“I felt completely safe, completely seen, and completely cared for. That is everything.”
“My husband and I pulled up to Cooperman Barnabas thinking we had time. We didn’t. Reign had other plans. I was already in active labor, and before I could even process what was happening, the team mobilized. From the valet and security staff to the chaplain and medical crew, everyone made a collective, immediate decision: we were delivering right there, in the backseat of our car. Not because of protocol. Not because it was convenient. Because it was what was safest for me and my son.
As a Black woman, in a country where the maternal death rate for Black mothers is what it is, I cannot overstate what that decision meant to me. Here’s the moment I’ll never forget: I had blood on my hands from Reign’s head crowning. When the nurses reached into our car, I hesitated to take their hands. “My hands,” I thought. “They’re soiled.” They didn’t flinch. They didn’t wait. They grabbed my hands without hesitation, removed my older son’s car seat, laid my head in one nurse’s lap while another rubbed my shoulders — and they delivered my son safely, skillfully, and with so much grace. They even honored a delayed cord clamping and initiated skin-to-skin contact immediately. In a backseat. In a valet line.
Speaking of that valet line, I delivered with what felt like hundreds of faces watching from every window of the hospital’s entrance. And still, the team wrapped around me. They kept me covered, kept me dignified, and yes, they even made a reasonable attempt to spare our backseat. (I see you, team. Thank you for that, too.) My husband was with me through every moment of it, not as a bystander, but as a true member of the team. And when we were finally settled in our room, the chaplain came up to check on us and bless baby Reign.
Wild? Absolutely. But I felt completely safe, completely seen, and completely cared for. That is everything. Thank you, Cooperman Barnabas. You’re rockstars, Reign’s entrance into this world is proof.”
— Tameka & Ade
Learn more about Maternity Services at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center.