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Something Was Wrong

S23 Ep6: Dignified Maternal Care with Doula Melissa Espey-Mueller

Something Was Wrong

Broken Cycle Media

True Crime, Documentary, Education, Society & Culture

4.124.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

*Content warning: death, infant loss, pregnancy and birth trauma, medical trauma, medical neglect, racism


*Free + Confidential Resources + Safety Tips: somethingwaswrong.com/resources   


ABC’s new show, Familicide: https://www.familicide.net/


Melissa Espey-Mueller's North Dallas Doula Associates:

Website: https://www.northdallasdoulas.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northdallasdoulas/ 


Moms Advocating For Moms

S23 survivors Markeda, Kristen and Amanda have created a nonprofit, Moms Advocating for Moms, in hopes to create a future where maternal well-being is prioritized, disparities are addressed, and every mother has the resources and support she needs to thrive: https://www.momsadvocatingformoms.org/take-action

https://linktr.ee/momsadvocatingformoms 


Please sign the survivors petitions below to improve midwifery education and regulation in Texas:

https://www.change.org/p/improve-midwifery-education-and-regulation-in-texas?recruiter=1336781649&recruited_by_id=74bf3b50-fd98-11ee-9e3f-a55a14340b5a&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_medium=copylink 


Malik's Law 

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB4553 

M.A.M.A. has helped file a Texas bill called Malik's Law, which is intended to implement requirements for midwives in Texas to report birth outcomes in hopes of improving transparency and data collection in the midwifery field in partnership with Senator Claudia Ordaz. 


*Sources:

Best Doula

https://bestdoulatraining.com/ 


CAPPA

https://cappa.net/training-certification/ 


DONA International

https://www.dona.org/ 


Madriella

https://madriella.org/ 


ProDoula

https://www.prodoula.com/ 


American College of Nurse Midwives

https://midwife.org/ 


American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)

https://www.acog.org/ 


A Brief History of Midwifery in America

https://www.ohsu.edu/womens-health/brief-history-midwifery-america 


CDC, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2023

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2023/maternal-mortality-rates-2023.htm 


CDC, Working Together to Reduce Black Maternal Mortality

https://www.cdc.gov/womens-health/features/maternal-mortality.html 


Geospatial distribution of relative cesarean section rates within the USA

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9284873/ 


In Mexico, Midwives Offer Care Rooted In Ancestral Tradition

https://www.pih.org/article/mexico-midwives-offer-care-rooted-ancestral-tradition 


Insights into the U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis: An International Comparison

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jun/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison?utm_source=chatgpt.com 


March of Dimes

https://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/about-us 


Maternal Mortality and Maternity Care in the United States Compared to 10 Other Developed Countries

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/nov/maternal-mortality-maternity-care-us-compared-10-countries 


National Midwifery Institute

https://www.nationalmidwiferyinstitute.com/midwifery 


North American Registry of Midwives (NARM)

https://narm.org/ 


Racism During Pregnancy and Birthing: Experiences from Asian and Pacific Islander, Black, Latina, and Middle Eastern Women

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9713108/ 


Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR)

https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/ 


US Has Highest Infant, Maternal Mortality Rates Despite the Most Health Care Spending

https://www.ajmc.com/view/us-has-highest-infant-maternal-mortality-rates-despite-the-most-health-care-spending 


What is a freebirth?

https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/what-is-freebirth 

*SWW S23 Theme Song & Artwork: 

Thank you so much to Emily Wolfe for covering Glad Rag’s original song, U Think U for us this season!

Hear more from Emily Wolfe:

On Spotify

On Apple Music


https://www.emilywolfemusic.com/

instagram.com/emilywolfemusic


Glad Rags: https://www.gladragsmusic.com/ 

The S23 cover art is by the Amazing Sara Stewart

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Something Was Wrong is intended for mature audiences.

0:03.8

This season contains discussions of medical negligence, birth trauma, and infant loss,

0:10.2

which may be upsetting for some listeners.

0:13.1

For a full content warning, sources, and resources,

0:17.0

please visit the episode notes.

0:19.9

Opinions shared by the guests of the show are their own, and do not necessarily represent

0:24.6

the views of myself, broken cycle media, and wondering.

0:29.1

The podcast in any linked materials should not be misconstrued as a substitution for legal

0:34.8

or medical advice.

0:37.1

Origins' birth and wellness owners and midwives,

0:40.1

Caitlin Wages, and Gina Thompson

0:42.1

have not responded to our requests for comment.

0:46.6

This season is dedicated with love to Malik.

1:01.0

You're making on me, you don't know me well at all. You don't know anybody until you talk to someone. Hey friends. Firstly, I want to say thank you so much for your support of this season and of the survivors.

1:34.4

We are so thankful to hear that many of you have been feeling validated by the survivors sharing their experiences.

1:41.3

Last week, we had the honor of traveling to the IHeart Podcast Awards at South by Southwest, where something was wrong was nominated for Best Crime Podcast for the second year in a row.

1:52.6

To celebrate the day before, we held a small private meetup party to test these kinds of events for the future, and it went incredible.

2:00.4

It was so wild to meet friends in

2:02.3

person and experience live discourse, feedback, and community. Thank you to everyone who attended.

2:09.6

We hope to host similar events in the future to raise funds for local nonprofits that serve

2:14.5

survivors in the cities we visit. If you're interested in attending an event

2:19.4

like this in your city, please let us know in a new or updated review by adding a PS at the

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