Health and Wellness
Mamas at work: Melanie Fiona on coming to terms with not having the birthing experience she wanted

Leon Bennett/Getty Images
For mothers like Melanie Fiona, the query: “How are you?” should not be taken flippantly. For those that really consider this thought, as an alternative of quickly responding with “I’m fine!” as is commonly the case in social conversations, it is a moment to really consider your needs.
“It really is the difference between getting over your feelings and testing yourself to be your best self,” he says.
So in answer to the query, Fiona truthfully admits that she has loads on her mind. She’s back on tour, hosting a podcast with Black Love Codie CEO Elaine Oliver, author Ashley Chea, and influencer Felicia La Tour. She is a businesswoman and a married mother of two children at very different points of their childhood. Many adjustments are obligatory.
“But I’m doing my best. And I think that’s what I stick to. It’s like, ‘give it your all and everything else will be fine,’” he says. “So I’m grateful that I’m healthy and I feel very blessed to be able to experience all of this at once.”
“How are you?” it is usually the most vital query that girls must ask themselves when preparing for motherhood. The most vital thing for expectant moms is to assess how they feel and know that they can be heard once they answer a matter. Since it’s Black Mothers’ Health Week, Fiona recalls the time when she was pregnant with her first child, now 8-year-old son Cameron, and after weighing in, she found that she had gained a major amount of weight in a brief period of time. Her birthing team didn’t take it very seriously at first.
“I used to be 11 kilos heavier. I remember the nurse said to me, “Oh, did you eat a lot on Thanksgiving?” And I said, what? The query got here up: well, why did I gain 11 kilos and would anyone care to discover what meaning?
She was tested for gestational diabetes, but the results were negative, and when the third trimester got here and went, “I was so swollen,” she recalled. “I gained over 80 pounds and no one seemed concerned about why my body was retaining so much water or reacting this way to the pregnancy.”
When she went into labor, hoping for a vaginal and natural birth, she was told she had developed preeclampsia. Her team began discussing an emergency caesarean section with the singer, and she admittedly was not prepared for this moment.
“I think the biggest supporters I had in the room were my doula, my husband and my best friend at the time. They all made me feel that you should surrender to what is best for the health and well-being of you and your baby,” she says. “And this one nurse stayed with me after her shift because she knew I was having a very hard time coming to terms with the idea that my labor and delivery would not go as planned.”
Finally, Fiona gave birth to a healthy baby boy. While she was grateful for this, she spoke openly about the disappointment of feeling cheated and deprived of the birthing experience she wanted. “I left feeling like there was this huge transformation, and I didn’t feel like I was participating at all because I was in surgery and I wasn’t holding on and pushing like I thought I would,” she says. “And so I was left with postpartum depression, which made me understand my experience and I had to deal with it on my own.”
While pregnant with her second child, daughter Kaia Love (now 2), Fiona did the whole lot she could to prepare for the birth she wanted, which included giving birth vaginally, although she had a C-section the first time. But there have been obstacles.
The recent doctor she was seeing told her that their practice did not support Fiona’s desire to have a vaginal birth after a cesarean section (or VBAC), so halfway through her second pregnancy she was left with the task of finding a brand new doctor. The next doctor she considered had a personality that did not match hers. Another believed that she could only be a candidate for his care if, based on statistics about the success rate of black women with VBAC treatment, she agreed to sign a contract stipulating that she would not last a certain variety of weeks.
With some help, especially from Kimberly Durden from Kindred Space in Los Angeles, Fiona was eventually referred to several black obstetrician-gynecologists. She selected a one that could come to her home for meetings and who was an awesome support and advocate for her. Unfortunately, the star’s VBAC hopes still fell through as she was told she had developed placenta previa, which is the placenta that grows above the cervix during the third trimester of pregnancy. Having a health care provider who helped her deal with her emotions and reassured her to undergo with it again and schedule a second cesarean section allowed Fiona to come to terms with the situation and emerge from it as a healthy mother with a healthy baby.
“I was absolutely devastated, but my doctor just helped me, not even just physically, but when she came to my next appointment, she literally took 45 minutes to sit down with me and let me cry about my disappointment,” she said.
This support made the difference. It also helped her develop a relationship with her doctor, which she treasures a few years after Kai Love gave birth.
“I still send her photos of my daughter and she checks me out,” says Fiona. “It made me realize I had two different experiences. Representing myself for the second time made me feel so far more supported that I used to be able to access resources and thus have the option to advocate for myself and create the experience I wanted, understanding that almost all women don’t achieve this. “

She adds: “This is a huge problem because black women die at three times the rate of women from other racial groups. It really made me understand that we were dealing with a huge crisis and why it was so important to me to have a woman of color supporting me in the hospital.”
Fiona led talks on Black maternal health and its impact on women. She says black parents-to-be need the high level of support that was required of her as she prepared to give birth for the second time.
“It shouldn’t be like this, but unfortunately we have to do our due diligence because we have to be our biggest advocates. We don’t have a medical system to support us in this way. And so, unfortunately, we have to shop at the doctor’s. But the reality is that not everyone has the time and resources for this and that is the worst truth. It can be overwhelming, but I would encourage women and people giving birth even earlier; if you’re thinking about having kids, you listen to podcasts like , you do your research, you talk to your friends who have kids and you really start to think about all the factors related to the things that you would like to have and you start working on your feet of “OK, well let me look at some the resources available in my community to start educating myself on this when my time comes is very important,” she says.
“Or start it all as soon as you know you’re pregnant,” she adds. People think you may have to wait until week 12 or something like that. It’s like, no, if you happen to’re going to carry your baby throughout your pregnancy, you may have every right to advocate for yourself from the moment you concentrate on having a baby. We have to defend ourselves from the very starting.”
When she’s not educating and offering healing and community through her podcast, performing, caring for her children, or being a wife, Fiona finds ways to practice self-care. At the time of our conversation, she was just outside the gym, preparing for a workout. Other times he goes out to lunch with friends and doesn’t rush straight home. Most often, she just dresses and takes care of herself. “I create spaces and ways where I can focus on myself and my well-being,” she says.
“I think there are a lot of things we do as moms that make us feel guilty. And I struggled with this from the beginning. But one thing I really realize is that life, God willing, is long. How I show up for my kids when I’m there is also important. Equally important is that my children see me happy and pursuing my own happiness,” she says.
“You have to make time for yourself. “I don’t care if you’re at home and have to put your baby in front of you for 30 minutes so you can lie down on a pad, or if you can sit outside and take a deep breath,” she adds. . “I don’t care if you have to turn to your partner, hire help, or ask a friend, ‘Hey, can you watch my baby for an hour so I can go to a quick Pilates class?’ Sometimes we forget that we are worthy of asking for help with these things.”
Eight years after starting her journey into motherhood, Fiona now finds joy in helping other women deal with their very own struggles. When asked about the biggest lesson she’s learned as a mother and woman, she thinks back to her pregnancies and says the most vital thing is to give up.
“Surrendering to the idea that you can only control as much as you can. And then mercury retrogrades happen and you wonder why is this happening? Why would my child spill juice all over himself while we were running out of the house? You have to understand that there are some things that are beyond your control and these are the moments that really teach you to have grace and surrender to yourself.”
Fiona adds: “And that is what each pregnancies and births have taught me. When I got here back from labor and delivery with my son, my mantra was to quit because I had to quit on the whole lot. And so, once I became pregnant with my daughter, things took a distinct turn. Even though I did my due diligence, counseled, and went to doctors, considering I used to be prepared, life got here. But if I hadn’t learned the lesson of give up during my first visit, I do not think I’d have made it through the second stage of pregnancy and labor as easily. So give up has been my biggest lesson and helps me stay calm in the chaos.
Health and Wellness
The black community gathered to share the Wrabians. Then admin Trump stopped the study

Some Denver parents received SMS during the brutal flu season with movies sharing why people of their districts select flu for his or her children, an unusual study on trust and vaccines in a historically black community.
But nobody will know the way it went: Trump’s administration canceled the project before the data may very well be analyzed – and scientists should not the only ones nervous.
“For someone like me, from a black community whose income is lower, we often have no voice,” said Denver Mom Chantyl Busby, one in all the community advisers. “Taking this project from this project sends a terrible, terrible message. It’s almost as if telling us again that our opinions don’t matter.”
How to speak about vaccines with parents – or anyone – accepts a brand new urgency: no less than 216 American children have died this season, the worst pediatric roadside for 15 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unvaccinated children have been driving one in all the biggest explosions of the Odra in the country for a long time, and one other disease that stops vaccine-peaks is growing.
At the same time, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The vaccine questions have long been proven that they’re secure and effective. Trump administration movements make Covid-19 vaccines increasingly more uncertain this fall. And the administration reduced public health funds and medical examinations, including detention of vaccine fluctuations.
“We must understand what creates this challenge for vaccines and why,” said Michael Osterholm, who’s managed by the Center for Research and Policy of Infectious Diseases of the University of Minnesota and is afraid that the country is entering “Dark Dark”.
At Denver Health, Dr. Joshua Williams is a pediatrician who talks to vaccines with confused or apprehensive parents every single day. Some even ask in the event that they can be thrown out of his practice for refusing vaccination.
No, says Williams: Building Trust takes time.
“The most satisfying meetings related to the vaccines I have, are those in families that for a long time had serious fears, trusted me for years when I looked after broken arms and ear infections-I finally vaccinated their child,” he said.

But at the age of Tiktok Williams, he wondered if digital history – seeing and hearing, which led other families to select vaccinations – might help these decisions. He selected flu vaccines as a test case – almost half of us children got one this season. And black children belong to people most prone to serious patients due to flu.
Thanks to the subsidy from the National Institutes of Health, Williams has established cooperation with Non -Profit Center for African American Health in Denver to organize workshops that mix volunteers so as to discuss how flu and flu vaccine influenced their lives. Specialists helped those that wanted to go to an extra step, transforming them into 2-3-minute polished movies.
After two years of community involvement, five of those movies were a part of the pilot study of sending text messages to 200 families who receive care in two health clinics at Denver.
In one film, the mother described the first vaccination against flu and her young daughter, making her own health decisions after leaving the controlling relationships.
In one other grandmother, she explained how never never miss the visiting vaccine after her grandson spent his fourth birthday hospitalized with flu.

Seeing “people they look, they sound, who have the experiences they have gone through, they can go through:” Hey, I felt such as you felt, but it surely modified my life, “is powerful, said Busby, who determined the vaccination of the flu of her children after hearing Williams during many family controls.
Sudden cancellation of the study signifies that Williams cannot assess whether the text movies have influenced decisions regarding family vaccines data from over two years of labor and already found Nih dollars. He also threatens the careers of scientists. Considering the next steps, Williams asked community members to use some movies in his own practice, discussing vaccination.
Williams can also be personal, telling his families that his children are vaccinated and like his 95-year-old grandmother mentions terror polio during his own childhood before developing these vaccinations.
“We have lost a collective memory of what it is like to have these diseases in our community,” said Williams, sadly noticing the ongoing epidemic of the Oder. “I think that it will accept a common voice of the community, saying that it is important to remind people of governments that we must assign resources to prevent infection and testing vaccine fluctuations.”
(Tagstranslate) @AP
Health and Wellness
Does Korean skin care bleach your face? The chemist refutes the myth – essence

Iryna Veklich / Getty Images
There was a viral discourse around the skin whitening on the thicket. Consumers speak about all the things from promoting hydroquinone to face after whitening creams, changing the skin. Black women even document skin whitening and switch right into a natural skin tone.
Meanwhile, others blame the colours and the creation of Korean skin care – market banking on conditions comparable to “brightening” and “brightening” to sell serum and toners – for unintentionally lighter skin. As a result, consumers asked if the products were intended for deeper shades of the skin in any respect.
Below is a cosmetic chemist and founder Beautystat Ron Robinson explains what “brightening” and “brightening” mean in Korean skin care, the way it differs from skin whitening and whether or not they must be concerned about black women.
What is Korean skin care?
Korean skin care, one in all the hottest categories K-Beauty, is rooted Traditional Korean beauty practices. It comes from the Silla dynasty, an ideology that affected the internal self, was promoted by ingredients comparable to mung beans powder, for purification and plant extracts for liquids and oils. For example, apricot and peach oil was used to vanish pigmentation, while saffling oil wealthy in vitamin worked on hydration.
Unlike Western skin care, which promotes acute, skin -getting ingredients, Korean skin care products have a look at hydration as an answer to almost every problem of skin. In the Nineties and 2000, the growth of Korean entertainment cooked “Wave Hallyu” increased the popularity of Korean skin care procedures, and BB Cremy first appeared in the West around 2011. Now Korean skin care products are known for 10-stage routine and strange, but viral products, but viral products comparable to viral products comparable to viral products MUCYNA Snail Cosrx AND salmon sperm injections.
One beauty author in Dazed claimed Perm helped her cure her discoloration and an uneven skin tone that’s disproportionately affecting black women. “These polinucleotide injections have definitely exceeded my expectations,” said author Sheilla Mammon. “If the results are so effective now, I can only imagine how it would be if I maintained maintenance.”
Why are Korean skin care products popular?
Although treatments comparable to salmon sperm and microeedlas without needs could also be too expensive in the case of standard maintenance, especially during the upcoming recession, achieving Korean glass skin is paradoxically easily accessible. Although the hottest Korean skin care products in the USA is probably not the same in South Korea, you possibly can buy brands comparable to Medicube, Cosrx and Beauty of Joseon for lower than $ 20.
Due to their popularity amongst the black community, cosmetic brands comparable to Tirtir have develop into popular to develop on 40-Shade Foundation LineFor the first time gaining deeper shades, which many American brands didn’t do.
“It should also be noted that K-Beauty brands have very popular sunscreen (sun filters that are not available here in the US), which have light, fast, non-field formulas, of which many consumers love to use”, Cosmetic Chemist and founder with Beautystat Ron Robinson says Essence. “This can help their skin from sunbathing after exposing on UV and prevent darker dark spots.”
What do the terms “brightening” and “instant” really mean?
Despite the progress in the West, the colours in homogeneous South Korea are still an issue. Korean skin care is formulated by Korean skin, identical to western skin care is usually tested only on lighter purposes, hence the growth of brands focused on melanin, a-behavits comparable to S’ABLE laboratories. For this reason, terms comparable to “brightening” and “instant” are sometimes interchangeable with “whitening”, questioning whether these products are aimed toward removing deeper shades of skin.
“Lighting” and “brightening” refer primarily to products that even help skin shades and smooth the texture in order that the skin stays with a healthy splendor, “says Robinson, often sold by delicate cleaning agents and exfoliaters, moisturizing serum and moisturizing creams and the daily use of sunscreen.” However, some people interpret. [these terms] It implies that the products will break the skin of all their melanin, which shouldn’t be. ”
Does Korean skin care use whitening aspects?
“Korean skin care has popularized ingredients such as snail, snail, centella asiatica, Heartleaf, green tea, rice water, as well as niacinamide and polydeoxibonucleotide, DNA extracted from salmon and used on sperm faces salmon,” says Essence. While other ingredients, comparable to vitamin C and licorice extract, can also have a skin tone and the gearbox disappear: “the lack that I have seen use ingredients that would whiten the skin.”
Does the colours affect the way Korean skin care formulate?
When K-Beauty develops its market in the USA, Robinson claims that Korean formulas, which are sometimes stuffed with delicate, moisturizing ingredients used to brighten the skin, would not have a specific effect on colorism. “Fortunately, more and more brands are thinking about incorporating in the early stage of product development to make sure that their products serve a diverse audience,” he says. In the case of pigmentation, chemical exfoliation and repair of the skin barrier with Korean skin stone, it seems that it’s secure for darker skin tones.
Should black women avoid Korean skin care?
“Consumers with darker skin shades should look for products that are clinically tested for safety, as well as the results of consumer or clinical tests on darker shades of the skin,” says Robinson. However, he recommends that black women avoid available with no prescription containing ingredients comparable to mercury, which regularly occur in skin whitening products, since it is each illegal and potentially dangerous.
Health and Wellness
9 practices that reduce stress to maintain mental health –

April is a chosen month of stress awareness, but this doesn’t mean that we’ve abandoned stress that reduces. We cannot allow it to end without talking concerning the effects of your mental and physical well -being after we go to May and lean within the month of mental health. Black company he identified nine ways reduce stress Through the body and mind – without “cool pills”.
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