Meet Bekah Duchateau | Home Birth Midwife

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bekah Duchateau and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bekah, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
For most of my childhood I lived in Guangzhou, China as the middle child in a missionary family with five children. I always had an interest in pregnant women and babies for as long as I can remember, but my passion began to flourish when my family started fostering special needs babies. When I was fourteen, my mom and I went to visit a local orphanage and were sent home with a six-day-old baby boy who needed immediate intestine surgery followed by heart surgery. We had little Joseph for fourteen months, then began to take in more babies who needed surgeries that the orphanage could not pay for. These babies were my life. When I wasn’t at school, I was feeding them, rocking them, or taking them for walks. As a senior in high school, I found a clinic in Davao City, Philippines where I could train to become a midwife. While I wasn’t completely sure at the time what exactly a midwife even was, something in me knew I needed to give this a try. September 6, 2014 I saw my first birth and immediately I was all in. There was nothing else in the world I could see myself doing other than playing this part in the story of a human’s life.

What should our readers know about your business?
Struggles I faced getting started:
I run a home birth practice based in Eagle Rock, a beautiful neighborhood tucked between Glendale and Pasadena. It was a slow start as I had no idea how to set up a business. I spent countless hours on the phone, doing research, and filling out paperwork. I battled imposter syndrome and faced financial stress when diving into my practice, making it my full focus. Three months after I launched DuChateau Midwifery, I got pregnant with my daughter Audrey. While that put a big pause on my practice, it also added a new, priceless dimension to my role as a midwife after having experienced an out-of-hospital birth firsthand.

What sets me apart:
Los Angeles is not short on midwives – there are many options. On my journey to becoming a home birth midwife I worked in a variety of settings, from a high volume clinic in the Philippines, to a fertility center, birth centers, and with other home birth midwives. My experience working in different cultures and settings greatly enhances the care I’m able to provide for my clients. That said, at the end of the day when people are looking for a midwife, a large part of the decision comes down to an intuitive sense of trust or a connection they feel. The midwifery model of care is all about developing a relationship, providing information, and empowering clients to have the most fulfilling version pregnancy, birth, and postpartum that they can have. Birth is an incredibly emotional and personal experience, and feeling safe in the hands of your provider is vital to having an empowered birth.

Most excited about:
I first became interested in this field because my family fostered orphaned babies in China. As a child, these babies showed up in my life and I loved them like they were my siblings, even if they were only with us for a short time. While working at birth centers fulfilled the part of my journey that started when I trained in the Philippines, practicing as a home birth midwife gives me a deeper sense of satisfaction — a sort of fulfillment that I envisioned for myself as a caregiver before I really knew what it meant to be a midwife. It fills my heart to the brim to be able to form relationships with my clients and to be there for them on what may be the most memorable day of their lives.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Whenever someone asks how I like living in Eagle Rock I inevitably start talking about food. Having a few friends from El Salvador, I’ve fallen in love with pupusas over the past couple of years and conveniently live about seven minutes away from the best pupusa restaurant in town – Las Casuelas! Taco Social on Colorado Blvd has been a family favorite for us. They serve the most unique fusion cuisine tacos, and they have three dining areas to match whatever vibe you’re going for – a bar area in the front, a kids’ play area in the back room, and a cute and quiet patio out back! Muddy Paw Coffee on Eagle Rock Blvd is fantastic. They serve unique, tasty drinks and have a fenced in area to let your doggies off leash. We walk there often, and my daughter and our dog have so much fun running around while my husband and I sit and drink our coffee surrounded by lush greenery. A big must for wine-lovers is Honest Bottle Shop. Jiaqi is so knowledgeable about the wines they sell and very clearly loves the shop. When we stop in, she always greets us with a smile and often offers us a taste of whatever she has open at the time! They keep our wine racks stocked at all times. My favorite place to go on a nature walk nearby is the Arboretum in Pasadena – there is so much land and giant trees and peacocks roaming freely, you feel transported.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I decided to start my home birth practice, I was given the contact information of Nikki Christian. Nikki and I spoke on the phone and had an immediate connection, like we had known each other for years. We met up and she gave me an almost complete set of home birth equipment. Bag, oxygen tank, instruments, medication, tons of supplies, even crocheted newborn hats! When I offered payment, Nikki told me that she was gifting these things to me as a way of paying it forward. Her kindness and generosity played a huge part in getting my practice up off the ground. I’m still thankful and think of her at every birth I attend.

Website: https://www.duchateaumidwifery.com

Instagram: @duchateaumidwifery

Image Credits
Becca Rillo
Stacey Blackwood
Joshua Tendero