My name is Katlyn Schmitz. I am a wife and mother of 7, located and serving families in Southern California.

       My heart was first stirred for birth work when I served under a mid-wife in Cambodia where I lived for 5 years to complete the adoption of my oldest son. We served in a village that lived on a dump site and reached young women who had no access to a doctor and so limited sex ed knowledge that they didn’t know how babies were conceived or how long a pregnancy was.

        My personal interest in the need for maternal support- both physically, emotionally and educationally began when I had my daughter Jireh in Cambodia at 20 years old in a hospital that spoke no English, nurses who pinched me when I cried and no knowledge that I was having an emergency c section until I realized that I was in an operating room and being prepped for surgery.

         My realization that America in and of itself wasn’t the answer to all birthing struggles was when I had my next 2 children in the U.S and still had limited knowledge of how and what my body was doing, pressure by the medical staff that made me unsure of whether autonomy was my right, medical interference’s that weren’t given to me in a way I could understand and process, a lack of emotional support by someone who believed in my heart and vision for my birth, and lack of postpartum support to normalize my experience and affirm my needs to both myself and my husband.

It was these experiences as well as my fierce love for my children and passion for my role as their mother that led me to pursue a career as a doula.

I have

• completed my training with DTI (Doula Training International) as a birth and postpartum doula.

•  CPR certified

• trained in Hypnobirthing