Imani Taylor

Could you share when you first learned that you were expecting a child? Where were you who did you tell, and what was ready for?

I found out when I was very early in, about like four or five weeks, I believe. And it was really just a feeling that I had to I just felt a little strange in my body. But when I first found out, I think I was at work when I took my first test because I was trying to be very nonchalant about it so that I would freak myself out. So I was like, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, like, take this test, and then we'll see what happens. I would go back to work and it came back positive. And then I was like, okay, I'm going to take another one. So I think a couple of days later I took another one, and that one was positive. And at that point, I don't know, it was very surreal. It didn't feel like it was a real thing. I was mostly excited because you're like, okay, I'm pregnant. But then you have to think about everything that comes after that, and that's a lot of real life stuff that happens. So I think I was very nervous after that.

What are some family traditions around welcoming a baby into the world?

I don't know of any traditions that we hold seriously, honestly, but I feel like that's my opportunity to start some.

What support have you received and what support have you not received from your family and your community and from healthcare providers?

The support that I have received first and foremost from my mother -- me becoming pregnant around the same time that she was when she had me, and meeting her first child, I think that... I don't know, something about that was really magical. I think she was beyond ready to help me and be open to help. So the support that I get from her is the strongest, I would say. Because I really do feel that I can ask her anything and there's no shame in it. As well as her having her three kids and being through each experience of having hospital birth and being a black woman in the hospital on multiple different occasions, I feel like through her experiences, I learned myself that I'm more so going to be comfortable with the home birth. I'm going to want to maybe keep my baby to myself for the first couple of weeks before having visitors and just like little things like that that I think her experience influenced.

So do you plan on breastfeeding?

My mom breastfed me as well as my younger brother, my younger sister. But after some complications, my sister was put on formula, so God willing, I will breastfeed. Hopefully nothing gets in the way of that and there's no complications because I do understand the importance of having that connection with your baby.

From your experience why is breastfeeding important to talk about?

I feel like everything surrounding birth is beyond important to us in the black community because we are the first midwives in every sense when it comes to a baby. I feel like we have the most knowledge about it, whether that's intuitive knowledge, scientific knowledge, or whatever it is. But breastfeeding alone, there's no connection like that. There's no imitation, there's nothing that's similar at all.

What wishes or intentions do you have for your child?

I feel like after a safe delivery, like coming earth side, just being comfortable in his own skin, knowing himself.

And do you have any advice for other black families?

Be present I feel like we often get caught up in what was or what could have been and what can be, rather than really living and being present with ourselves and hearing out whoever it is we need to hear out in the moment that we are in. I feel like that would leave a lot of room and space for love.