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Kim WinklemanI’ve had the privilege of being involved in births since 2000 as a birth doula and childbirth educator. I love seeing how women and couples can be transformed and empowered through their births and am honored to have a role in that process. I live in Berkeley with my husband and two boys and have attended hospital and homebirths in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, San Leandro, and Walnut Creek. I believe that birth is a normal, natural process that a woman’s body is magnificently designed to accomplish. A laboring mom needs to feel safe and supported and then needs to be given ample time and space to birth her baby at her own pace. Each labor is a unique journey. I believe that women and their partners have the right to fully informed consent—to understand what is happening and what their choices are at every step of the pregnancy, labor, and postpartum experience, and then to be fully supported in the choices made. I believe that birth is a sacred event. As a woman labors, she comes to a place of surrendering to the force and strength that is within her. Birth takes place not in the mind, but in the body, and a woman needs to let go of her need to control the process. In this very vulnerable and primal place, if she feels safe and supported and protected, she can discover a strength in the core of her being that she had not known before. This is a strength that carries into motherhood and can transform how she sees herself as a mother. As she gives birth to her baby, she herself is born as a mother. This is a sacred transition and I believe that my job is to protect the physical and emotional space, so that the woman can go to that place insider herself. I bear witness to and reflect back the sacred transition which has occurred, creating a family that did not exist before. With these beliefs, I am a practical down-to-earth guide through the birthing process, creating a space of calm, peace, understanding, and honor for the birthing family. |
