Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Schultz.
Hi Emily, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When my mother was having children, she knew she didn’t want to go back to the hospital to give birth. She was working at my grandmother’s health food store in Beavercreek, OH. My grandmother had a small book section there that included a few books about homebirth. My parents read those books and decided to stay home to have home births. They couldn’t find a midwife (because they were all underground). So my dad studied up on how to handle every birth emergency the books discussed. He sterilized scissors and shoelaces. He had a plan for everything. He made notes and collected supplies.
My mother had flawless home births peacefully and safely in their bedroom with my father holding watch.
I grew up loving my birth story. It felt special. It also always felt so bizarre that community midwives couldn’t be found.
Fast forward to me as a mother (the story is so much longer than this). But, as I got more and more involved in the homebirth community, I realized that our community desperately needed skilled and wise providers. So, I decided to become a midwife myself. I started traveling immediately to train under experienced midwives that I trusted and were respected by many. I even hosted training events with highly skilled midwives with excellent reputations to train me and the other providers in my community. The standard needed to be raised. Women matter. Skills and firm ethics matter. For midwives to be taken seriously and have a place at the table, we need to know what the hell we are doing. – and we need to do it well.
After I was trained properly and working as a DEM (Direct Entry Midwife), I have since become a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife), and am currently licensed in 2 states. At present, I am ready to sit for the exam to be an internationally board-certified midwife. By the end of this year, I will likely have attended over 900 births.
I am hoping daily to demystify homebirth by being transparent with my practice. I am hoping that each day we become more and more integrated and understood – so that more women can receive the quality care that they are desiring.
Random information about me that people often find interesting is that I have had hospital and home births. I have had 11 children including 4 singletons, 2 sets of twins, and 1 set of triplets. I was my own midwife at times. They were all born vaginally. I carried the twins and triplets as a gestational surrogate. The 4 singletons (all boys) are our bio children.
My oldest son is an RA in College at Ohio University in the Engineering Program. The Surro triplets just turned 4.
I have been married for 20 years this year. We did foster care for 8 years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The biggest struggle was being a mother and a wife while attending school full-time, traveling to receive high quality training, while also attending prenatals, births, and postpartum visits full-time. Fortunately, I have an incredibly supportive husband and children. I also have an epic community (Shout out! You know who you are!) who also cheered me on along the way.
The biggest current struggle that I face as a community midwife is being the sole provider. Sometimes we get clients with health issues that arise where we really need a physician for more support. Many homebirth families are also very resistant to receive allopathic care when it becomes needed. We also get clients with significant mental health disorders that don’t showcase until late in the pregnancy. Sometimes they need far more help than we can offer alone, yet these are the clients that rely on us the most… and would feel the most traumatized by us declining to continue as their sole provider. The biggest difficulty with this is that often we have no one to send them to either. Because community midwives are not easily integrated into the health care system in Ohio, we cant simply transfer their care or give a necessary referral when it’s clear they need more support for their success.
My goal is to build trusting relationships with local physicians to help bridge this gap.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I own the practice “Ohio Midwife.” My website is Homebirth.Love.
I am a certified and licensed professional midwife operating in Yellow Springs, OH. I attend home births within a 90-minute radius.
I have always loved the idea of carrying on the wisdom from all of the women before me. Being a midwife, a guardian of both mother and baby, the most ancient profession, is an incredible honor. I pride myself in honoring women, believing in their bodies, and supporting them safely through their most vulnerable and sacred moments.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Homebirth is definitely normalizing rapidly. More women are educating themselves and refusing unnecessary interventions. They are also taking ownership over their health, making wise decisions to lower risks in their pregnancies. I believe that social media is helping normalize home birth as well. Many of my clients are healthcare workers themselves… doctors, dentists, chiropractors, nurses, etc.
I have also launched a campaign to normalize homebirth. Women all over are wearing shirts that say “I gave birth – at home – on purpose.”
Contact Info:
- Email: midwife@homebirth.love
- Website: https://homebirth.love/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohiomidwife/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OhioMidwife
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/G9L8hu22bkb
- Other: https://www.bonfire.com/store/ohio-midwife/
Image Credits
Whitney Denson
Bridgette Davis
Timothy Clopp
Emily Schultz
