Tiffany Vassell, a labor and delivery nurse, left a Boston hospital two days early after giving birth to her son seven months ago, exhausted by what she described as inadequate care that forced the Black maternal health advocate to relentlessly protect her and her baby’s wellbeing.
As her unborn child went into distress for 10 minutes, Vassell herself watched the heart rate monitor, instructing a nurse to not increase a medication used to induce contractions.
And Vassell halted a frenzied recommendation about an emergency C-section, a procedure she later had to undergo to deliver her 10-pound baby, as she lobbied for a “very controlled atmosphere” to reduce the likelihood of infection. Vassell later had to request stronger painkillers — rather than the Motrin she was given — and heating pads as she complained of “excruciating pain” following the abdominal surgery.
Throughout her pregnancy, Vassell managed to make decisions for herself, backed by a maternal care team that extended well beyond the hospital to the home birth midwife and doula she’d hired out-of-pocket.