The other day I wrote about a Youtube mom who recently gave birth to her son and then recognized that her blood pressure was too high after she was released from the hospital. She immediately visited her OBGYN and then ultimately was hospitalized due to the severity of her condition, preeclampsia. You can follow her journey at R & L Life. She, her husband, and sister have updated viewers about how she is doing. Watching her videos shows how difficult it is for her doctors to get her blood pressure down after several days. It is all to show that warning signs during and after pregnancy are important to listen to and act upon as she did.

Knowing how prevalent maternal health warning signs are, the CDC with funding from Merck for Mothers recently launched a new campaign called Hear Her. Hear Her seeks to raise awareness about pregnancy and post-pregnancy warning signs for pregnant and postpartum women as well as speak to health care providers about the importance of hearing their patients and believing women when they say they are in pain or believe something is not right.

The Hear Her campaign provides a comprehensive, although not exhaustive, list of symptoms that women may experience and need to speak with their health care provider about. The CDC also spoke with mothers who shared their stories about their experiences. They have even provided a script on how to talk to health care providers so they are more apt to hear their patients. There is also a checklist of actionable items that health care providers can do to help do their part to reduce maternal mortality rates.

Visit the Hear Her campaign at www.cdc.gov/hearher/index.html.