Designing Motherhood Experts Redesign the System

DESIGNING MOTHERHOOD EXPERTS: REDESIGN BY ZOE GREGGS THE SYSTEM

ZOE GREGGS IS A FULL TIME STAFFER AT PHILADELPHIA’S MATERNITY CARE COALITION

(MCC), a forty year old nonprofit that helps birthing people and families in this city thrive. Over the last three years she has worked as the linchpin between intersecting teams that have brought to life a first-ofits-kind project, Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births. As Curatorial Assistant on the endeavor, part of which is currently live as an exhibition at the Center for Architecture and Design, she is referred to as the team “glue.” Here, she speaks to the DM project’s long-standing advisors, all of whom are MCC direct service experts in maternal-infant health and are proof-positive that what MCC does within birth advocacy and support and family policy is a form of systems design.

Her interviews highlight and confirm that the design of our society and healthcare system, as well as the design of physical objects and the built environment have created painful, unjust obstacles for all mothers, but particularly for black women and those with intersectional identities. This project is as powerful and illuminating as it is because of the expertise and vision of Zoe, Sabrina, Porsche, Adrianne, Tekara, and the entire Maternity Care Coalition team.

THE EXPERTS

ZOE GREGGS: Can you describe for the readers, who you are, what you do, and why you entered the maternal child health sector?

SABRINA TAYLOR, MCC’s Child Development Coordinator for Early Head Start:

I recently found my old yearbook from my senior year when I graduated high school. When asked about my future profession, I wrote, ‘Helping women and children in the future.’ Now, I am a Child Development Coordinator for the Early Head Start (EHS) Program at MCC. Our program serves children, from birth to the age of three, providing developmentally appropriate lessons and activities to incorporate school readiness.

PORSCHE HOLLAND, MCC’s Training Coordinator for Maternity Care Coalition’s

Community Doula and Breastfeeding Programs: We provide direct services to families in the community: a birth doula, postpartum doula, and lactation support. We also train individuals in the community to do that work as well — to be community doulas, breastfeeding peer counselors, and perinatal community health workers. What brought me into the maternal child health sector is that I’ve always been intrigued by pregnant bodies, children, and families. My own pregnancy and birth experience sparked a desire to impact maternal health and the maternal mortality crisis specifically for the Black community.

ADRIANNE EDWARDS, MCC’s Healthy Families America Coordinator: I am the Program Coordinator for MCC’s Healthy Families America program serving Montgomery and Bucks County. I am also a part time birth doula and graduate student studying clinical counseling. My goal is to provide counseling services to couples and families. The Healthy Families America program offers home visiting services to families who are pregnant and parenting children up to age 3. Our goal is to prevent child abuse and neglect and support children with school readiness. Each participant is provided with an advocate — who they meet with weekly to discuss parenting and prenatal topics, child development topics, connect to resources, develop goal plans, and from time to time provide essential items as diapers, wipes and formula.

TEKARA GAINEY, MCC’s Community Doula & Breastfeeding Program Associate:

I am currently the Program Associate for MCC’s Community Doula and Breastfeeding Program. My role is to coordinate most of the back-end operations of the program to ensure accessibility to doulas to ALL birthing people and communities, that means connecting with community partners, hearing from prospective clients, and onboarding new doulas who have been called to do this work. My curiosity around the pregnant body has kept me engaged in wanting to better understand, protect and advocate for the autonomy of reproductive bodies. My personal experiences navigating the healthcare system and witnessing many of the challenges of others navigating their own health called me to do this work.

PHOTO: BY JERRY MILLEVOI. COURTESY OF MCC AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARY ARCHIVES (MSCOLL760, BOX 44, 56

MCC AT WORK Maternity Care Coalition staff serving their clients in Philadelphia, 1980s.

MOTHERS AT WORK Ford Motor Company’s “Tot-Guard” 1973. Grandmother pushing grandchild through a parking lot in Clapham Common, South London, 1996. (below)

ZOE GREGGS: THE COMMUNITY ADVISORS ARE SUCH AN INTEGRAL PART OF DESIGNING MOTHERHOOD, THE HEARTBEAT. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE BEING AN ADVISOR ON THIS PROJECT?

PORSCHE HOLLAND: It’s been a joy and privilege to be an advisor for the Designing Motherhood team and project. I’d call it a movement more than anything. I am very passionate about civic engagement and community life and having the voices, the buy-in, the support of those that shared lived experience — supporting and serving them is impactful.

SABRINA TAYLOR: If I had to describe my role as a community advisor, I would say that I’m a team player. I remember seeing things getting set up at the Mutter Museum and I’m like, ‘Got a hammer? What do you want me to do? Anything else that I can do?’ So many people need education on maternal health and all the things that women go through, to see how far we’ve come and how much more work we have to do.

Adrianne Edwards: Collaborating with Designing Motherhood has given me an opportunity to experience birth work in a way that I had not yet done; through design, while also having the opportunity to contribute ideas towards shining a light on the dynamic role of women and caregivers in society. It’s been rewarding to play a role in this transformative work.

TEKARA GAINEY: I wasn’t sure what to expect when we first started this journey, but it has unfolded in ways beyond my imagination. I see my role as twofold: to hold the stakeholders accountable and to remain accountable to the communities I serve. To be in space where our voices

are valued, heard, respected, and showcased in a way that preserves the integrity and craftsmanship of this laborious work, is a privilege and being able to bring that to the forefront of Designing Motherhood and share, engage, and resonate with others who explore aspects of Designing Motherhood has been so worth it.

ZOE GREGGS: AS DESIGNING MOTHERHOOD HAS DEVELOPED, HAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO YOUR OWN WORK CHANGED IN ANY WAY?

SABRINA TAYLOR: This project has brought me back full circle to remember why we’re doing this, for the development of young children and to educate and support women. Sometimes we don’t know why someone is acting the way they do; we don’t know why a mom didn’t bring their kid to school for a couple of days. But when you talk to them, they discuss different maternal or women-related issues that I can relate to. I understand what’s happening in their households.

ZOE GREGGS: In your personal opinion, how can we decolonize conversations around reproduction, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum? What do you wish to see discussed more — either globally or locally — regarding reproductive agency?

TEKARA GAINEY: If we are going to be serious about decolonizing discourse around reproduction, we need to be critical of the systems in which reproductive care is embedded and do the work to first know and understand the historical and cultural forces of disjointed power and oppression on which these systems were founded and dismantle them. We are all familiar with the statistics: The maternal mortality rate for Black women is 4x higher than that of white women. This number is even higher for Black women with intersectional identities (i.e LGBT, immigrant, differently abled, etc). This number doesn’t shed light on the stark history of sterilization, wet nursing, experimental procedures, roadblocking of Black midwives establishing themselves and credible medical providers, withholding pain medication because of a perception that Black women don’t feel pain, and some of the other practices that lend to this numbers we hear today.

So, when we talk about decolonizing reproductive discourse, especially as it pertains to birth work, we need to talk about how we can be intentional about restructuring the systems in which we receive health care in a way that honors and promotes autonomy, preserves cultural and indigenous practices, and places value on intuitive knowledge. If this past year navigating through a pandemic has shown us anything, it is that our health care systems need a complete overhaul, and it needs to start with not policing and creating obstacles for midwives to practice and expand options for out-of-hospital births.

ZOE GREGGS: Objects are reflections of our external environments, beliefs, culture, and larger society. What and who do you see highlighted in the objects in the DM exhibitions? How do you feel oppressive structures (ie. settler colonialism, patriarchy, etc.) and, conversely, resistance shape everyday objects and systems designed for the arc of human reproduction?

PORSCHE HOLLAND: The first thing that comes to my mind is Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey and what happened at the hands of someone whose name I don’t even want to say ... because it’s so disgusting. As are the many people that have followed him. Objects have great value and meaning; they can be sources of offense or can be held tightly and desired. Having physical objects in spaces (such as an exhibition) showcases these topics and can have a greater impact than words.

These designs have had a generational impact, and are still impacting people today. What does that say about the makers versus others that have crafted designs to be more inclusive, gentle and loving?”

ADRIANNE EDWARDS: The range of experiences that we have had as women were on display from the beginning of life all the way to giving life. There were a lot of things I wasn’t even aware of that took place over the years especially when it comes to the various tools and gadgets that we’ve used or that were used on us. It was amazing and sometimes jarring to see. I found a new appreciation for those who came before me.

ZOE GREGGS: What keeps you all going in your work? What makes you hopeful?

SABRINA TAYLOR: I got my first job in childcare just after my senior year and about four or five years ago. Between last year and this year, I began watching my previous students graduate from college. One of the reasons why I keep going is because of the children and parents who I’ve remained in contact with. For me, it is seeing their growth, instilling in them from a very early age that they have a future, and that they can do it. MCC’s mission and vision are dear to my heart. This is definitely what I’ve always wanted to do and here I am doing it.

PORSCHE HOLLAND: What keeps me going is several things. The list of names of Black women who have died unnecessarily at the hands of ignorance, lack of care, neglect, and racism. What also fuels me is being woken up from my sleep at night, thinking of those that I currently help and support and grieving over the circumstances that they face in what should be a beautiful time in their life - if they so choose to be pregnant. Often, there is no justice in maternal health and perinatal health in the U.S. where I live, unfortunately.

I’m here to make sure anything I touch has a justice lens. What makes me hopeful is the support that I get, spaces like Designing Motherhood, and other birth workers that I see moving in this same way, etc. People are getting it, even if it’s taken a while for the system to change.

ADRIANNE EDWARDS: My desire to do this work was born out of my personal experiences as a single mother. Therefore, my desire to do this work is tied to my desire to see women like myself and children like my son be supported, connected to the community, and thriving! I continue to do this work because it is part of my contribution to my time here on earth.

TEKARA GAINEY: What keeps me going is being a witness to the transformation that people go through when they are given the opportunity to honor their pregnancy as they want, birth in a way that makes them feel whole, and parent with dignity and pride. For me, as a birth worker, my work goes beyond rubbing backs, diffusing essential oils, and talking nutrition. It’s about building community, showing up for communities, healing generational wounds, making space for confident and conscious parenting, and believing in one’s own power to make decisions for their own health and wellness. One day, this will be the norm and not the exception or something that needs to be fought for. n