Meet Zui — Little Love Midwifery

I have a deep passion and fascination with everything pregnancy, birth, and postpartum related, and my favorite thing in the whole world is watching parents meet their babies for the first time.

I have boy/girl twins that are in middle school, and I’ve carried two surrogate pregnancies. My twins were born via scheduled c-section because my OB at the time “didn’t allow his twin moms to labor”. I was uninformed for my first pregnancy, and trusted what he was telling me, so I didn’t question this course of action. But after a difficult c-section with an even harder recovery, I vowed to educate myself and not accept that again.

For my first surrogacy I sought out an OB that would allow me to try for a VBAC. I found a doctor that, looking back, was only VBAC tolerant, not actually friendly, and he used fear-mongering often. When I went to the hospital in labor he told the baby’s parents that I was just barely dilating, that I would be in labor for hours, and that I was just going to end up with another c-section anyway. So with him and the parents pressuring me, I agreed to another c-section. Recovery was rough, but at least this one wasn’t as scary as my first.

After that baby was born, I pumped exclusively. First for her and then for a couple other families of babies born via surrogacy. I had nursed my twins until they were 3.5 years, but exclusive pumping kicked my butt and the learning curve was hard. I felt like everything I had learned about lactation and pumping was wrong. I was lucky to find a group that helped me, and I decided I wanted to return the favor and help others who were struggling, so I looked into becoming an IBCLC. The requirements were hefty, and I would have to go back to school, so I figured, “if I need to go back to school anyways, I may as well become an L&D nurse.”

I signed up for my pre-requisites, starting looking at nursing programs, and talking to friends who were nurses. Then, completely by chance, I came across a post from someone about to start nursing as her path to IBCLC, talking about how she had decided to do midwifery school instead. I thought “oh, that sounds interesting, let me look into that” and BAM! It was like my soul knew it was perfect.

I immediately withdrew from the nursing school and applied to midwifery school. I reached out to a bunch of local midwives, and one agreed to allow me to come shadow her and observe before I officially committed to starting school. With my first birth, I was hooked! I knew without a doubt that this was my calling. I could support and empower people in their journey to parenthood in the ways I wasn’t supported in my own pregnancies, and in the challenges after. In August of 2020, I officially started my midwifery journey.

I did my second surrogacy while going through school and apprenticeship. I searched for an OB that was truly supportive and encouraging for a VBA2C. Between a supportive provider, a rock-solid support team, and thorough education, I was successful in getting the birth I wanted, and it cemented for me how important those things are in birth.

I started working with Amy in August 2022, first as a birth assistant, then eventually as her student to finish out my clinical training. We immediately clicked and realized we worked really well together. As the end of my schooling and apprenticeship started drawing near, I realized I was hesitant to make plans of working anywhere else.

Amy offered to have me continue with her after I was officially a licensed midwife, I immediately said yes!

I have been honored to be an official part of the midwife team at Little Love Midwifery since June 2024 and I look forward to continuing to help serve, support, and empower our area families in getting the births they dream of.

My soul knew midwifery was my calling— Zui