14 | Led by Intuition - Kimberly Fayton

Two things we learned from Kimberly, there is power in your intuition and normalizing birth for older siblings!

To prepare for the birth of her children Kimberly and her husband took the Bradley Method childbirth education classes along with the Hypnobabies series. Kimberly explains these as being very beneficial. They provided her with the tools to help alleviate the fear of birth and allowed her to find peace with the experience. 

As you listen to her stories, you find this to be very real. Her first birth was 17.5 hours, with the rest of her children coming into the world much faster, especially her fourth child with her labor only being 2 hours. Many families hope for speedy births, but what we don't realize at times, is that these types of experiences require families to birth on their own, unintentionally and for them to trust the process. 

We hear all the time that birthing bodies know what to do, it's the mind we have to convince! Kimberly's experience is an excellent example of letting the education around birth elevate your mind to the level it needs be. 

Another way of tackling that is for us to change what society has taught us about birth, and that begins with educating our children, normalizing birth for them. To include her older children in adding a family member, Kimberly would accompany them in watching birthing videos and explain to them what was happening. 

During the birth of the new baby, her children went about their regular routines but were always welcomed to join her as she labored throughout the house. We love that after the birth of her daughter, Kimberly sons, snuggled next to her on the living room couch and just observed her postpartum care and their new sister. Taking it all in, for them, this is birth, at home surrounded in love! 

Kimberly has currently begun training as a doula, if you are interested in connecting with her find her at Mama Bean Birth Works and Black Mamas Parenting Naturally.