‘I don’t want to die trying to give life’; FOX 16 Investigates high maternal mortality rates in Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Making daily visits to Baptist Health's neonatal intensive care unit was not what Jayla Robinson imagined when she thought of being pregnant.

“It just felt like how does this happen to me?" Jayla asked.

But it was her reality.

“I deflated 'cause I just felt like 34 weeks is not what I prayed for,” Jayla said. “I did not want a pre-term baby. I did not want the NICU experience."

At 32 weeks pregnant, Jayla’s water broke.

“I ended up pushing up in bed trying to get on a pillow and I heard a pop,” she explained.

That led to a two-week stay in the hospital.

“I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, what does this mean? I'm 32 weeks. I've got 6 more weeks to go. I'm not ready for this,'” she said.

This was Jayla's second pregnancy. Her daughter's delivery three years earlier was also a life-or-death situation.

“It felt like an out-of-body experience. It was extremely surreal,” the mother of two said when talking about the delivery of her first child.

While in labor during her first pregnancy, she was rushed to an em...