Ilana Shemesh, an American born midwife who immigrated to Israel in 1973, is a pioneer and leader in the struggle for childbirth reform in Israel. She got her nursing degree from Sheinbron Nursing School of Ichilov Hospital in Tel-Aviv and later completed her midwifery degree and license in 1982. She worked for five years as a midwife in Assuta Hospital in Tel-Aviv, and worked in Misgav Ledach Hospital in Jerusalem until it’s closure in 2000. She founded Motherwise in Tel-Aviv and was in charge of the Homestyle Birthing Rooms of Misgav Ledach Hospital, Jerusalem.

Today she works privately only, providing holistic prenatal care, attending homebirths, and births in her birthing clinic on her moshav, Yashresh, located between Ramla and Rechovot. Ilana specializes in minimal-intervention, natural childbirth and gentle birth for the baby. Her goal is to help empower women through birth by supporting self-expression and choice in childbirth. She has extensive knowledge in alternative medicine as it relates to pregnancy and birth.

Ilana has caught about 6,000 births, of which nearly 1,000 were at home.

She is married and the mother of three girls, the last of whom she birthed at home. Ilana is a grandmother of three that she was privileged to catch at home with her own hands.

Her hobbies include folk-dancing, arts and crafts, and gardening.