Meet Valerie Meharg of Lineage Midwifery LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Valerie Meharg.

Hi Valerie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I became interested in birth work through my own experiences with pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. I had a tough time with my first birth and postpartum period, and we hired a doula to support us with the second. After meeting with her a few times, my husband commented that he thought I would be good at what she did, and I had to admit I had already been considering it! Once my son was a little over a year old, my journey began with a birth doula training at the Center for the Childbearing Year in Ann Arbor. It was the most empowering thing. I walked out of there certain I was on the right path and ready to support northern Michigan families. Doulas were unheard of in northeast Michigan in 2013, but it caught on quickly and I was very busy for a few years until my next path became clear.
My doula clients mostly gave birth in the hospital. There were no midwives in my local area at the time, but there was one who would travel occasionally. After the first home birth I attended with this midwife as the provider, I knew what the next step was. I reached out to the midwife to see if she needed an apprentice or assistant for her up north clients, and she did. The distance between us and varying client loads made it hard for me to always get the hands-on clinical experience I needed, but neither of us would give up. I reached out to every midwife I could feasibly travel to, and got as many requirements completed as possible. I decided to also attend the direct entry midwifery program at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College when our state licensure became law.
Over eight yearsof apprenticeship, I attended births from Kalamazoo to Sault Ste. Marie, attended regular classes on Zoom and travelled for skills tests to Southwest Tech in Fennimore, WI, worked with eight different midwife preceptors, and served hundreds of families from all walks of life. In 2023, I became a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and a Michigan Licensed Midwife (LM). There there had not been a midwife for decades prior in or around Rogers City, but business took off immediately and has not slowed down!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not a smooth road! Midwifery is a rough calling for anyone, but not having a midwife near enough to easily work with as an apprenctice made it incredibly difficult. We were also a young family when I started, so being away from my children for long stretches was not something I could do. My husband went back to college and changed careers in the middle of my apprenticeship. I worked four jobs at times to keep us afloat. The pandemic happened, too. That brought homeschool for my children, campus closures at Southwest Tech, and all the general pandemic terror that happened to everyone. Now, as a midwife instead of a student, constant struggles include being on call 24/7 and the mental strain that comes along with that, as well as running a business (not something I was trained for, I’m a midwife!), and still trying to keep up with my family.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Lineage Midwifery LLC?
I am a licensed certified professional midwife who offers home birth and birth center birth in rural northeast Michigan. CPMs are the only experts in physiologic birth in the United States, and I am known for my strong commitment to informed consent. Educating patients and supporting them as they make their own choices is the foundation of my practice. My learning experience in a wide array of practices and different communities gave me a strong ability to meet people where they are – and build them up from there. I feel that and my ability to work alongside nearly anyone sets me apart from others. I have never thought of myself or other midwives as a brand. I see us as an integral part of the societal fabric; strong threads of tradition woven together with science and evidence, giving us the flexibility to exist, adapt, and serve through ages.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Rogers City is the best place! I moved here 20 years ago when I was 21 from a much more urban place. The nature, especially Lake Huron, breathes life into me even on the worst days. The beauty is astounding in every season. You could easily find yourself in awe of the landscape every day of the year. I don’t really like to criticize RC, but there is this one really dangerous intersection where accidents happen constantly. This one is a federal issue I belive, as it involves a US highway, so not on the city. But I wish something could change there!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lineagemidwifery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lineagemidwifery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LineageMidwifery