Episode 7 - Turning Pain into Purpose with Judith

Power of MoMMA’s Voices this week highlights certified Patient Family Partner and MoMMA’s Voices Community Specialist, Judith Francis. Judith shares her birth stories including, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes and how her experiences led her to her passion and mission to spread the message that preeclampsia is not over at delivery. She also talks about the MoMMA’s Voices Patient Family Partner training and some of her advocacy work and engagements. 

“I feel like there's something that I can do and that this is what my purpose is.”

“We’re constantly being told that preeclampsia is something that… goes away after birth, and I'm a strong advocate that it does not.”

“Through training, you're taught not to dismiss those pains, but just to let your voice overcome the pain.”

“You will get the courage one day to just get up and say, okay, this is a day that I'm gonna do it. And each time you speak, just remember that it's a possibility that you're saving lives, you're saving a mom's life, you're saving a baby life.”

About MoMMA's Voices
MoMMA’s (Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Advocates) Voices is the first-ever maternal health patient advocacy coalition established in 2018, to amplify the voices of people who have experienced childbirth complications or loss - especially those who have been historically marginalized - ensuring they are equipped and activated as partners with providers and researchers to improve maternal health outcomes.

This is a program of the Preeclampsia Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is supported by a grant through Merck for Mothers. For more information, visit mommasvoices.org and preeclampsia.org.

Episode Transcript

Bekah (00:00):
Hello and welcome to today's episode from Power of
Mama's Voices.
My name is Bekah Bischoff andI'm the education and
development coordinator.
Today we will highlight acertified patient family partner
and talk about their experiencein their pregnancy as well as
how they came to MoMMA's Voices.

(00:20):
We hope this will give insightto our listeners about different
conditions while also creating asense of community.
I'm excited to introduce ourguest today, Judith Francis.
Judith is a survivor ofpreeclampsia and postpartum
depression and gestationaldiabetes, which turned into type
two diabetes.

(00:41):
She is a certified patientfamily partner and has now
joined the team as the CommunitySpecialist for MoMMA's Voices.
Thank you so much for being heretoday, Judith.
It's been such a joy getting toknow you, and I would love for
you to share a little bit aboutyour birth story with us today.

Judith (01:00):
Thank you, Bekah, for inviting me to share my story on
here.
So I have two children.
One is 12 and she's a girl.
And then I have a little boy.
He is two.
And with both of them I hadpreeclampsia and gestational
diabetes.
After having my daughter it gotbetter.
And then having my son, thepregnancy was, the severity was

(01:25):
worse.
And then I ended up still havingdiabetes.
With the preeclampsia, it endedup also doing some damage, so it
just didn't go away like it didwith my first pregnancy.
It caused me to have a enlargedheart and then still having to
deal with high blood pressure,hypertension.

(01:46):
But you know, I'm here and I'mhappy to be here.
And when I look at my children,you know, I see having my kids,
I see that it was worth it.
Not every mom can say the sameand families can say the same
cuz there's a lot of moms, thatlost babies.
And thankfully that, you know,they were able to make it out of

(02:10):
this alive.
And so am I.
So I'm grateful.
Thank you

Bekah (02:14):
so much for sharing that, Judith.
I know that no matter how longago it was or how many times
that you've shared part of yourexperience, it still can be hard
to uncover that and to say itagain.
So I just wanna acknowledge thatand to just thank you for
briefly sharing your story withus.
I would also love for you toshare what made you want to get

(02:39):
involved with sharing your storyand also how you found MoMMA's
Voices.

Judith (02:46):
How I found out about MV and becoming a PFP is, after my
first pregnancy, I washospitalized while I was
pregnant, and there was, a groupthat I got in connection with
from a hospital flyer.

(03:07):
And through that group I kind oflike learned about, you know,
there's advocacy and there ishelp, but I didn't know how
much.
Or if that was something thatwas for me until after I had our
son by him being in the NICU andme going through more than I did

(03:29):
with my first pregnancy.
It just told me, it was justsomething that I felt that I
just, there's something that Ican do.
And I just felt like after redoing more and more research, I
found out that there's a lot ofbabies and moms that don't make
it.
So I reached out to the the ladyfrom Better Bedrest was the name

(03:51):
of that group from my firstpregnancy.
And I told her that there wassomething that I want.
I feel like there's somethingthat I can do and that this is
what my purpose is.
And she told me to reach out toPreeclampsia Foundation and
through Preeclampsia Foundationthey told me about MoMMA's
Voices and I went to thetraining on how to be an

(04:12):
advocate, basically.
How to relay what I'm trying torelay so people can hear what
I'm saying and understand whatI'm saying and how to put
emotion into my word.
And instead of, you know,feeling those emotion at the
point where I'm trying to saywhat I'm trying to say.
Preeclampsia, set the foundationand MoMMA's Voices give me the

(04:34):
platform to be a patientadvocacy.

Bekah (04:38):
That's amazing.
And I love how it all startedjust from a flyer that you read.
It's just, it's amazing howsomething that might just seem
so small is what connected youto find us here at MoMMA's
Voices.
I just have loved getting toknow you over the course of the
last year or so and to workalongside you.
For those of you who don't know,Judith was one of our early

(05:02):
PFPs, that's what we call themour patient family partners and
got to really work with her onsharing her story and
identifying she had a story andbeing able to pair her with
different opportunities forengagement with quality
improvement work since she'sbecome certified.
And so, Judith, I would love foryou to share about some of those

(05:24):
opportunities that you have had.

Judith (05:28):
So gracefully.
Cuz each opportunity that I haveis just, it's a step closer to
my goal.
Which is if there was a mountainthat you stand on, that could
spread a word to the wholeentire world, I just feel like
everything that I do, eachinvolvement is like I'm getting

(05:50):
closer and closer to get on topof that mountain.
So I was involved in maternalhealth community implementation
project, the MHCIP virtualworkshop.
I did two summit through TCHMB.

(06:10):
And then I did two cohort and Ihave also been speaking on
platforms.
And then I have another one thatis scheduled.
A part of doing this is, we'reconstantly being told that
preeclampsia is something thatit is an illness that goes away

(06:32):
after birth.
And I'm a strong advocate thatit does not, and I think that a
lot of healthcare is stillsaying that it does, when it, it
doesn't.
So we still need to, even thoughwe have the baby and sometimes
our babying up in the NICU, westill have to be aware and be an
advocate for ourselves.

(06:52):
That preeclampsia still, it is apossibility that it's still
lingered.
Like my first pregnancy wentaway.
The second one, it did not, andI wasn't told that it didn't go
away.
I was feeling like, okay, it'slike the first pregnancy, but I
just wanted to really spread theawareness that it, it doesn't.

(07:13):
So if you had it while you'repregnant, just still look out
for those signs and you need toget yourself back to the
hospital.

Bekah (07:21):
Yeah.
So you've really been able to beinvolved in a lot of different
opportunities and really get toshare your passion, which is
that preeclampsia doesn't juststop after you deliver the baby.
We know that a lot of ourlisteners today could also agree
with you.
We have stories that we hear allthe time.
Mothers saying that they had togo back to the hospital after

(07:43):
they got home because they endedup with postpartum preeclampsia.
So I love that you'rehighlighting that and that
you're making sure thateverybody that you talk to
understands the importance ofthat.
You have just done.
So many amazing things sincebeing certified.
It's been so wonderful to watchyou get to the top of that
mountain.
Like you talked about.

(08:03):
If somebody's listening to thisand they are not involved in our
training or at all with MoMMA'sVoices, what advice would you
give to them?

Judith (08:13):
If you want to be an advocate, but you are afraid of
being judged, you feel like thepain is gonna be all so real,
just one day all it takes isjust one day to just get up and
say to yourself, this is gonnabe the day.
Because even though for eachtime I speak about it, It does

(08:36):
hurt.
You do feel the pain over again,but through training, you're
taught not to dismiss thosepains, but just to let your
voice overcome the pain thatyou're feeling.
That way when people rememberyou and remember what you went
through, they won't justremember the hurtful part of it.

(08:58):
They will get the lesson thatyou're trying to bring out.
They will get what you're tryingto say.
So if you want to be an advocateand if you're scared for any
reason, if this is somethingthat you really wanna do, you
will get the courage one day tojust get up and say, okay, this
is a day that I'm gonna do it.
And each time you speak, justremember that it's a possibility

(09:19):
that you're saving lives, you'resaving a mom's life, you're
saving a baby life.
You're saving a pain from ahusband, because we're not the
only one that goes through this.
Husbands go through it as well.
If the baby have siblings, yourolder kids also face it.
So just remember that eachperson that say something, we're

(09:42):
formulating a community andwe're making difference.
We're making a difference.
We're, spreading words andthere's no such thing as too
much information, I don'tbelieve so the more information
we get is the better it is forus to better ourself and also
the community.
That's

Bekah (10:00):
such great advice.
We just never know the impactthat our story might have on
saving somebody else's life.
So thank you so much for givingthat advice.
Judith, I just wanna thank youso much for our time here today.
I know that this is such aninspiring episode for our
listeners, and thank you to allof those of you that have tuned
in to this episode.