Video: Hear Their Stories

Soft music plays and continues throughout video. DHHS and CDC logo at bottom of screen.

[Introductory text on-screen] Many people die each year in the U.S. from pregnancy-related complications.

[On-screen] Deaths can occur during and up to a year after pregnancy.

[On-screen] Most deaths could be prevented.

[Kylie] Being a mother is amazing, and we have this story together. We both survived. And not everyone who faces what I faced gets to say that.

[Eleorra] I had constant chest pains, and it felt like someone was stabbing at my chest. It felt like I couldn't breathe for about a good three to four minutes, and it was painful.

[Lindsay] I had heard of preeclampsia before, but I had never, you know, experienced it due to the fact that my first pregnancy was so normal. So, once I started having the symptoms, it was very, very scary.

[Eleorra] I knew with this pregnancy something didn't feel right.

[Kylie] If you know in your gut that something is wrong, something is wrong.

[Eleorra] I told my family members, and they were like it's just pregnancy related, you know, everyone goes through it. I told my spouse what was going on. He was like, you're exaggerating.

[Lindsay] And then when I would voice my concerns sometimes it would be, oh, you're pregnant, your feet are supposed to swell. Or, oh, you're fine. You're pregnant, like, just, it's fine, but I didn't feel fine.

[Valencia] I didn't have what I needed, the tools. I didn't know who to talk to or how to talk or how to speak up for myself. I was scared. I was scared a lot of the time because I just felt like no one heard me.

[Eleorra] No one should have to feel that way at all.

[Sanari] I felt like I don't think that this is normal. I don't think that I should be feeling like this. So, I went to a different hospital, and they found an 11 centimeter abscess on my uterus. They'd never seen this before, and they said that had I not come in, it could have been a, could have easily been a there's nothing we can do situation.

So, even if those around you aren't listening or they're trying to pacify what you're feeling and telling you this is just normal, trust your gut and know that it's not normal if you don't feel it's normal. And tests may come out, you know, to say that it's perfectly fine, but you'd rather err on the safe side and know that you're okay.

[Valencia] It's extremely important to hear women, because you don't know what they're feeling, but they do.

[Lindsay] My advice to a woman is you know yourself, you know your body. If it's nothing, then let the doctor tell you that it's nothing. Because you'd rather be
safe and it be nothing than have not spoken to anybody and it be something very serious and something that is preventable.

[Kylie] I just really want women and their support systems to advocate hard. It could mean your life. It could mean your child's life. There's no little questions when it comes to your healthcare.

[Valencia] I want to share my story to help other women speak up and be heard.

Hear her.

[On-screen] Learn more at cdc.gov/HearHer.

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