Jerome Mafeni

Dear Christ embassy-Pregnant women, Whether your baby’s kicks are still butterfly flutters or bold declarations below your ribs, I write to you not from a pulpit, but from a place of science and experience. And I ask gently but firmly that you do not listen to the video making its righteous rounds, the one where Pastor Chris is encouraging people to take in more salt... that we all have been deceived...No offence intended, but plenty of truth delivered. Increasing the SALT intake may be detrimental to your Pregnancy especially if you are above 20 weeks! Because you see, I have seen too much. I have seen a mother convulse, her eyes rolling back like her dreams might not return with them. I have seen blood pressures soar so high they silence a heartbeat before it ever gets a name. I have whispered to the unconscious, asking them to stay, just stay a little longer. And all the while, I have prayednot against the drugs, but for them to work in time. If your blood pressure is rising like a stubborn tide, listen to the advice of your doctor. Not to the man with the mic who’s never held a placenta in his palm, but to the woman...or man...whose hands are often bloodied not by sin, but by surgery. You will not go to hell for disobeying your “daddy in the Lord” this once. Hell, if it exists, is watching a preventable death and calling it faith. Hypertension in pregnancy is not an attack from the enemy...it is biology, unbalanced and unrelenting. Pre-eclampsia is not a punishment for unbelief...it is pathology, and it will not care if you tithed last Sunday. And eclampsia? It does not negotiate with prayer. So please, reduce your salt. Be mindful of sugar. Keep your clinic appointments. Take your meds. And if anyone tells you otherwise, smile with grace and walk away with wisdom. Because the truth is, your body is sacred. And so is the child you carry. And no one...not even the pastor...has the right to gamble with that. Let the pulpit preach salvation. Let the hospital fight for survival. And let women especially pregnant women stand in the space where both can coexist. Lovingly, A doctor who has seen too much, And still believes you deserve to live.