Jannifer Jaume, CNM

Jennifer Jaume (pronounced How-may) is a Cuban American midwife from Miami. She was called to midwifery by the inspiring home birth of her first child in 2004 with the guidance and support of a midwife. Her path to midwifery has included postpartum and labor support doula work, assisting at home births, providing childbirth education, and serving as a maternal child health nurse.

After earning her Master of Science in Nursing from University of Illinois in Chicago in 2014, she served families at the first freestanding birth center in Illinois—an experience that strengthened her passion for providing individualized holistic care in a low intervention setting. Jennifer continued to provide gynecologic and maternity care at a busy hospital-based midwifery practice recognized for providing high quality, evidence-based care. She is thrilled to be back in a community-birth setting at the Birth Center of Chicago.

Jennifer’s vision is to create a warm, welcoming, and safe birth center for both clients and birth workers. Guided by the wisdom of the midwives that have come before her, Jennifer is dedicated to providing evidence-based, family-centered care in an inclusive setting. She is committed to serving all families seeking intimate, patient-led, empowered birth experiences.

Jennifer lives in Edgewater with her husband and three children and spends her free time going to the beach, reading, and creating in the kitchen. She also loves traveling home to the warmth of her family and culture.

Lauren Schultz, CNM

Lauren grew up in the western suburbs and was drawn to the City early on. She moved downtown for college and left to live and travel in the Pacific Northwest but returned because Chicago is home.

Childbirth has always had a magnetic draw for Lauren, especially the privilege of guiding, encouraging, and supporting laboring people through the process. She began her birth-world career as a doula in 2009. After graduating with a BA in Biblical Studies and Women’s Ministry from Moody Bible Institute, she desired to support people more tangibly. The idea of becoming a midwife was appealing and became her focus. She worked as a labor and postpartum doula for five years, then a registered nurse with a degree from Loyola University Chicago. While working as a nurse in labor and delivery, she attended the University of Illinois in Chicago for her Master of Science in Nursing in midwifery and has been a Certified Nurse Midwife since 2018. Lauren has been working as a home birth midwife with Gentle Birth Care and has greatly appreciated her time with the families and birth workers in the community birth setting!

Lauren seeks to support physiological birth and provide care that reaches individual families needs. She is so excited to be a part of this community-based birth opportunity. She will be a part of furthering health care that believes in body autonomy, safe and evidenced-based care in birth, and compassion throughout the life cycle.

Lauren is excited to help build a freestanding birth center in her City! She lives in Andersonville with her husband and two children. She enjoys tromping around the neighborhood, biking, eating the delicious flavors in Chicago, and visiting our local parks.

Christina Eichelberg, CNM

Christina is excited to be joining the team at the Birth Center of Chicago to continue to support individuals in their journey through birth and wellness care!

Her journey into midwifery began in 2008 with the birth of her daughter, caught by a CNM in the hospital. The transition into motherhood, fostered by a midwife, was the first experience where a medical provider treated her as an equal and taught her to trust her own body. Three short years later her son was caught by another CNM with the support of a doula, through unmedicated birth, leading her to trust in the incredible strength of her body and mind. She considered her own midwives to be superheroes – strong, patient, compassionate and selfless, and she aspires to that same level of service with birth center clients and families.

After a nearly decade-long career in Information Technology, Christina pivoted to pursue a nursing degree in 2013. She completed a degree in Midwifery from Frontier University while working as a bedside nurse in a post-partum hospital unit on Chicago’s West Side. Her work with many high-risk pregnancies informed her philosophy of care and attention to the informational and emotional needs of families from the moment they enter care. She transitioned to the community birth setting in 2019 as a home birth assistant where she fell in love with community-based birth.

Christina’s philosophy of healthcare and birth is focused on empowerment. She is a natural educator who respects individual decisions, and she strives to meet people where they are at. Regarding birth, she considers it an honor to be granted the privilege of being a part of this powerful, and life-altering moment in a person’s life. Christina believes in culturally competent and inclusive birth and wellness services for all families, and that the birth center model should allow safe access to care for all who seek it.