New mom Serena Williams had to be her own advocate during childbirth. She is opening up about her ordeal, and every mother should listen to her story.
Williams, along with her almost four-month-old daughter Olympia, grace the February cover of Vogue. In the issue, the new mom opens open about a traumatic event that happened after she had to have an emergency C-section and how no one would listen to her.
The tennis star’s delivery ended up being very complicated and life threatening. When Olympia’s heart rate dropped, Williams was rushed into an emergency surgery to have a C-section. Despite being prone to blood clots, she had to stop taking the medication that prevented the blood clots so she could heal from the surgery.
A day after her daughter's birth, Williams had shortness of breath. Since she has had experience with blood clots, she knew one was traveling to her lungs. The new mom also knew what medicine and test needed to be done to ensure she would stay alive.
After telling the nearest nurse she needed a CT scan with contrast, Williams was not getting the response from the hospital staff she needed. Instead, she had an ultrasound scan which showed that nothing was wrong, just like the tennis pro predicted. She would not back down, insisting that the proper test to be run, and the medical personnel finally gave her a CT scan.
The tested proved what she already knew. There were several small blood clots in her lungs. The doctors and nurses quickly put her on the medicine she had originally told them she needed when the shortness of breath first began.
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Serena Williams' story about how she had to advocate for herself after childbirth is frightening but also one that needs to be told. Sadly there are stories just like the tennis stars that do not have such a happy ending because a woman was not an advocate for herself. Whenever one gets a gut feeling that person should make someone listen. If no one is listening, then one should speak louder until his or her voice is hear. A life could depend on it.
