Celebrating #BumpDay
It’s bump day everyday for all expectant mothers, and for the people who assist or attend deliveries every day.
Thank you to those who carry the bumps and those who love and support them throughout the process. In celebration of #BumpDay, check out some beautiful mamas and those who care for them who we’ve met over the years in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, the U.S., India, Syria, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Together, we can make pregnancy and childbirth safer for every mother everywhere.
Fatma Abbas, who has birthed 12 children, visits the MSF clinic in Gaziantep, Turkey on July 12th, 2016. She’s with her son, Jamal Hamoud, who was born in Turkey at a state facility where her husband helped translate, as he is Turkish. It takes Fatima 30 minutes to travel to the clinic from her house, but she comes here because the doctors speak Syrian and she is more comfortable. She also brought her 5 year old daughter Tasina. Every Mother Counts recently provided an Emergency Fund Grant to Circle of Health International in Syria to support the recruitment and training of Syrian midwives. Learn more here. (Photo by Monique Jaques/For The Washington Post)
Naomi, mom from Florida, who was featured in Every Mother Counts’ documentary series, “Giving Birth in America.” Like 17 million other women in America, lack of insurance stood in the way of Naomi getting the prenatal care she needed and the compassionate care she knew she deserved. Thankfully, she turned to midwife Jennie Joseph and the Birth Placefor prenatal care, where she knew she wouldn’t be turned away despite her gap in insurance coverage. Naomi says, “At the Birth Place, it’s whatever you’re most comfortable with. Even though I wanted all natural with my son, I don’t feel like I’m treated any differently with this pregnancy knowing I want a C-section. They’re all about what you want and what is best for you.”
Babita carries her 6 month old baby while picking tea leaves in the Tinkharia garden in Assam, India on April 8, 2015. Assam has the highest maternal mortality rate in India, with 50,000 women dying in childbirth and pregnancy related causes each year countrywide. Every Mother Counts is working with Nazdeekto bring positive change to the tea garden workers in Assam and to mothers in Dehli, by using the power of law to secure access to lifesaving maternal healthcare. (Credit: Lynsey Addario)
Beautiful Gilda, who was pregnant when we met her, and is a mom to three girls and a little boy. She lives next to the Carrie Wortham Birth Center in Cabestor, Haiti. Learn more about our work in Haiti here.
Happy midwives, mamas & babies in Haiti.
Juslene, midwife, trained by Midwives for Haiti with support from Every Mother Counts. She was also featured in Every Mother Counts’ film series, “The Making of a Midwife”, which highlights the fact that skilled attendance at all births is considered to be the single most critical intervention for ensuring safe motherhood.
Antonia, Juana and Dolores, traditional midwives of Santiago and San Juan Laguna. They’re working with Rxiin Tnamet, a local organization providing culturally sound healthcare & services to indigenous women & children in the Solola region of Guatemala. Every Mother Counts currently works with Asociación Corazón Del Agua to train indigenous students from rural areas to become professional midwives in a university degree program using a culturally relevant approach. Learn more about Every Mother Counts’ work in Guatemala here.
Bangladesh was one of the countries visited by Every Mother Counts founder, Christy Turlington Burns, during the filming of “No Woman, No Cry.” Every Mother Counts now works with Hope Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladeshto provide the full range of pregnancy care, including access to emergency care, education on safe pregnancy, and linking traditional birth attendants with skilled providers.
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