The growing home birth practice known as Birth with Faith is more than just a catchy play on words. For local midwife Faith Beltz, it has become a way of life.

 

The 33-year old Missouri native graduated as ‘Student of the Year’ from the Association of Texas Midwives’ Training Program in 2004, and passed the NARM examination for national accreditation through MANA as a Certified Professional Midwife.

Following apprenticeships with both Alisa Voss CPM and Melanie VanAken CPM, Beltz has launched her own practice devoted to empowering pregnant women and their families and quietly enriching the experience of giving birth.


Q: Why do you believe in midwifery?
A: For me, it’s the holistic care that (clients) receive. Pregnancy and birth are more than just physiological events that happen. They’re also emotional, mental and spiritual experiences. Another thing is that midwifery is based on informed consent. My job is to find all the information that I can and then offer that to my clients so that they can make their own choices. I also love the midwives’ proven record of less intervention.
 
Q: What do you hope that your clients will take away from their birth experience?
A: I want them to feel empowered. I want them to think, ‘We made the decisions that were best for us. And we did this the way that was the best for us.’ I see myself as an assistant to parents. I don’t want any of the credit in the end. Every time, birth is a total miracle, and my hand is just there to assist in the process. I believe there’s a great spiritual force in it too.
 
Q: During your career as a midwife, what have you learned from your clients?
A: Every single birth, I’m amazed by the strength of the woman and the resilience of the baby. I’m always totally blown away by those two things.
 
Q: What was your first experience with birth? Did it change you?
A: I became a mother at 16. I had my first baby in Georgia in a hospital. My OB never recommended that I read a book or go to a class. The only ideas that I had about birth were the ones that I picked up socially or from TV. I never really thought about what labor was going to be like. During that birth I had a long labor, and what I remember most were the discouraging remarks from the nurses. I left that experience with very low confidence in being a mother and that also affected breastfeeding. When I became pregnant with my daughter six years later I knew that I didn’t want to have the same experience. I was thinking about doing it by myself, unassisted. That was when someone told me to call a midwife.
 
Q: Is that how you discovered this profession?
A: Yes. From the moment I met my midwife, I knew that that was what I wanted to do. After becoming a mom so young, I always had a feeling that I was going to work with moms, but from the moment I met her, it clicked.
 
Q: What was your second experience with birth like?
A: I had my daughter in a solar cabin with no running water where I lived for seven years. I was very strong. A big part of being healthy was keeping that stress level down. At that time I was very at peace, happy and connected to my baby. When my midwife got to my house, I was pushing.
 
Q: Tell me about your practice.
A: Most of my clients are in the Austin area, although I’m trying to reach out more to the Hill Country. It is slowly growing. This is my third year in a solo practice. I also still do doula work occasionally, and I teach childbirth classes in my office.
 

Q: On average, how many clients do you see annually?
A: I usually have one or two births a month, although I help out other midwives, so I attend between four and six births a month.
 
Q: Do you work alone or with an assistant?
A: I attend all births with another fully trained midwife.
 
Q: What do you love about your job?
A: I love that moment when I’m leaving a birth and the family is tucked together in that bonding time that happens after birth. It’s usually in that moment when the family is feeling super empowered.
 
Q: What is most challenging about this profession?
A: Probably the lifestyle commitment and the sacrifices that you make with your own family. You have very little time off. There’s also the fence that we have to walk with true midwifery and the medical model of care and the feeling that you have to protect this right in order for the choice to be available.
 
Q: Do you have any goals with your practice?
A: I’m trying to acquire the funding to open a birthing center in South Austin. In the long term, like I’d like to see a birthing center in Fredericksburg too. Part of why I’d like to do it in Austin first is to gain more experience in a supportive community.
 
Q: What do you see for the future of midwifery?
A: What I see happening in general in our country with birth is not real promising. The cesarean rate continues to grow. However, I think that many women and consumers are going to turn more to midwifery because of our low c-section rates and low rates of intervention. I think it’s important that we don’t take that for granted. Right now we have a very good thing in Texas, but we have to be very vigilant and proactive. I feel like midwifery will always exist, but a big passion of mine is to increase awareness. Many women have no idea about midwives. That’s going to take some work.
 
 
Beltz has two children, Benjamin, 16, and Grace, 10. After moving to Texas nearly 11 years ago, she currently resides in Johnson City. For more information about Faith Beltz, visit www.birthwithfaith.com or visit the site of her South Austin birth center, Centre Vida.