TUESDAY, MARCH 1 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE E5
A friend connected her to Ma-
roon Calabash, a Black doula col-
laborative started in 2016 that
provides prenatal, birth and post-
partum support for Black families
in and around the Milwaukee
area.
After a virtual consultation,
Riddick was paired with a post-
partum doula who spent three to
eight hours with her each day for
about six months. Riddick didn’t
have to pay anything for the sup-
port. She and her doula cooked,
journaled, danced, did yoga and
exercised together. Her doula
would hold the baby so she could
nap or have some quiet time
alone. Once, she detangled Rid-
dick’s hair for her because she was
too exhausted to do it herself.
“It was definitely that moment
when I shed a few tears ... [be-
cause] this person [was] loving on
me and not judging me, ” Riddick
said. “It was intimate, it felt al-
most like a sisterhood.”
While 1 in 7 women experience
postpartum mood disorders after
the birth of their children, re-
searchers have found that Black
and Latina women may be partic-
ularly vulnerable to developing
postpartum mood and anxiety
disorders.
A 2005 study from the Icahn
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
in New York City found that 44
percent of Black women and near-
ly 47 percent of Hispanic women
reported postpartum depressive
symptoms compared to 31 percent
of White women. The study was
based on a telephone survey of 655
White, African American and His-
panic mothers who had given
birth two to six weeks earlier.
Systemic racism, lack of access
to mental health providers and
financial challenges are factors
that may make the postpartum
experiences of Black women all
the more challenging, said Ly-
anne Jordan, the co-founder and
executive director of Maroon Cal-
abash.
The challenges facing Black
parents have been compounded
by the pandemic and the uncer-
tainty of raising a Black baby in a
world where “we’re marching in
the millions, but we’re still getting
gunned down,” she said.
Before the summer of 2020,
only about a third of Maroon Cala-
bash’s clients exhibited postpar-
tum mood disorders. Since the
pandemic began and protests of
police brutality intensified, Jor-
dan said that number increased to
nearly 100 percent. Since last
summer, that percentage has fall-
en but is still higher than pre-pan-
demic numbers.
DOULAS FROM E1
“We saw a lot of parents with
postpartum anxiety, a lot of par-
ents scoring very high on postpar-
tum depression screens, in num-
bers we had not seen in our dou-
las’ 20 years of experience,” Jor-
dan said.
When Symphony Zawadi, a
longtime friend of Jordan, gave
birth to her second child in 2016,
Maroon Calabash was just an
idea. Zawadi recalls even drawing
out a few sketches for the organi-
zation’s first logo. During her
third pregnancy in 2020, Zawadi
sought their services and Jordan
actually became her postpartum
doula for two months.
During the time of her preg-
nancy, Zawadi was also transi-
tioning jobs amid the pandemic,
leaving her without health insur-
ance and fearful about cost. How-
ever, Maroon Calabash’s services
were free of charge, thanks to
grants from the Milwaukee Birth-ing Access Fund in collaboration
with Prism Birth Services, an in-
clusive community midwifery or-
ganization.
“Reaching out to Maroon Cala-
bash was everything that I needed
... I tell Lyanne all the time that
she was God sent,” says Zawadi,
who also contracted covid-19 after
giving birth.
In a system that is often not
getting Black mothers necessary
assistance, nonprofits like Ma-
roon Calabash are filling that
void. The House of Representa-
tives Black Maternal Health Cau-
cus has introduced legislation to
provide training for about 30,000
doulas and expand postpartum
Medicaid coverage from 60 days
to 12 months, as part of its Momni-
bus Act. Portions of this legisla-
tion passed as part of the Build
Back Better Act in the House in
late November, but have yet to
pass in the Senate.“This country has neglected
and harmed birthing people, be-
cause our systems are not suffi-
cient to care for what people
need,” Jordan said.
In addition to providing sup-
port in the home, the Maroon
Calabash doulas have done their
best to plug their clients in with
the right resources. They work
with the D & S Healing Center, a
mental health group owned and
run by people of color that con-
sults with birth workers and offers
emergency care for clients in
need. The doulas developed a live
resource document of vetted local
Black mental health providers
that took Medicaid and were ac-
cepting new patients.
“I honestly feel that Maroon
Calabash saved my life, in more
ways than one,” Riddick said.
Many of the collective’s clients
feel the same way and doula pro-
grams like it have been praised forhelping address disparities. But
Jordan cautions that doulas are
not a solution to the nation’s post-
partum mental health crisis.
“We’re aware of the impact that
Black doulas/birth workers have
on Black birthing outcomes, but
like we always say, ‘Black doulas
are not the saviors of Black mater-
nal health.’ Systems of white su-
premacy must be dismantled for
real and sustainable solutions,”
Jordan said.Adeiyewunmi (Ade) Osinubi is a fourth-
year medical student at the Warren
Alpert Medical School of Bown
University, photographer and a
documentary film producer. She
recently produced Black Motherhood
through the Lens, a documentary
series about four Black women’s
experiences in navigating postpartum
mood and anxiety disorders, infertility
and childbirth.Black doula collaborative helps fill void for mothers in need
PHOTOS BY JOSHUA LOTT/THE WASHINGTON POSTBY SOOMI LEEFewer than one-fifth of Ameri-
cans say they actually experi-
enced a midlife crisis. And yet
there are still some common mis-
understandings people have
about midlife.
I study midlife, and especially
how people in this stage of life
experience sleep and stress. In my
research, I have also found that
midlife brings both opportunities
and challenges.
Are we there yet?
Exactly when midlife begins is
hard to pin down. Compared with
other developmental periods –
such as childhood, adolescence
and older adulthood – midlife
lasts longer and includes more
diverse social roles. There are
fewer published studies on
midlife than studies on childhood
and older adulthood. So research-
ers still know little about the tim-
ing and unique experiences of this
stage of life.
Midlife may begin at different
times for different people.
In the 1990s, people generally
agreed that midlife begins at age- This has shifted toward an
older age. Now Americans might
say midlife begins at age 44 and
ends by 60. An increased life ex-
pectancy and medical advances
may have contributed to this shift.
Today’s adults are living longer
and healthier lives than previous
generations. Also, the demands of
establishing a career while build-
ing a family have increased. That’s
why some researchers have start-
ed referring to the period occur-
ring roughly from age 30 to 45 as
“established adulthood,” distin-
guishing it from midlife as it was
previously understood.
Chronological age is only one
way to define the beginning of
midlife. Psychologist Margie
Lachman emphasizes looking at
certain life transitions and social
roles that commonly occur in
midlife as a way of coming up
with a definition.
So many roles, so little time
Midlife is a time when individ-
uals occupy the greatest number
of social roles. The average U.S.
adult in midlife typically has four
key roles — paid worker or home-
maker; spouse or partner; parent;
and adult child. Having multiple
roles may provide more opportu-
nities to build resources such as
income, self-esteem, relation-
ships and success. But people
must also divide their time and
energy across these multiple
roles.
Risk factors for later-life dis-
eases also show up in midlife.
Slower metabolism, weight gain
and hormonal changes are com-
mon. Also, women experience
menopause, which involves hot
flashes and emotional ups and
downs. Men in midlife are more
likely than younger men and
women to develop sleep apnea.
All these factors are closely
related to sleep, so it’s no surprise
to find poor sleep among midlife
adults. Sleeping less than sixhours a night, getting poor-quali-
ty sleep and other sleep issues are
prevalent.Sleep, stress, happiness
Age-related physical changes
are not the only threat to sleep,
however. The struggle of midlife
adults to juggle multiple and of-
ten incompatible roles also causes
stress. Stress has negative conse-
quences on sleep, such as chronic
insomnia. What’s worse: Stress
can result from poor sleep. So
sleeping poorly or being stressed
out can create a vicious cycle and
cascading health problems.
Both sleep and stress affect
emotions, so you might expect
low levels of happiness in midlife.
Research backs this up. Fewer
people are happy during midlife
than older and younger groups.
Yet it is important to note that
midlife also involves growth, in-
cluding peaks in work productivi-
ty, better financial decision-mak-
ing and greater wisdom.
Although researchers havebeen able to identify overall pat-
terns of degraded sleep, increased
stress and lower happiness in
midlife, experiences vary from
person to person. For some peo-
ple, there may be more growth
than decline, or a balance of both.
Indeed, some research shows that
personal growth is related to well-
being during midlife.
For now, it is already clear that
midlife is a pivotal time that de-
termines the trajectory of aging.
That’s why self-care during
midlife is especially important,
despite the busy schedules
brought on by a greater number of
roles. It’s hard to overemphasize
the value of getting enough sleep
and managing stress. Doing these
things could help individuals turn
a “midlife crisis” into “midlife
potential.”Soomi Lee is an assistant professor of
Aging Studies at the University of
South Florida. This article was
originally published on
theconversatoin.com.Midlife isn’t a crisis, researcher finds, but things do feel different after 35
ISTOCKMidlife also involvesgrowth, including peaksin work productivity,better financialdecision-making andgreater wisdom.ABOVE: Josh Zawadi plays
with his daughter, Harlem, as
his other children Kingston,
left, Kahlani, center, and Marli
draw pictures during family art
time.
BELOW LEFT: Marli Zawadi,
one of Symphony’s children,
dances on her bed while
listening to music in her room.
Symphony suffered from
postpartum depression
following her most recent
pregnancy in 2020.
BELOW RIGHT: Symphony
Zawadi helps her children draw
pictures. She says the
assistance she received from
Maroon Calabash “was
everything that I needed.”