Tina Knowles Reflects on the Difference Between Birthing Beyoncé and Solange — and Reveals Which One Was a ‘Breeze’ (Exclusive)

It’s been a while since Tina Knowles was in labor with daughters Beyoncé and Solange, but like any mother, she can recall exactly what each of those birthing experiences were like. 

In the wake of the success of her New York Times bestseller Matriarch, Knowles recently teamed up with journalist and TV personality Elaine Welteroth and her organization BirthFund. Now in its second year, BirthFund is continuing to raise awareness and funds to support expectant mothers in receiving lifesaving prenatal and birthing care in the midst of high maternal mortality rates in America. 

Opening up to PEOPLE, Knowles and Welteroth reflect on what this work means to them, and share personal stories of the woman’s work it took to welcome their children. 

“When I went through my motherhood journey, I was very blessed because my [then] husband [Mathew Knowles] was in corporate America and I had good insurance and I had a lot of people around me that were encouraging me to take care of myself and take the vitamins and to go to the doctor and that type of thing,” says Knowles. “But that was because I just happened to be in that percentage of women who had those resources.” 

When it came to giving birth, “The first time I was in labor for nine hours and I was like, ‘Oh my God, just do something’, ” she says of her experience welcoming her eldest Beyoncé on Sept. 4, 1981.

Fast forward five years and, “Birth two was a breeze,” she reveals of welcoming daughter Solange on June 24, 1986. “I got induced because I was like 10 days late, and the baby was so big, and they told me, ‘Well, we don’t have space for you on Monday.’”

She continues, “I said, ‘Well, I’m going to go the weekend but I’ll be back up here on Monday.’ They said, ‘We don’t have space,’ and I said, ‘Well you can deliver it in the bathroom, I don’t care, but you’re taking it.’ And they did.” 

After receiving Petocin to induce labor, Knowles says “in an hour and a half I had a baby.” Thinking back to delivering Beyoncé, “I would probably not have let them induce me the first time because you just want to be so perfect the first time around.” 

Welteroth, who had two successful home births with the help of doulas and her husband, Jonathan Singletary, by her side, recalls a wholly different experience. “I got lucky,” she says.

“I have big babies and if I knew I was going to have a nine pound baby the first time around, I don’t know if I would’ve had the guts to do an unmedicated home birth. I would have chickened out. But actually I had the most beautiful birth experience.”

The former Teen Vogue editor and Project Runway judge says something very simple helped her push through.

“Showers are an incredible epidural alternative,” she says of the simple pain management method her doulas coached her through. 

“I’m telling you I spent six hours in the shower,” she continues. “It took the intensity away and put me in a meditative state. People are going to be like ‘this woman’s lying’ but I’m not. I actually enjoyed it. I never lost control or started screaming.” 

That’s the type of experience and outcome Welteroth is hoping to give more women, especially in the wake of a rise in maternal mortality rates in America. It’s a crisis disproportionately affecting Black women, as depicted in Water Angel, award-winning writer and director Nijla Mu’min’s newly released short film inspired by the issue. 

Now in its second year, Birth Fund has raised more than $3 million and has supported around 100 expectant mothers’ access to holistic maternal care. 

“We’re the little engine that could,” says Welteroth. And with the help of celebrity partners, like Knowles, they’re getting the word out.

“She represents mothers and grandmothers everywhere,” says Welteroth of the Matriarch author, whom she met through original Birth Fund donor Kelly Rowland. “Ms. Tina was the first person that I thought of to bring into the fold for year two, and I was so honored and humbled she said yes.”

For Knowles, she’d recently learned of a tragic case of a new mother’s death before signing on. 

“When Kelly told me about the organization, I thought it was great, because ironically, maybe eight months before, one of the kids that I mentor in South Central lost his mother,” explains Knowles. “This young, beautiful woman just didn’t get any kind of prenatal care and had this baby, and died. I was just heartbroken. It hit really close to home for me.”

She adds, “I love the fact that Birth Fund is creating conversation and education. I do know in healthcare that there are grave differences in the way we are received and treated,” says Knowles regarding Black women. “As a kid growing up, I felt like we were guinea pigs and were treated badly.” 

In one harrowing instance, “I went through a terrible experience with losing my virginity to some doctors,” Knowles says of a childhood incident she writes about in Matriarch, where doctors forcibly broke her hymen during a visit to the emergency room.

“I don’t think they would have done that to someone that was not a person of color. It’s important that we take it upon ourselves to educate people and tell them that they deserve good healthcare.” 

Adds Welteroth, “We’re not waiting for laws and systems to change. We absolutely need that to happen, but we’re making change on our own in real time.”