I had my daughter here and had a wonderful experience. The staff were great throughout my whole pregnancy. The midwives were amazing! Very professional and reassuring. They really listened to me and my birth plan. The insurance specialist helped get the birth center in network with my insurance which was awesome! If you’re looking for an unmedicated labor and delivery and to have exceptional care, this is the place to come.

If youre looking to have an all natural birth this is the place to go. The ladies at Gracefull Birthing are angels, my mid-wife Jocelyn Brown was amazing from the moment I met her. During my interview with her I felt very comfortable with her assisting me with my out of hospital birth. She is genuinely down to earth, extremely knowledgeable and has a good sense of humor which was a plus for us :) Im a first time mother so I didnt know what to expect in terms of labor and delivery but she made me feel comfortable every step of the way. I even attended a few of their classes which were awesome! I chose to have my baby at home although their center is very clean and comfortable. When I was in labor in the middle of the night (before she came to my house) she was accessible and alert which made my experience enjoyable. When I gave birth she gracefully performed my postnatal and newborn screening and all, I had no doubt of her skills to do so. Overall this was a great experience one I will always remember, I recommend Gracefull to all mothers looking for the all natural experience.

I delivered here in April - there is such a vast difference from prenatal appointments at Gracefull and elsewhere. Jocelyn and Jennifer (the midwives) really take their time with you to make sure youre educated in the process of childbirth. At my previous doctor, I spent maybe 5-10 minutes with her before being rushed to schedule my next appointment. The birthing rooms are beautiful, peaceful and relaxing. My daughters birth was perfect - Jocelyn knew that I could do it, she was there for me and helped me through it. There is no where else I would have wanted to deliver my daughter and I will definitely be coming back to Gracefull in the future!

It has been 16 weeks since my son Lucca was born, many days and many nights are hazy in my mind, but many many vivid moments we have built so far. He is thriving and reaching milestones quite smoothly, yet it just seems like it was yesterday morning at 4 am when we arrived home from Gracefull.Prior to Gracefull i had an interesting (to say it briefly) experience with the huge amount of red tape health insurance and providers have, that had me missing my whole second trimester of prenatal care. Labeled “High Risk” due to my age, i felt i was getting closer to an unnecessary C- Section and/or other procedures not quite needed.I reached out to a birthing center in Pasadena, We toured their facility and met the staff, everything was going well until they realized i had not had prenatal care for three months, so they rejected me after a couple of weeks of considering me. I was devastated by their decision as my hopes of not having to go to the hospital had been growing as well as my sense of power to deliver unmedicated. they referred me to GRACEFULL Birth Center.Feeling defeated and skeptical I called Gracefull, they promptly set up an appointment to tour the center. From the minute my husband and I stepped in we felt the amazing positives vibes. We were welcomed and treated so nice, despite our humble looks. I loved Jocelyn from that first meeting, as she made me believe again in my inner power and treated my age as number not a disease. She discuss pricing and never made us feel like we couldn’t afford or didn’t deserve this experience. We signed up as soon as we could and I was under Jocelyn’s care during my third trimester. We couldn’t stop talking about our first appointment and how it had lasted an hour where things were explained throughly and i was treated like a person, not a quota to fill (that’s how my OB-GYN used to make me feel with 5 minute, $30 appointment). She worked with me and my glucose levels, and answer even questions i thought were silly to ask.Lucca was born two weeks earlier than expected, I remember when i first realized it wasn’t a stomach ache but rather contractions, I called Jocelyn at 7am on a Sunday to explain what i was feeling, she was so re-assuring, calm and available. She guided me over the phone a couple of times during the 30+ hours of contractions and never made me feel like all these new things i was experiencing were not worth explaining. When i enter into active labor we drove to Gracefull, thank God it was a holiday, i couldn’t imagine having contractions in the middle of Sunset Blvd at peek hour. I still giggled remembering how they thought i was still too composed to be in active labor, i was very chatty and polite. I had 7cm of dilation. Elizabeth came in to check up on me and to remind me to trust my body and surrender into the experience. My labor continue for a few more hours with the help and encouragement of Jocelyn, Johanna and my husband. Finally at 11:22 our son was born into my husband’s hands, the joy on my husband’s face is something i won’t forget, the sensation of having skin to skin contact with my son almost immediately is indescribable. Having people respecting basic wishes is priceless. I talked about my experience over and over with close friends and family. Jocelyn and Johanna were the perfect duo to deliver our son they were so genuinely happy, you’ll think is just another day for them but they were so in it with us, something you can’t fake.Well we are for now enjoying our son, but when our time to have another baby comes will definitely reach out to Gracefull again. We’ll continue to share our amazing experience and recommending the birth center.

One on one care from skilled and loving people!

Where to begin?!? I just had my second child at the birthing center on July 28, 2017, and the experience could not have been better! A little background... I had my first child about three years ago in a hospital, and the experience was everything that I was afraid of/expected. I was given Pitocin almost immediately to speed up my labor as my water had broken (maybe a couple of hours before I got to the hospital - certainly not an emergency). Then, despite my repeated requests to be checked/measured for my progress, I felt almost forced into getting an epidural, and the L&D nurse flat out refused to check me until after it had been administered. Of course, at that point I was 10CM dilated and 100% effaced, ready to push!I ended up with an almost 4th degree tear, and the recovery was absolutely excruciating.Fast forward to this pregnancy. Although my pregnancy was much harder than the last, my experience from start to finish could not have been better. From the very beginning I felt completely safe and supported. The entire team at Gracefull understood my concerns from having my son, and they worked diligently to make sure that experience was not repeated in any way. In fact, my labor started and stopped on two separate occasions and my water broke almost two days before I had my daughter. Knowing my concern(s) about ending up in the hospital in the same predicament as with my son, Jocelyn made sure to refer to me the OB they work with for extra monitoring, and performed extra monitoring herself. She even tried a number of things to help get me into active labor, including coming to my home on a Sunday to strip my membranes!By the third time I was in labor, and again stalling, Johanna suggested rubbing castor oil on my uterus rather than making me drink it to get the engine to turn over as Jocelyn said. Then Jocelyn and Johanna used Rebozo to try and get my daughter into the optimal position, and Elizabeth even did acupuncture to get things going. I cannot express how worried I was about ending up in the hospital and falling victim to numerous unnecessary interventions again, and I am absolutely sure the efforts made by everyone at Gracefull helped me avoid that.As for the actual birth, it couldnt have been more different than with my son. My active labor was relatively short, and the pushing only took 12 minutes. Even so, I didnt even tear, which Im sure had something to do with the fact I wasnt forced to lie flat on my back while delivering. Instead, I was able to move freely in one of their amazing birthing tubs and find the birth position that suited me best. From there things could not have been more different from the hospital. I was given the time to naturally deliver my placenta (in the hospital the doctor pulled it out), my bleeding was minimal and my husband and I were given time to calmly bond with our new daughter, rather than having her taken away immediately for measurement and testing. The best part was we got to leave after about three hours, rather than having a two day, sleepless hospital stay.Their postpartum support has been the same. Jocelyn came to our house about a day and a half later to check on us, and monitored both of us at the one week follow-up as well. If you are considering a birthing center, or if you are even on the fence, you will not regret having your child at Gracefull or at home with one of the midwives. You will not be disappointed! The only regret I have is not having my son with Gracefull.

Its hard to put down in words how incredible our experience with Jocelyn and Gracefull was for our family. When we first reached out to the birthing center seeking care my husband and I were in Minneapolis, MN. Our profession had us traveling full time. We set up to have a skype meeting with Jocelyn, and knew right away she was the midwife for us. We were overwhelmed by all the different prenatal tests and deadlines. We just knew that we wanted to have as noninvasive and natural of a pregnancy journey as possible. Jocelyn was able to break everything down for us and explain whats what. She had great suggestions, as well as resources for more information. She kept us informed and on track the entire way. GraceFull was also super accommodating (and helpful) as far as piecing together our medical information as we traveled around the US. Once we were finally in Los Angeles we were able to meet in person and take advantage of the classes they offered. WE LOVED THE CLASSES! We then realized what an invaluable resource GraceFull was. There is so much that we would be so clueless about had we gone through a traditional hospital route. It was also great to meet other like-minded families. We learned something new at every appointment. We were NEVER rushed, and were always invited to ask as many questions as we had (no matter how silly). Both Jocelyn and Elizabeth are each such a great wealth of knowledge! Theyre supportive, compassionate, and were clearly born to be doing exactly what it is they do! When it came time to birth we arrived at the birthing center and it was set up beautifully and so tranquil. Jocelyn and Johanna, her assisting midwife, were really great about being there when we needed them but also giving us space and privacy as we needed it. They checked on me and the baby as needed and gave suggestion to ease some of the contractions, but overall took my lead as to what I felt I needed at any given moment. I loved being in the tub for a while, then I just HAD to get out! LOL! During the birth our little guys shoulder got stuck. Jocelyn knew what to do and was able to maneuver him out safely. He also had a hard time clearing the fluid from his lungs to breathe for quite some time. Jocelyn responded so quickly and calmly that it took me a minute to realize that anything was amiss. She didnt panic, she just responded in the present moment to do what she needed to do to help our baby boy. She also kept him where we can see him the whole time and frequently put him back on my chest for skin to skin. Just like that our family of two became three! Elizabeth also stopped in to check on us, as she was teaching a class upstairs at the time. That was a comfort for us all! We enjoyed all of our postpartum care visits, they were as thorough and supportive as the prenatals. We loved being under the care of Jocelyn and the entire GraceFull team so much! We truly wish it didnt have to end. We are beyond grateful for these amazing people. We definitely plan and look forward to having our next baby with Jocelyn at GraceFull!

Dis-Gracefull