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The Mississippi Health Department is worried about the state's babies. It declared a public health emergency last month after the infant mortality rate shot up. What's going on? NPR's Katia Riddle talked with some Mississippi moms.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: Obstetricians and prenatal care are two things that are hard to come by here in Mississippi. Over half the counties in the state are considered maternity health care deserts where mothers can't get comprehensive prenatal health care. Dr. Lakeisha Richardson is one of the rare OBs working in the Mississippi Delta, and she is busy.
LAKEISHA RICHARDSON: No contractions?
CARNISHA KIMBER HOLMES: No.
RICHARDSON: No bleeding?
KIMBER HOLMES: No.
RIDDLE: Richardson is working her way through a list of over 50 patients that she and one other doctor will see on this day. This is hard work, but Richardson grew up here. She felt called.
RICHARDSON: This is where God wanted me to be, and it's been a blessing. And it's just - it's such a great need here.
RIDDLE: Lack of insurance is a big issue for many of her patients. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has resisted efforts to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. His office did not respond to requests for comment on this story. When Richardson's patients don't have access to health care, it's not unusual for her to see them for the first time when they are close to giving birth.
RICHARDSON: I'd say out of 10 deliveries, maybe one or two per 10 will be no prenatal care or late prenatal care. They'll just show up for delivery, 38, 39 weeks.
RIDDLE: This lack of prenatal care, especially for Black women, is a contributing factor to the high infant mortality rates. In 2024, more than 15 African American babies died out of every 1,000 born. That's significantly higher than the national average, which many experts say is already a problem. Even if women do get to Dr. Richardson in time, there are often other complications.
RICHARDSON: All right. I'm going to let you lay back, and we're going to listen to the baby's heartbeat.
(SOUNDBITE OF FETAL HEARTBEAT)
RIDDLE: The patient she's seeing today is Carnisha Kimber Holmes (ph). She's lying on the exam table.
KIMBER HOLMES: This is my third pregnancy. I have two boys, and this one here's a girl. With this one here, I have preeclampsia. My baby has a fetal growth restriction. She's only weighing 3 pounds and 12 ounces.
RIDDLE: Kimber Holmes has to drive two hours at least once a week to see a specialist, in addition to her appointments with Richardson.
KIMBER HOLMES: I have hypertension, so they've been keeping a close watch on me. It's, like, two to three visits out of a week that I have to come.
RIDDLE: That's like a full-time job.
KIMBER HOLMES: Yes, along with two other kids. I have a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old.
RIDDLE: Until recently, Kimber Holmes was working as an early Head Start teacher, but all these appointments take up so much time that she had to quit her job. All the driving requires gas. That's expensive. Her family has had to cut back to only necessities. Kimber Holmes' husband works at a warehouse. He's had to work extra so that he can be with her for the birth.
KIMBER HOLMES: He's going to come the first day, but then the second day, he'll have to go to work.
RIDDLE: This whole situation is precarious.
KIMBER HOLMES: It's very scary to me.
RIDDLE: A week and a half after this interview, Kimber Holmes safely delivered her baby. Doctors say geography is often a complicating factor to pregnancy in the Mississippi Delta. Randy Henderson is a neonatologist. He works at one of the only facilities in the state that is equipped to deliver high-risk pregnancies and treat premature babies.
RANDY HENDERSON: I mean, a lot of the families in here have the same story. They live in another part down here in the south. They have other kids at home. They're traveling an hour to visit.
RIDDLE: Aside from low birth weight, there are other causes of the infant mortality crisis, like congenital malformations and unsafe sleep for infants. But sometimes there just is no clear explanation for why a baby dies. Brittany Lampkin lost a baby a few years ago.
BRITTANY LAMPKIN: She was a active baby, 5 pounds, 3 ounces. Came out kicking, screaming, strong and then was just gone.
RIDDLE: Lampkin had a few issues in her pregnancy. She thought they were minimal. Now, almost four years later, she still can't stop asking herself what went wrong. She pulls up a copy of her daughter's autopsy report on her phone and reads from it.
LAMPKIN: (Reading) Based on the clinical history, the cause of death is unknown, and the manner of death is natural.
RIDDLE: How do you feel reading that?
LAMPKIN: Still confused. I went through the stage of blaming myself, you know? How was it natural if I did everything, you know, that I was supposed to have done? What happened?
RIDDLE: Lampkin says the state and the country should do all they can to improve maternity care for women in Mississippi, especially Black women, for whom the numbers are rising.
LAMPKIN: How are we regressing in medicine? Like, we're - what is happening, you know? It's really scary.
RIDDLE: Scary for her and for all the other moms in Mississippi who are trying to have a healthy baby.
Katia Riddle, NPR News, the Mississippi Delta. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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