Ayana Dean: From death’s door to holistic wellness and a bouncing bundle of joy - Part 1

THERE IS often a hope within each individual, that the events that colour their lives be without trauma and that the light at the end of the tunnel, through which they must travel, be quickly reached.

But for persons like Ayana Dean, who almost lost her life trying to bring a gift she was blessed with into the world, learning to see the rose before its thorns allowed her to develop resilience, even she thought was impossible.

“It was my little sister who first thought I might be pregnant. For some reason, she was really clinging to me her entire visit. I remember we were sitting in the sofa, she turned to me and said, ‘yuh pregnant’. I decided right then, I’d buy a test. I knew I was late by no more than a few days… .”

She had no immediate plans for children, but November 11, 2020 confirmed new upcoming responsibilities that she had no choice but to prepare for.

“My first thought was, I need to tell my husband. I told Joel a few hours later, after I’d had a moment to process annoyance and sadness and okayness, I wasn’t excited. I called him into our room and showed him the test, he asked ‘Yuh pregnant’, I confirmed and he said ‘Wow! I love you’… .”

With several food aversions, little to no cravings, nausea seemingly her best friend, sudden acne breakouts and bloatedness, Dean realised her fairy tale-like thoughts of pregnancy was certainly not going to be her reality.

“I had pictured myself as a hot girl mama, exercising and running errands, glowing and going. Instead, my second trimester found me in Joel’s undershirts covered in mango stains. I tried a bit of pregnancy yoga and a few exercises, but it was increasingly painful, I honestly don’t know how mamas go all through pregnancy killing it in the gym. As reference, I saw my own mom able to climb trees pregnant with my little sister. I could hardly climb the stairs to our apartment. Even so, I was a happy camper.”

Dean said it was the unparalleled from support her husband that lifted her spirits and fuelled her drive to get through each day.

“I said to my husband more times than I can remember, pregnancy is not easy. I have a deep sense of appreciation for teenage and single moms, who carry life with little to no support. How does anyone do it without the kind of support my husband was able to give me? Joel’s presence was my comfort, my security, my entire reason for not curling up into an awkward pregnant mango-stained ball of whose body is this anyway?”

But as she progressed, Dean was unknowingly being prepared for a season of modification to the life she had come to know, with the help of her support system.

“I had the best OBGYN consultant in Jamaica, easily the best in the world, Dr Kiri-An Bridgewater. I knew at every stage that baby and I were in good health. I am forever grateful to my friend and confidant in Kemesha Swaby, who insisted that I see her OB who is now my forever OB. We knew we were well taken care of and that was half the preparation we needed. Joel and I spent hours in conversation about our parenting philosophies. Even before we were pregnant we found ourselves revisiting our childhood and re-parenting ourselves. We knew very early what attitudes and behaviours we would not subscribe to,” Dean told Family and Religion.

She took all the necessary steps for the health and well-being of herself and her unborn son, from doing much reading as expecting moms might, to utilising the positive birth company’s app, equipped with affirmations and breathing exercises for moms all throughout the pregnancy journey and refusing to entertain stories of horrid labour experiences, as is the popular practice.

Dean’s focus was to use her natural ability to help her baby enter the world safely and peacefully, but nothing could have truly prepared her for the series of events that included a dangerously elevated blood pressure, vision loss, her baby being in significant distress at just 32 weeks, failing kidneys, significant blood loss, hospital transfers, blood transfusions and an emergency C-section.

Her baby entered this world with an Apgar score, which measures the physical condition – respiratory effort, heart rate and response to stimulation, of zero.

In that moment, her only hope was for her baby to thrive and that she would survive to further facilitate that process.

But how did she go from almost dying to living life because it is golden?

Join us next week to find out how this new mom found triumph in her trials and was able to step into what she believes are the best moments of her life.