What happens when capability is judged before it’s understood? Jaye sits down for part 2 of her conversation with with Jennifer Evans Rice—a mom of three, registered nurse, and advocate who is losing her vision—to talk about parenting beyond sight, building real safety systems, and refusing pity that masks control. The conversation starts with a hard question about trust and childcare and opens into a masterclass on practical strategies, emotional resilience, and community that actually helps.

Jennifer breaks down the everyday tactics that make blind parenting work: orienting within a home, sound-forward games to track kids, bells and hair beads as location cues, and smart choices about spaces—gated parks, backyards, and jungle gyms she’s willing to climb right alongside her children. She’s candid about what changed when she lost vision as an adult, from driving and work to identity and agency, and how acceptance pushed her to innovate rather than outsource. If help is offered from solidarity, she embraces it; if it’s fueled by pity, she declines. That boundary is a lesson for every caregiver and ally.

We also get honest about how to ask sensitive questions without causing harm, how to build “sister mommy friend” networks across difference, and why overhelping can quietly undermine growth. Jennifer’s three-day rule for grief—feel it, then move on—anchors a powerful pledge to her daughters: their lives won’t be smaller because their mom is blind. Expect humor, warmth, and straight talk about body autonomy, safety, advocacy, and the Black mom magic that turns constraints into craft.

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What does it look like to parent boldly when sight fades but purpose sharpens? We sit down with Jennifer, a blind mom of three and former RN, to trace the real steps—messy, methodical, and joyful—that turn fear into a family rhythm. From leaving a decade-long nursing career to mastering vision rehab, she shares how cooking by touch, organizing a kid-safe home, and using assistive technology can rebuild independence without diluting warmth or play.

We dig into the moment pregnancy and postpartum hormones accelerated her vision loss and how she chose to keep growing her family anyway. That choice wasn’t denial—it was informed by examples of thriving blind parents and a toolkit of resources: orientation and mobility training, screen readers and voice control, OCR and navigation apps, and the collective wisdom of groups like the Blind Parent Alliance, the National Federation of the Blind, and local Commissions for the Blind. We talk transportation, park safety, labeling systems, and the tiny routines that make big challenges manageable.

There’s a deeper cultural layer here too. Jennifer speaks honestly about faith, secrecy, and the pressure to stay quiet in Black communities. Her stance is both/and: hold hope and build a plan. Partners may accept at different speeds; kids learn empathy by living access every day. Through humor and candor—“I can’t drive, but I can do almost everything else”—she flips the script on disability, replacing pity with skills and agency. If you or someone you love is navigating blindness, you’ll leave with practical starting points and a renewed sense that motherhood can thrive outside the margins others draw.

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What if the most powerful tool for safer births starts long before a positive test? We take a clear-eyed look at preventable maternal morbidity and map the path from awareness to action—spanning preconception choices, pregnancy care, and the often overlooked postpartum window. Through honest storytelling and practical guidance, we connect family language, partner health, and historical shifts in birth practices to the outcomes parents live with today.

We break down how hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease intersect with fertility and pregnancy, why sperm quality and partner habits matter more than most people realize, and how terms like the pressure and the sugars can hide the urgency of real diagnoses. We also surface under-discussed risks—disability during pregnancy, autoimmune flares, seizures, and the rise in postpartum preeclampsia—while giving listeners a framework for better questions at every appointment. Advocacy sits at the center: using lived experience to demand clarity, counter bias, and secure accountability from systems that too often ignore marginalized families.

You’ll hear a deeply personal account of being labeled high risk without context, and how learning the language of care transformed fear into informed choice. We talk about rebuilding trust in the birthing process, honoring midwifery roots, and widening the circle by educating boys, men, and all genders whose decisions shape outcomes. The goal isn’t to simply survive birth—it’s to create a legacy of prevention, where knowledge, community, and accountability travel from one generation to the next.

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What if the most honest love story is the one where joy and trauma sit side by side? In part 2 of our conversation with Jasmine Winters—mom, IVF survivor, and founder of Peaceful Minds Haven—we unpack the raw, complicated space between a beautiful baby and a birth that almost broke her. The conversation gets real about postpartum depression, relationship strain, and the way systemic bias can turn a routine appointment into a life-threatening ordeal.

We trace Jasmine’s journey from morbidity to meaning, examining how medical racism undermines trust even when a mother walks in as a healthcare professional herself. You’ll hear how harmful assumptions, dismissal, and credential-checking show up during prenatal care, and how those moments ripple into decisions about future pregnancies. Together we offer practical advocacy moves: bring a partner or doula, ask the “odd” question, document symptoms, push for second opinions, and keep personal copies of your records. We also talk about preparing for the fourth trimester with a postpartum plan that prioritizes rest, food, and support.

Beyond the clinic, we challenge the survival script so many of us inherited. We’re redefining what “normal” can look like for Black families: joy without apology, therapy without stigma, softness without suspicion. We honor repair over perfection—apologizing to our kids, learning from their fresh eyes, and releasing the fear of succeeding as parents. And we seal the conversation with pledges: advocate, unlearn, relearn, and share your story so another mother meets respect and safety when it matters most.

Tap play for a grounded, story-driven guide to healing after birth trauma and building communities where thriving is the standard. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more mothers find us. Your voice helps this movement grow.

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A mom says “I don’t feel well,” and the room keeps moving. Hours later, she’s in emergency surgery after losing more than two and a half liters of blood. That gap—between what Black women say and what systems hear—is where severe maternal morbidity takes root, and it’s where our conversation with Jasmine Winters refuses to look away.

We open with clarity on morbidity versus mortality and why the distinction matters for Black maternal health. Jasmine walks us through her IVF pregnancy, a placenta previa diagnosis that was later minimized, and the moment her instincts were dismissed as “normal.” She shares the physical spiral, the emotional whiplash of being sedated against her wishes, and the shock of being told to “go be a great mom” hours after a near-death event. We talk openly about postpartum depression, the silence that follows survival, and how founding Peaceful Minds Haven helped her translate trauma into advocacy focused on maternal wellness and mental health.

This story is also about partners and protection beyond the front door. We spotlight fathers in the delivery room and at home, exploring how to advocate when something feels wrong, how to recognize postpartum changes, and how small acts—like presence, snacks, and steady words—can make a life-saving difference. Jasmine introduces the Healing Playbook, a practical way to bring spouses into maternal health conversations with real skills and shared language. Along the way we lean into storytelling as a form of community care, encourage documentation and debriefs, and push for respectful, responsive care that listens the first time.

If this conversation resonates, help us reach more families. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review with one insight you’re taking into your next appointment. Your voice helps build a safer, more human-centered path for every birth.

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Motherhood should feel like a place to thrive, not a test of endurance. We kick off Season One with our theme that names what so many Black moms live every day—momming in the margins—tracing its roots with Black Ladies in Public Health, and connecting personal stories to data, policy, and power. We call for maternal vitality, not just survival, and close with a pledge that turns awareness into action.

• defining momming in the margins and why it matters
• partnership origin with Black Ladies in Public Health
• data gaps during COVID and real-world harm
• pairing qualitative and quantitative data for truth
• maternal vitality alongside mortality and morbidity
• Momnibus, Black Maternal Health Caucus, and advocacy training
• nursing lens on social needs and clinical care
• power, voice, and a community pledge to act

If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find us. Your voice amplifies the movement—what will your pledge be?

Thanks so much to Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central and Southern New Jersey for sponsoring this episode.

Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central, and Southern New Jersey provides high-quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care services at 14 health centers across the state. Whether you need birth control, STI testing and treatment, a wellness exam, cancer screenings, pregnancy testing and options education, abortion care, and more, you can turn to Planned Parenthood for the care you need and deserve.

Learn more at www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-northern-central-southern-new-jersey

Send us a message if you loved the episode, and share your thoughts.

Support the show

Make sure to subscribe on all platforms where you listen to your favorite podcasts, and make sure to like and share!

Become a paid subscriber for exclusive bonus content or become a donating listening supporter.

Go to www.melinatedmoms.com/podcast for individual and corporate sponsorship information.