We didn't plan to build this. Our births did.
We're Eddie and Jocelyne Zaldivar: parents, partners, and the people behind Homebirth.com. This is how two births, two countries, and one stubborn question turned into something we couldn't stop building.
The Zaldivar family, San Diego, CA
The birth that changed everything
When Jo found out she was pregnant with our daughter Marie, we were in the middle of planning our wedding. We did what most people do: we moved the wedding up, found an OB, and figured we'd follow the standard path. Hospital birth, epidural on standby, check the boxes.
But something didn't sit right. The appointments felt rushed. The questions we had, about how labor would actually be managed, about who'd be in the room, about what would happen if things went sideways, kept getting half-answered. We started looking into alternatives and found a birth center in Knoxville that felt completely different. The midwives there actually listened. They had time for us. For the first time, it felt like someone was building a plan with us instead of for us.
Then, at 24 weeks, the birth center shut down.
We were scrambling. We had no backup. Our only options were the hospital or a homebirth, something we'd never even considered. But once we started researching, we found a midwife who felt right. She came to our home for the first visit, sat on our couch, and spent two hours answering every question we had. No clock running. No rush.
Marie was born at home in Knoxville, surrounded by our midwife, Jo's parents, and me. It was the most intense and the most peaceful thing I've ever been part of. Jo labored in our living room, moved freely, made every decision on her terms. When Marie arrived, we were in our own bed. Nobody was wheeling us anywhere. Nobody was asking us to sign forms. We were just... home.
“I didn't know I could have this. Not just the home birth, but the feeling of being completely in charge of my own experience. I keep thinking about all the women who don't know this option exists.”
– Jo Zaldivar
After Marie was born, we couldn't stop talking about it. Not just the birth itself, but how hard it had been to even discover that this was possible. We never planned on a homebirth. We never would have found it if our birth center hadn't closed. That felt backwards. Why was the best experience we'd ever had the hardest one to find?
In 2019, we bought homebirth.com.
Same question, different country
During Covid, we did what a lot of people were doing: we went remote. Six months as digital nomads in Costa Rica. It was incredible. And then Jo got pregnant again.
We knew immediately that we wanted another home birth. But this time we were in a different country with no network, no recommendations, and no reliable way to find midwifery services. We were googling in two languages, asking expat Facebook groups, chasing down outdated clinic listings. Nothing felt trustworthy. Nothing connected.
So we moved back to Miami. And what we found there surprised us even more than the search itself.
Our midwife for Nikola's birth specialized in serving Jewish families. We're not Jewish, but she was wonderful, and working with her opened our eyes to something we hadn't fully understood before: families come to home birth for so many different reasons. For some it's religious or cultural tradition. For others it's autonomy and privacy. And for Black families in particular, it can be a matter of survival. Maternal mortality rates for Black women in the U.S. are significantly higher in hospital settings, and home birth with a trusted provider is one of the ways communities are taking that power back.
Nikola was born in 2022 in Miami. Another beautiful birth. But something caught us off guard: our midwife was very hands-off. With Marie, our midwife had been deeply hands-on throughout labor. Both were great experiences, but the difference in care style surprised us. We never thought to ask. It never occurred to us that two midwives could approach the same moment so differently.
That realization, on top of everything else, left us with something bigger than gratitude. We saw how many different communities need better access to this care, and how broken the discovery process is for all of them. The problem wasn't Miami. It wasn't Costa Rica. It was everywhere, for everyone. And it wasn't just about finding a midwife. It was about finding the right one.
“We kept running into the same wall: not a lack of great midwives, but a lack of any real way to find them. And once we saw how many different families need this for how many different reasons, we couldn't unsee it.”
– Eddie Zaldivar
So we built the thing we wished existed
Homebirth.com isn't a directory. It's not a listing site where providers pay to show up first. It's a matching system built on the idea that the right midwife for you isn't necessarily the closest one or the cheapest one. It's the one who aligns with how you want to experience birth.
Parents answer a short intake about what matters to them: care style, communication, values, budget, birth setting. Providers answer the mirror version from their side. Our matching engine connects the two based on real compatibility, then explains why each match makes sense.
Every parent gets a shortlist of providers who genuinely fit. Every provider gets leads from families who are actually aligned with their practice. No wasted consultations. No guessing. No settling for whoever's available.
Eddie Zaldivar
Co-founder · Founder, Zaldivar Labs
I'm a product builder and founder based in San Diego. My work sits at the intersection of technology, human behavior, and real-world care, building systems that help people make better decisions in moments that matter.
I run Zaldivar Labs, where I partner with teams on strategy, data, and product development. Homebirth.com grew out of the same belief that drives all my work: when the right structure is in place, people don't just perform better. They feel more supported, more understood, and more confident in the choices they make.
Jocelyne Zaldivar
Co-founder
I'm a licensed social worker. I work with a private hospice company, supporting families through some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. That work has shaped everything about how I think about trust, care, and what it means to truly show up for someone.
Birth is one of those moments. I know firsthand how much it matters to feel seen and heard by the person guiding you through it. I bring the care perspective: the emotional intelligence, the parent experience, and the stubbornness to make sure this platform always puts families first.
For parents
If any of this sounds like your story, the uncertainty, the googling, the not knowing where to start, we built this for you. No account needed. Takes about two minutes.
Find my midwifeFor providers
We're not here to send you random leads. We're here to send you the right families, the ones whose needs actually match your practice. Free during beta.
Learn more