The Mother Lode

San Francisco Magazine Leslie Casimir Smeeta Mahanti African-American babies make up nearly 1 in 4 infant deaths. So how is the Bay is addressing the crisis plaguing black moms-to-be? Her water had broken more than 24 hours earlier, but Simone Taylor, a 39-year-old with gestational diabetes, was still in labor. Her plans had been clear from the start: She wanted a natural water birth at her Oakland home with doula Linda Jones by her side. But Taylor’s medical condition threw a wrench in the pl...