woodbury mom Monica Jones is the founder of the organization Melanated Mamas. She knows Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women and she's determined to help.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: We're talking a fair amount these days about children's mental health. But right now, we want to focus on the mental health of mothers. It's key to raising healthy kids. It starts even before they're born.
That period of pregnancy when you're moving into motherhood is full of questions, doubts, and worries. That can be especially true when you know the health care system is not set up to take care of you the way you need. Woodbury, Minnesota mom Monica Jones is the founder of an online organization called Melanated Mamas.
She knows Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, and she's determined to help. She's on the line right now. Monica, welcome.
MONICA JONES: Hi, Cathy. Thank you so much for letting me be on the show today.
CATHY WURZER: Nice to have you here. Thank you. Say, tell us the story behind Melanated Mamas.
MONICA JONES: Yeah, I like to say that it started when I was 17 years old. I did an independent study in high school and I had an opportunity to understand nurse midwifery. I thought I was going to go to school to become a nurse midwife. But I took that information and I decided that when I became pregnant, when I had my first baby, that I wanted to have a midwifery care model to be able to bring my child into this world.
And so I had a very beautiful, empowering, and sacred experience when I gave birth to my first daughter, and then was able to have my water birth, which is something I dreamt of having, with my second daughter. And I wish I could say that my story continues to be this really beautiful and empowering experience with my third child, but when I became pregnant with my third, Skyler, I realized that I was in an experience that a lot different than the midwifery model of care.
I went to the birth center. And at 20 weeks, I found out that I had gestational hypertension. And so that moved me into the health care system and a hospital. And I was exposed to how challenging and difficult it is to navigate the health care system.
And on top of that, it was 2021 when I was pregnant with my third daughter. And so I'm hearing all these alarming statistics about Black women dying, two to three times more likely than white women. And having to carry that burden, on top of having hypertension, on top of being in this hospital setting, I find it really difficult to go through the rest of my pregnancy experience.
Unfortunately, I ended up having preeclampsia and had to have an induction at 34 weeks and watched my baby spend the next 52 days of her life in the NICU. So my postpartum experience was a lot different than my previous and that's kind of what gave me the idea of, wow, there are a lot of women that look like me and other women that are experiencing these really challenging, difficult pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. We have to do something about it now. And Melanated Mamas is the way that I feel is a way to kind of tackle that problem.
CATHY WURZER: I was on your Instagram page and your website, and it's very positive and joyful, right?
MONICA JONES: Yeah. Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: How do you relate to women who are just scared?
MONICA JONES: Yeah, I think it's about sharing positive stories. Like I said, I was exposed to very beautiful birth stories and very empowering birth stories. And I think it was that early exposure that allowed me to realize that we can do something different.
And I think if we continue to share positive birth stories, we continue to talk about not just the statistics that are very alarming, but we talk about how do we empower ourselves, how do we advocate for ourselves during our pregnancy and our birth experience so that we are able to have the type of experience that we want and that we deserve.
CATHY WURZER: Tell me about advocating for oneself, right? Maybe as a first time mom, that might be a little tough to do because you're just trying to figure it out. What's going on with my body. Give me an example how you might help a first time mom advocate for herself in a situation.
MONICA JONES: Yeah. I think it starts with education. So I think as a Black woman and going through the health care system, I think it's important to educate yourself on birth and understanding the policies and procedures of the hospital, understanding your birth rates.
When we are able to educate ourselves, we have the tools to be able to speak the language that the hospitals are speaking, then we are able to advocate for ourselves better. I think another way to advocate for yourself is getting a birth team in place. Having a doula, I think, is one of the best ways that you can arm yourself with the knowledge that you need to be able to navigate those systems and have somebody else on your team that can advocate for you.
CATHY WURZER: Is there a topic specifically you think new parents don't know enough about, that there's not enough education out there on?
MONICA JONES: I would say postpartum. I think we don't give mothers enough information on how to navigate those early days of postpartum. During the pregnancy, we're all focused on you and baby. And then when baby comes, all of that focus shifts to baby.
And so baby gets all of these appointments, and even the visitors that come, they want to see baby. But we're not giving our moms enough information and knowledge on warning signs that we need to look for. When you do go home, we're only given that six-week appointment which to me is a little bit too long to be able to check on mom.
And so I feel like if we are able to give moms more education and information on warning signs, how to navigate breastfeeding, if that's something that you choose to do, warning signs around your mental health, things that you should be aware of, the difference between baby blues and postpartum depression-- I just feel like we need more knowledge in that postpartum period.
CATHY WURZER: And how is the medical establishment falling short in helping Black moms, specifically, navigate the postpartum experience?
MONICA JONES: Yeah. I think a lot of it is just with not setting us up for success or for what to look for. Like I said, a lot of us are being discharged from the hospital two or three days after having a baby. We're given this giant packet of information that we're supposed to go through.
Maybe we're watching a video here or there to understand the baby shaking syndrome and how to handle those things, and maybe a little bit around mental health. But then we're kind of set free. And a lot of Black moms and BIPOC moms, we just don't have a lot of the support systems that we need in place to be able to navigate those first early days.
And so I feel like the health care system should have a way to be able to continue that postpartum care so we can continue to visit that mom a couple of days after she had her baby and she's home, or a couple of weeks instead of waiting to that six-week time period.
CATHY WURZER: And this is where you come in, though, too, with the help that you offer.
MONICA JONES: Yes, absolutely. So we just launched a postpartum box, which really encompassed all the three things that I believe that we need for our postpartum care. So we do need the things to kind of heal the essential things-- the tangible things for self care and for healing. But we also need education.
So education around how to advocate for yourself during your birth and how to plan your postpartum-- I feel like sometimes we spend a lot of time on baby showers and gender reveals, but we don't spend enough time on planning for postpartum. And then that third prong is community. So we need community to be able to lean on each other so that we don't feel alone on this journey and so that we can ask questions before it's too late.
CATHY WURZER: All right, I wish I had more time, Monica. Thank you so much. Good luck.
MONICA JONES: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: That's Woodberry mom Monica Jones. She's the founder of an online organization called Melanated Mamas. You can learn more at their website TheMelanatedMamas.com.
That period of pregnancy when you're moving into motherhood is full of questions, doubts, and worries. That can be especially true when you know the health care system is not set up to take care of you the way you need. Woodbury, Minnesota mom Monica Jones is the founder of an online organization called Melanated Mamas.
She knows Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, and she's determined to help. She's on the line right now. Monica, welcome.
MONICA JONES: Hi, Cathy. Thank you so much for letting me be on the show today.
CATHY WURZER: Nice to have you here. Thank you. Say, tell us the story behind Melanated Mamas.
MONICA JONES: Yeah, I like to say that it started when I was 17 years old. I did an independent study in high school and I had an opportunity to understand nurse midwifery. I thought I was going to go to school to become a nurse midwife. But I took that information and I decided that when I became pregnant, when I had my first baby, that I wanted to have a midwifery care model to be able to bring my child into this world.
And so I had a very beautiful, empowering, and sacred experience when I gave birth to my first daughter, and then was able to have my water birth, which is something I dreamt of having, with my second daughter. And I wish I could say that my story continues to be this really beautiful and empowering experience with my third child, but when I became pregnant with my third, Skyler, I realized that I was in an experience that a lot different than the midwifery model of care.
I went to the birth center. And at 20 weeks, I found out that I had gestational hypertension. And so that moved me into the health care system and a hospital. And I was exposed to how challenging and difficult it is to navigate the health care system.
And on top of that, it was 2021 when I was pregnant with my third daughter. And so I'm hearing all these alarming statistics about Black women dying, two to three times more likely than white women. And having to carry that burden, on top of having hypertension, on top of being in this hospital setting, I find it really difficult to go through the rest of my pregnancy experience.
Unfortunately, I ended up having preeclampsia and had to have an induction at 34 weeks and watched my baby spend the next 52 days of her life in the NICU. So my postpartum experience was a lot different than my previous and that's kind of what gave me the idea of, wow, there are a lot of women that look like me and other women that are experiencing these really challenging, difficult pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. We have to do something about it now. And Melanated Mamas is the way that I feel is a way to kind of tackle that problem.
CATHY WURZER: I was on your Instagram page and your website, and it's very positive and joyful, right?
MONICA JONES: Yeah. Yeah.
CATHY WURZER: How do you relate to women who are just scared?
MONICA JONES: Yeah, I think it's about sharing positive stories. Like I said, I was exposed to very beautiful birth stories and very empowering birth stories. And I think it was that early exposure that allowed me to realize that we can do something different.
And I think if we continue to share positive birth stories, we continue to talk about not just the statistics that are very alarming, but we talk about how do we empower ourselves, how do we advocate for ourselves during our pregnancy and our birth experience so that we are able to have the type of experience that we want and that we deserve.
CATHY WURZER: Tell me about advocating for oneself, right? Maybe as a first time mom, that might be a little tough to do because you're just trying to figure it out. What's going on with my body. Give me an example how you might help a first time mom advocate for herself in a situation.
MONICA JONES: Yeah. I think it starts with education. So I think as a Black woman and going through the health care system, I think it's important to educate yourself on birth and understanding the policies and procedures of the hospital, understanding your birth rates.
When we are able to educate ourselves, we have the tools to be able to speak the language that the hospitals are speaking, then we are able to advocate for ourselves better. I think another way to advocate for yourself is getting a birth team in place. Having a doula, I think, is one of the best ways that you can arm yourself with the knowledge that you need to be able to navigate those systems and have somebody else on your team that can advocate for you.
CATHY WURZER: Is there a topic specifically you think new parents don't know enough about, that there's not enough education out there on?
MONICA JONES: I would say postpartum. I think we don't give mothers enough information on how to navigate those early days of postpartum. During the pregnancy, we're all focused on you and baby. And then when baby comes, all of that focus shifts to baby.
And so baby gets all of these appointments, and even the visitors that come, they want to see baby. But we're not giving our moms enough information and knowledge on warning signs that we need to look for. When you do go home, we're only given that six-week appointment which to me is a little bit too long to be able to check on mom.
And so I feel like if we are able to give moms more education and information on warning signs, how to navigate breastfeeding, if that's something that you choose to do, warning signs around your mental health, things that you should be aware of, the difference between baby blues and postpartum depression-- I just feel like we need more knowledge in that postpartum period.
CATHY WURZER: And how is the medical establishment falling short in helping Black moms, specifically, navigate the postpartum experience?
MONICA JONES: Yeah. I think a lot of it is just with not setting us up for success or for what to look for. Like I said, a lot of us are being discharged from the hospital two or three days after having a baby. We're given this giant packet of information that we're supposed to go through.
Maybe we're watching a video here or there to understand the baby shaking syndrome and how to handle those things, and maybe a little bit around mental health. But then we're kind of set free. And a lot of Black moms and BIPOC moms, we just don't have a lot of the support systems that we need in place to be able to navigate those first early days.
And so I feel like the health care system should have a way to be able to continue that postpartum care so we can continue to visit that mom a couple of days after she had her baby and she's home, or a couple of weeks instead of waiting to that six-week time period.
CATHY WURZER: And this is where you come in, though, too, with the help that you offer.
MONICA JONES: Yes, absolutely. So we just launched a postpartum box, which really encompassed all the three things that I believe that we need for our postpartum care. So we do need the things to kind of heal the essential things-- the tangible things for self care and for healing. But we also need education.
So education around how to advocate for yourself during your birth and how to plan your postpartum-- I feel like sometimes we spend a lot of time on baby showers and gender reveals, but we don't spend enough time on planning for postpartum. And then that third prong is community. So we need community to be able to lean on each other so that we don't feel alone on this journey and so that we can ask questions before it's too late.
CATHY WURZER: All right, I wish I had more time, Monica. Thank you so much. Good luck.
MONICA JONES: Thank you.
CATHY WURZER: That's Woodberry mom Monica Jones. She's the founder of an online organization called Melanated Mamas. You can learn more at their website TheMelanatedMamas.com.
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