From statistic to birth hero: How a midwife is solving Houston’s Black maternal health crisis

As they waited for their third son to be born, Promise Ealy and her husband Glen Guilbeau watched the Netflix thriller, “Subservience” with their midwife DeShaun Desrosiers the chilly evening of Dec. 6.

As the movie played, Ealy, 28, completed a series of activities to naturally induce her labor at 37 weeks as instructed by Desrosiers. It started with herbal tea and curb walking, a technique used to induce labor by walking with one foot on the curb and one on the street, around her Cypress apartment complex. That was followed by breast pumping for 10 minutes on and off for an hour.

“It sends oxytocin through her body and will start contracting her uterus,” said Desrosiers, 29, while cleaning and prepping the breast pump.

Desrosiers, an Army veteran, is one of the few Black midwives in the Houston area addressing maternal health care disparities among Black women by providing a safe, holistic alternative to standard hospital prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care.

When roughly an hour elapsed, Ealy, wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, pajama pants, fuzzy socks and a belly support band, moved on to the next labor encouragement method. She walked laps around her kitchen island for another 10 minutes while chewing on ice before returning to pump on her birthing ball.

“Birth is kind of hard to control [even though] hospitals try to do it all the time,” Desrosiers said.

Inspired by her own traumatic experience with maternal morbidity and successfully having a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), Desrosiers started her business Harmonious Birthing in 2018 as a doula, which is a nonmedical professional that supports and guides people through pregnancy. Her goal in doing so was to help advocate for, educate and empower Black birthing parents and their families to trust themselves and have autonomy over their birthing experience.

In 2023, she became a licensed and certified professional midwife — a trained health care professional who provides care for low-risk pregnancies before, during pregnancy, labor, and after birth. She specializes in vaginal births after cesarean (VBACs), home births, and births at the Yellow Rose Midwifery Group Birth Center, which serves greater Houston.

‘Don’t have to code-switch’

“Black women want to have Black doulas and midwives because they don’t have to code-switch,” Desrosiers said. “They can be open and honest and tell us what’s going on, we can help them with these things. They feel safe. They feel connected.”

That safety and connection was evident between Desrosiers and Ealy as Desrosiers’ natural methods started to go into effect around 9:13 p.m. with roughly 38 minutes left of the movie. That’s when Ealy told Desrosiers she felt her first real contraction.

“Don’t tense up. Keep breathing,” Desrosiers said.

Promise Ealy endures another painful contraction, in her bathtub on December 6, 2024, at her home in Cypress, Texas. As she labored for roughly another hour and a half, her Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers continued to encourage her, reminding her to keep breathing, listen to her body and to center her hips. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

The contraction came roughly an hour after periods of sustained cramping and a mix of chills and hot sweats. Afterwards, Ealy’s contractions started coming consistently every three to five minutes.

“They’re coming so fast,” Ealy said to Desrosiers, who encouraged her to move around to help ease the cramping and pain.

As the contractions progressed quicker, Ealy and Guilbeau, her husband, started to make their way from the living room to their bedroom bathtub where Ealy planned to have the baby. Desrosiers called her birthing assistant to tell her to make her way to Ealy’s home.

It was time for delivery.

Promise Ealy endures another painful contraction, and gives birth to her son Ian, in her bathtub on December 6, 2024, at her home in Cypress, Texas. “It’s almost over. You got it,” her husband, Glen Guilbeau said, encouraging her as he tirelessly poured water over her belly to relax her muscles and reduce some of the pain. Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, handed baby Ian to his father, Glen Guilbeau, for skin to skin contact while Ms. Desrosiers cared for his mother, Promise Ealy, after she gave birth. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

Ealy tied her hair securely in her satin scarf and bonnet, changed into a neon orange bathing suit top and stepped into the bathtub at 9:28 p.m. As a sound machine played ambient noises in the background, Ealy closed her eyes, trying to relax with deep breaths and sporadic sighs as the contractions intensified. A tear rolled down her left cheek as the contractions became longer. She occasionally switched positions to her hands and knees, sipped a strawberry-grape-flavored BODYARMOUR sports hydration drink and took breaks to use the bathroom.

“It’s almost over. You got it,” her husband Guilbeau said, encouraging her as he tirelessly poured water over her belly to relax her muscles and reduce some of the pain.

He catered to Ealy’s and Desrosiers’ every need, and occasionally told jokes about getting her ice cream and even a milkshake from Whataburger.

“I don’t want a f****** milkshake Glen,” Ealy said as everyone chuckled.

As she labored for roughly another hour and a half, Desrosiers continued to encourage her, reminding her to keep breathing, listen to her body and to center her hips. As Ealy closed her eyes and breathed through contractions, Desrosiers simultaneously monitored Ealy’s progress and the baby’s heart rate, and updated Ealy’s charts on her laptop. At times when the contractions grew intense, Ealy clenched tightly to Desrosiers’ hand.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers places baby Ian onto his mother, Promise Ealy’s chest immediately after he was born, at 11:02 p.m. with his amniotic sac still intact. Ian is Promise and Glen’s third son, and weighed 5 pounds and 2 ounces. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

“There you go. That’s perfect. Perfect breathing,” Desrosiers said calmly to Ealy as she groaned a low-pitched “ahhh.”

“It hurts,” Ealy said as Desrosiers responded: “You can do anything for one minute,” supporting her through the contraction.

At 11:02 p.m. after one hour and 43 minutes of active labor, Ealy gave birth to Ian Guilbeau, the couple’s third son, weighing 5 pounds and 2 ounces.

Hospital birth vs. home birth care with a midwife

Ealy’s experience is a stark contrast to her first pregnancy where she had an epidural at a hospital, where she said she felt disregarded and patronized because doctors and nurses weren’t listening to her.

Cost of home birth vs Hospital birth

The average home birth fee in the U.S. is $5,396. In contrast, a vaginal birth in a hospital costs more than twice as much — approximately $13,024 before insurance, according to an analysis by Healthnews. In Texas, the average cost is $5,720. Harmonious Birthing offers home births from $4,500 to $6,000, depending on the package. Hospital births are more likely to be covered by health insurance, and patients without home birth insurance coverage could end up with higher out-of-pocket expenses, according to Healthnews.

In the weeks leading up to her delivery, she would frequently go to the doctor, at one point every two days because she had high blood pressure, but said no one ever did anything about it or took her health seriously.

“I definitely feel like they weren’t hearing me,” Ealy said from her couch in November when she was 35 weeks pregnant. “They don’t listen.”

“Every single thing I brought up, it was: ‘You’re pregnant. That’s normal,’” Ealy said.

But she never got any guidance.

When it was time for her to deliver her first son, she told nurses and doctors her son was coming, but since her water never broke, no one believed her. They told her she wasn’t ready yet and left the room.

“The baby was coming out in the bag and so then they all come back in and everybody’s rushing in, they’re cutting on all these lights and at that point it was an emergency,” Ealy said.

Ealy said the blatant disregard continued after delivery when she was administered magnesium sulfate to treat preeclampsia that she had developed from her high blood pressure, she said.

“I kept telling them my IV is burning, my IV is burning,” Ealy said. “They’re like, ‘No nothing’s on, nothing’s on. And I was like no, the IV, I can feel it.”

As she floated in and out of consciousness, doctors continued to ignore her, she said, with one beginning to talk about her son’s circumcision without noticing her state.

“It was like nothing clicked for him either that she’s not even stable enough to have this conversation,” Ealy said. “He just kept talking until he was done talking and then he left. Then once he left they’re like, ‘Oh sorry. It was on.’”

“I could’ve died off that magnesium,” Ealy said.

After that experience, she vowed never to deliver in a hospital again and take her chances with a homebirth.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers measures Promise Ealy’s belly, during her 35-week pregnancy check-up at her home in Cypress, Texas on November 19, 2024. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

With Desrosiers everything was different. Besides being able to move around and eat during labor, Desrosiers listened, acknowledged Ealy’s concerns and had a solution to her questions and concerns.

“She’s a good midwife, she’s a good person so it’s easy to talk to her and listen,” Ealy said. “And she’s pretty down-to-earth. She gives good advice and she’s easy to trust.”

Ealy and Desrosiers have known each other since high school, but their bond deepened when Desrosiers became her doula with the delivery of her second son at home in 2023. At the time Desrosiers was still a student midwife.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers and apprentice midwife, Joycelyn Durden celebrate being newly featured on a website, on October 30, 2024 in Houston, Texas. Inspired by a traumatic maternal morbidity case, Ms. Desrosiers started Harmonious Birthing in 2018 as a doula, then a midwife in 2023 to empower people to have autonomy over their birthing experience. Studies published in the National Library of Medicine, show that midwifery care has generally led to better outcomes for birthing parents, particularly Black people. In low-risk pregnancies, midwifery has been associated with decreased labor interventions, decreased cesareans, preterm births, and operative vaginal births with no increased odds of neonatal intensive care unit admissions, neonatal deaths, or severe maternal morbidity. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
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Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers and apprentice midwife, Joycelyn Durden celebrate being newly featured on a website, on October 30, 2024 in Houston, Texas. Inspired by a traumatic maternal morbidity case, Ms. Desrosiers started Harmonious Birthing in 2018 as a doula, then a midwife in 2023 to empower people to have autonomy over their birthing experience. Studies published in the National Library of Medicine, show that midwifery care has generally led to better outcomes for birthing parents, particularly Black people. In low-risk pregnancies, midwifery has been associated with decreased labor interventions, decreased cesareans, preterm births, and operative vaginal births with no increased odds of neonatal intensive care unit admissions, neonatal deaths, or severe maternal morbidity. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
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“With both of my midwives I feel like they listened to me more,” Ealy said. “With the hospital you have to speak up.”

After noticing Desrosiers’ attentiveness and proactive care as her doula, when Ealy became pregnant with her third child, the decision was clear to promote her to her midwife.

“With DeShaun, she’s more in-depth,” Ealy said. “She had me taking magnesium already through the pregnancy and had me taking Hawthorn [pills], she had me taking things to prevent me from having preeclampsia. She knew about my history and was proactive with all those things.”

Hawthorn is a medication derived from a plant commonly used to treat blood pressure, cholesterol and heart problems.

Whereas in the hospital under the care of an OB/GYN, Ealy said she mentioned her family history with high blood pressure and was not given proactive guidance nor were any preventative measures taken to combat it other than tips on diet. But even with a good diet, Ealy still developed preeclampsia and had to get induced for her delivery.

Nutrition, water consumption and physical activity were a key focus during Ealy’s prenatal visits with Desrosiers to regulate her blood pressure and prevent her from developing pre- and post- eclampsia again like her previous births.

During her 35-week visit, Ealy was instructed by Desrosiers to eat more fruits, like blueberries, drink cold-pressed juices from H-E-B, stretch, and go to the chiropractor to receive cupping therapy to relieve some of her nerve pain and cramping.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers and her assistant, JacQue Colson-Smith, search for Tylenol in Promise Ealy’s medicine boxes, to help relieve her pain after childbirth on December 6, 2024 at Ealy’s home in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

“It’s more like a mental health check, a lifestyle check. Those things weren’t happening in the doctor’s office,” Ealy said.

It’s also for the whole family, Ealy said, noting how Desrosiers had a stern talk with her husband about his health as well and the effects of his unhealthy habits on Ealy and their then unborn child. Immediately upon delivery, Desrosiers set Ealy up with a lactation consultant who came the next day so she wouldn’t have the same issues breastfeeding as she did with her first kid.

“How are you feeling physically, emotionally, mentally?” Desrosiers asked Ealy on her second postpartum home visit on Dec. 12.

Ealy’s blood pressure was at 157 over 90 — a stage considered too high. Desrosiers gave her firm instructions: consume a plant-based diet in the upcoming week to combat her blood pressure to avoid having to go to the hospital. They’ll have three more postpartum visits at Desrosiers’ office.

Brittany Abdullah, a recent patient of Desrosiers who delivered her second child in June, said she valued how Desrosiers provided her options after delivery for her infant with different vaccines, tests and medications.

“She gave me the pros and cons and she left it up to me,” she said. “I could definitely tell the difference with DeShaun. She actually cared about me. She cared about the health of my baby and that really made me like yeah ‘I gotta stay here. I’m not going to anyone else.’”

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers updates Promise Ealy’s medical chart, while she was in labor on December 6, 2024, at her home in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
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Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers updates Promise Ealy’s medical chart, while she was in labor on December 6, 2024, at her home in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
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Glen Guilbeau holds his son Ian for the first time, giving him skin to skin contact while licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers cared for his wife, Promise Ealy, after she gave birth to Ian on December 6, 2024 at the couple’s home in Cypress, Texas. Ms. Desrosiers keeps newborns attached to their placenta for the first hour after they are born to help them thrive. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ data-id=”47037″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47037 perfmatters-lazy” data-sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?w=1700&ssl=1 1700w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241207_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_66.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w”>

Glen Guilbeau holds his son Ian for the first time, giving him skin to skin contact while licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers cared for his wife, Promise Ealy, after she gave birth to Ian on December 6, 2024 at the couple’s home in Cypress, Texas. Ms. Desrosiers keeps newborns attached to their placenta for the first hour after they are born to help them thrive. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
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Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers guides Promise Ealy during labor and delivery of her third son, Ian, on December 6, 2024 at the couple’s home in Cypress, Texas. Desrosiers has Glen Guilbeau hold his son Ian for the first time, giving him skin to skin contact. Ms. Desrosiers keeps newborns attached to their placenta for the first hour after they are born to help them thrive. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

Desrosiers said it’s common for all of her homebirth appointments to last nearly an hour because they cover everything from food security, geographic location, their sex life and relationships with their partner, family life, and other social factors. She also educates her patients on herbs, lifestyle changes and preventative measures that can make for a smooth labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery process.

“They bring their kids, they bring their man, they bring grandma, grandpa, all that so they can get all the questions [answered],” she said. “I’m getting to know everybody.  And I do that for the whole pregnancy. So I basically become a central part of their family. I know all their business.”

Abdullah, who had a VBAC and found Desrosiers’ services on TikTok and after flying back and forth for her prenatal appointments, moved to Houston from Philadelphia in her 34th week of pregnancy.

“It wasn’t just a five minute in-and-out, it was like a therapy session,” she said. “It wasn’t like a client. It was more like a friend.”

‘Fixing the problem’

Medical experts and certified nurse midwives say the continuum of pregnancy, birth, and postnatal care is what sets midwives apart from what is often considered standard care. Often, traditional prenatal care is restricted by a set appointment time and does not give patients enough time to have all their questions answered by their provider, Holly Kennedy, the Helen Varney professor of midwifery at the Yale School of Medicine, said in a 2023 Yale School of Medicine article published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Having more time allows better rapport between a mother-to-be and her provider while helping her feel more respected, which often translates into a smoother pregnancy, Kennedy said in the study.

Black patients are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts, due to a variety of factors from variation in quality health care, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable, according to the CDC.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers takes baby Ian’s measurements shortly after he was born, on December 6, 2024, at home in Cypress, Texas. Then, Glen Guilbeau fills out a keepsake birth certificate with baby Ian’s footprints. At the bottom of the certificate, on the line for “place” of the birth, “Home” with a heart drawn next to the word was written. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

Despite being home to the largest medical center in the world, Harris County has also faced one of the highest rates of Black maternal and infant mortality in Texas and the U.S., consistently exceeding state or national averages since 2016, according to a 2024 maternal and infant health report by Harris County Public Health.

Between 2016 and 2020, Black people who gave birth in Harris County had 83.4 deaths per 100,000 live births. During that same period, infants born to Black people in Harris County experienced mortality rates of 11.66 per 1,000 births.

Studies published in the National Library of Medicine, show that midwifery care has generally led to better outcomes for birthing parents, particularly Black people. In low-risk pregnancies, midwifery has been associated with decreased labor interventions, decreased cesareans, preterm births, and operative vaginal births with no increased odds of neonatal intensive care unit admissions, neonatal deaths, or severe maternal morbidity.

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Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers works on a business plan to train more midwives, on October 30, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

“We’re the ones fixing the damn problem,” Desrosiers said.

Intervening and inducing labor too soon are often reasons why C-section rates are high, Desrosiers said.

“As midwives, [we] know that people go past their due date. It’s typical. A due date is not the expiration date,” she said. “Some babies are born at 37 weeks, some babies are born at 39, some babies are like right after the due date. But if you just wait and be patient, your body and the baby has to be ready to make things flow.”

Had the El Paso-area hospital where Desrosiers delivered her first child eight years ago had more patience, she believes her birthing experience likely wouldn’t have been as traumatic.

When she arrived at the hospital, she was immediately hooked up to several IVs to induce her labor without her consent, Desrosiers said, and the hospital also tried to force her to get an epidural. When she refused she was met with an attitude, she said. When her baby had not arrived after 24 hours in labor, Desrosiers said she was told her time was up and she had to get a Cesarean section or she and her baby would die.

“When I say it went from 0 to 100 just like that,” Desrosiers said in October.

When it was time for the C-section, she said doctors still took roughly an hour to get everything situated and improperly numbed her for the surgical procedure.

“They started cutting on me and I could feel everything,” Desrosiers said. “I was screaming and they didn’t stop, they didn’t stop, they didn’t stop until I finally went into shock and flatlined. So they had to revive me.”

Afterwards, she experienced a substantial amount of memory loss, had an infected scar from the incision and struggled to breastfeed. But when she returned to receive care, she said no one listened to her about her pain and discomfort, prescribed her any medication or helped her baby latch to breastfeed. She turned to social media for support, learning how to breastfeed on YouTube and finding women on Facebook who had experienced similar situations. She found that Black women were disproportionately dying from pregnancy-related complications due to inadequate medical care.

That’s when she learned about doulas and midwives, and took online courses to become a doula. She later became midwife after learning about the history of midwifery and the growing demand for them and homebirths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Midwifery originated with Black Americans during slavery using traditional customs and practices, and was the primary form of prenatal care in the U.S. through the 19th century. Post-emancipation, Black midwives, known as “Granny Midwives” in the South, continued their work until the modernization of healthcare in the early 1900s and racial and sexual prejudice led its drastic decline, according to Alaysia Black Hackett, the chief diversity and equity officer in the Office of the Secretary.

Today, Black midwives account for just roughly 8 percent of all certified midwives in the U.S., compared to more than 83 percent of their white counterparts, according to a 2023 American Midwifery Certification Board demographic report.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers and apprentice midwife, Joycelyn Durden work on a business plan to train more midwives, near a canvas of Ruby Bridgeson, the six-year-old girl who became the first African American child to attend an all-white school in the southern United States in 1960. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

While hospital births are still the primary method for most deliveries, data shows that home births are experiencing an upward trend. A 2022 report from the shows that from 2019 to 2020, the percentage of home births increased by 22 percent. In 2021, the percentage of U.S. home births rose from 1.26 percent (45,646) in 2020 to 1.41 percent (51,642) in 2021, an increase of 12 percent and the highest level since at least 1990.

Desrosiers said she believes midwifery isn’t promoted as much as hospital births due to a lack of knowledge of the profession and fear-driven narratives within the maternal health system.

“I think people think that it’s not safe but that’s just because people don’t know what midwives do,” she said. “They think that midwives are going to show up with some towels and essential oils.”

While emergencies are rare, Desrosiers said, they can happen. In her nearly two years as a licensed midwife and certified professional midwife, Desrosiers has delivered dozens of healthy babies. She’s had a few instances where she’s had to transfer a patient to the hospital such as if their blood pressure became too high and another incident where she had to resuscitate a baby.

“We have the proper tools and we’re trained to do that,” she said.

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, helps Promise Ealy and her husband, Glen Guilbeau, make homemade beans during a house call to check on them and their newborn baby Ian, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. Nutrition, water consumption and physical activity were a key focus during Ealy’s prenatal visits with Desrosiers to regulate her blood pressure and prevent her from developing pre- and post- eclampsia again like her previous births. “It’s more like a mental health check, a lifestyle check. Those things weren’t happening in the doctor’s office,” Ealy said. It’s also for the whole family, Ealy said, noting how Desrosiers had a stern talk with her husband about his health as well and the effects of his unhealthy habits on Ealy and their then unborn child. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ data-id=”47060″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47060 perfmatters-lazy” data-sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?w=1700&ssl=1 1700w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w”>

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, helps Promise Ealy and her husband, Glen Guilbeau, make homemade beans during a house call to check on them and their newborn baby Ian, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. Nutrition, water consumption and physical activity were a key focus during Ealy’s prenatal visits with Desrosiers to regulate her blood pressure and prevent her from developing pre- and post- eclampsia again like her previous births. “It’s more like a mental health check, a lifestyle check. Those things weren’t happening in the doctor’s office,” Ealy said. It’s also for the whole family, Ealy said, noting how Desrosiers had a stern talk with her husband about his health as well and the effects of his unhealthy habits on Ealy and their then unborn child. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ data-id=”47060″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47060″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?w=1700&ssl=1 1700w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_139.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, makes a house call to check on baby Ian Guilbeau, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ data-id=”47052″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47052 perfmatters-lazy” data-sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px” srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?w=1700&ssl=1 1700w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w”>

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, makes a house call to check on baby Ian Guilbeau, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ data-id=”47052″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47052″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?w=1700&ssl=1 1700w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241212_From-statistic-to-birth-hero_-How-a-midwife-is-solving-Houstons-Black-maternal-health-crisis_MK_115.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>

Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, helps Promise Ealy and her husband, Glen Guilbeau, during a house call to check on them and their newborn baby Ian, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

Midwives focus on being proactive and providing preventative care by targeting overall nutrition and wellness with natural herbs. However, they can also provide blood testing, take vitals, administer genetic metabolic screening for both the birthing patient and the baby to test for rare diseases, lab work, STD testing, listen to the baby’s heart, file birth certificates, providing ultrasounds through a sonographer, file for social security and collaborate with physicians to prescribe medication if needed, among several other things.

Midwives’ training combined with the racial concordance with their patients has proven to result in increased birth outcomes, according to Hackett.

“In combating racial disparities and high maternal mortality rates, Black birth workers play a crucial role in advocating for, providing culturally competent care, and improving the health outcomes of Black mothers, birthing people, and infants,” wrote Hackett in a U.S. Department of Labor Blog.

Promise Ealy and her husband Glen Guilbeau reflect on the pregnancies of their three children, during their second postpartum appointment at their home with their midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers on December 12, 2024 in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)

“By providing culturally competent, individualized care, Black doulas and midwives can help mitigate the impacts of racism that are embedded within the healthcare system, including addressing the causes of pregnancy-related deaths.”

This post was originally published on this site

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