Graceful Pregnancy: One mom’s career journey as a Registered Nurse and her passion for supporting families in the community.

I was born to be a nurse. I was delivering my dolls’ babies by the age of 3 and I was keeping a journal with my pregnant patients’ and their ailments at the age of 9. My mom is a retired nurse and ancient practice around the world dictates that women who help babies be born pass knowledge down from mother to daughter. Nursing and the care of pregnant and parenting folks is a lifelong career that chose me.

I attended UCLA School of Nursing for my Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and began my work as a young new nurse at Ronald Reagan UCLA in the high risk pregnancy and post-delivery units. I loved this work but felt troubled by the complications and challenges my patients faced. I kept asking myself “what can I do as a nurse to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes?”. The answer to that was Public Health Nursing.

With clarity on my next step I went on to study for my Master’s of Science in Nursing at UT Austin with a maternal child public health focus. This specialized study led me to find Nurse-Family Partnership. I went on to work for Nurse-Family Partnership for almost 8 years supporting first-time low-income families through personal nurse visits. I found I loved being in the community – sitting with families in their homes, places of work, the park and using my nursing skills to support their pregnancy and parenting.

In 2018 I gave birth to my son Lewis and experienced what my hundreds of patients up to that point had been through. My world was turned upside down, it didn’t matter how much education and nursing experience I had, I felt lost and alone as a first-time mom. I quickly realized ALL families can benefit from personal nurse support – no matter how many resources they have.

From then on, I ensured that my friends and family had access to my support as a specially trained nurse – while still working full time to support high risk families. I gave birth to my daughter Della Mae in November of 2020 and invested in much more support for myself during pregnancy and after birth. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made and solidified my commitment to providing high quality services to families.

Recently I made the decision to go full-time in my Concierge Nurse business – Graceful Pregnancy. The Long Beach Moms Business Network has been a key support of my marketing and startup of my full-time. I am honored to offer in-home services to pregnant and post-birth families in Long Beach and the surrounding areas. I was born at Long Beach Memorial and grew up here – and supporting local families is a dream.

The mission of my services is to allow families to feel cared for, advocated for, and supported by a healthcare provider to promote health and reduce stress in the pregnancy and newborn phase. You and the pregnant/postpartum people in your life deserve support and I would be honored to provide it.

To learn more about Graceful Pregnancy, click here.