This story is a part of an ongoing series reporting on the Black maternal health crisis in Harris County and different ways that providers are working to combat it.
Deshaun Desrosiers is one of the few Black midwives in the Houston area addressing maternal health care disparities among Black women by providing a safe, holistic alternative to standard hospital prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. Meridith Kohut and Houston Landing reporter Monique Welch followed Promise Ealy, one of Desrosiers’ patients, through her delivery. Ealy allowed them to be with her during this vulnerable and powerful moment, as she continued to take control over her health, and her baby’s, with the guidance of Desrosiers.
Promise Ealy, 28, tied her hair securely in her satin scarf and bonnet, changed into a neon orange bathing suit top and stepped into the bathtub, while in labor on December 6, 2024 at her home in Cypress, TX. As a sound machine played ambient noises in the background, Ealy closed her eyes, trying to relax with deep breaths and sporadic sighs as the contractions intensified. After a traumatic experience giving birth to her first son in a hospital, Ealy opted to give birth to her second and third babies with a midwife at her home. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)Promise Ealy endures another painful contraction, in her bathtub on December 6, 2024, at her home in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)Promise Ealy endures another painful contraction, and gives birth to her son Ian, in her bathtub on December 6, 2024, at her home in Cypress, Texas. “It’s almost over. You got it,” her husband, Glen Guilbeau said, encouraging her as he tirelessly poured water over her belly to relax her muscles and reduce some of the pain. Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, handed baby Ian to his father, Glen Guilbeau, for skin to skin contact while Ms. Desrosiers cared for his mother, Promise Ealy, after she gave birth. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
“Black women want to have Black doulas and midwives because they don’t have to code-switch,” Desrosiers said. “They can be open and honest and tell us what’s going on, we can help them with these things. They feel safe. They feel connected.”
Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers places baby Ian onto his mother, Promise Ealy’s chest immediately after he was born, at 11:02 p.m. with his amniotic sac still intact. Ian is Promise and Glen’s third son, and weighed 5 pounds and 2 ounces. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
As she labored for roughly another hour and a half, Desrosiers continued to encourage her, reminding her to keep breathing, listen to her body and to center her hips. As Ealy closed her eyes and breathed through contractions, Desrosiers simultaneously monitored Ealy’s progress and the baby’s heart rate, and updated Ealy’s charts on her laptop. At times when the contractions grew intense, Ealy clenched tightly to Desrosiers’ hand.
“There you go. That’s perfect. Perfect breathing,” Desrosiers said calmly to Ealy as she groaned a low-pitched “ahhh.”
At 11:02 p.m. after one hour and 43 minutes of active labor, Ealy gave birth to Ian Guilbeau, the couple’s third son, weighing 5 pounds and 2 ounces.
Promise Ealy, holds her son Ian, shortly after he was born, on December 6, 2024 at the family’s home in Cypress, Texas. Ealy expressed that it was comforting to her to get to recover in her own bed after giving birth, and to not have people coming in constantly waking her up, like she experienced after giving birth in a hospital with her first son. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers guides Promise Ealy during labor and delivery of her third son, Ian, on December 6, 2024 at the couple’s home in Cypress, Texas. Desrosiers has Glen Guilbeau hold his son Ian for the first time, giving him skin to skin contact. Ms. Desrosiers keeps newborns attached to their placenta for the first hour after they are born to help them thrive. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
Ealy’s experience is a stark contrast to her first pregnancy where she had an epidural at a hospital, where she said she felt disregarded and patronized because doctors and nurses weren’t listening to her.
“Every single thing I brought up, it was: ‘You’re pregnant. That’s normal.’” Ealy said.
But she never got any guidance. After delivering her first son, the disregard continued. She was administered magnesium sulfate to treat preeclampsia that she had developed from her high blood pressure, she said.
As she floated in and out of consciousness, doctors continued to ignore her, she said.
“He just kept talking until he was done talking and then he left. Then once he left they’re like ‘oh sorry it was on.’”
“I could’ve died off that magnesium,” Ealy said.
After that experience, she vowed never to deliver in a hospital again and take her chances with a homebirth.
Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers takes baby Ian’s measurements shortly after he was born, on December 6, 2024, at home in Cypress, Texas. Then, Glen Guilbeau fills out a keepsake birth certificate with baby Ian’s footprints. At the bottom of the certificate, on the line for “place” of the birth, “Home” with a heart drawn next to the word was written. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
Black patients are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their white counterparts, due to a variety of factors from variation in quality health care, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable, according to the CDC.
Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, makes a house call to check on baby Ian Guilbeau, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
“They bring their kids, they bring their man, they bring grandma, grandpa, all that so they can get all the questions [answered],” she said. “I’m getting to know everybody. And I do that for the whole pregnancy. So I basically become a central part of their family. I know all their business.”
Promise Ealy holds her newborn son Ian, during her second postpartum appointment with her midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers on December 12, 2024 in Cypress, Texas. “How are you feeling physically, emotionally, mentally?” Desrosiers asked Ealy. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)Ian Guilbeau photographed when he was just a few days old, on December 12, 2024 at his family’s home in Cypress, Texas. Ian was born at home with a midwife caring for his mother. Despite being home to the largest medical center in the world, Harris County has also faced one of the highest rates of Black maternal and infant mortality in Texas and the U.S., consistently exceeding state or national averages since 2016, according to a 2024 maternal and infant health report by Harris County Public Health. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
“She gave me the pros and cons and she left it up to me,” she said. “I could definitely tell the difference with DeShaun. She actually cared about me. She cared about the health of my baby and that really made me like yeah ‘I gotta stay here. I’m not going to anyone else.’”
Licensed midwife, DeShaun Desrosiers, helps Promise Ealy and her husband, Glen Guilbeau, during a house call to check on them and their newborn baby Ian, on December 12, 2024, in Cypress, Texas. (Meridith Kohut for Houston Landing)
Photography by Meridith Kohut.
Editing by Lexi Parra and Antranik Tavitian.
Text excerpts based on reporting and writing by Monique Welch.
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