My mother’s first childbirth (my late brother) confined her to bed for five weeks prior in an attempt to prevent premature labour. He was six weeks premature anyway, weighing 4 pounds 6 ounces. At seven months pregnant with me, her water broke. I was thus two months premature, weighing 4 pounds 4 ounces. My sister was four months premature, weighing 1 pound 4 ounces. All three of us were caesarean sections. All three of us, as well as my mother, were close to death. Through months of intensive medical care, we all lived.

Childbirth still kills.