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Meredith Bowling
Owner, Director
Meredith Bowling is the founder, owner and director of Long Beach Birth Center. She has been the passionate and dedicated leader of our team since the conception of our practice in 2021. Creating a community pillar of options, education and empowerment in the birth community has been a long time dream of hers, and when opportunity arose to start an out-of-hospital midwifery care center right here in her hometown, she set out to achieve all that Long Beach Birth Center has become with great enthusiasm and care.
Meredith’s vision for the Long Beach Birth Center team is that we would not only be able to connect the birth community and provide a safe space for families of all backgrounds to birth, but that we would be able to make a positive change in birth outcomes in our area by working to increase education and access to midwifery care. Meredith believes that all birthing people have a right to safe care provided with a standard of excellence and compassion. Meredith has carefully cultivated the environment, protocols and team here at LBBC in pursuit of these standards, and is always striving to learn and continue meeting the needs of our community.
Meredith first found her calling to the birth world after her two daughters were born. She found that her experiences inspired her to empower other families to achieve the same kind of safe and memorable birth which they could look back on with joy. Through becoming a Certified Birth Doula and learning more about what perinatal care can be, she was led to question the existing model of care in the hospital setting and went on to become more passionate about childbirth education. She became a Childbirth Educator and an Evidence Based Birth® Instructor, supporting countless families in this capacity before embarking on her journey as the owner and director of Long Beach Birth Center.
In her personal life Meredith is a nature lover and enjoys surrounding herself with family and friends. She has been a long time Camp Fire USA youth leader where she enjoys connecting with her daughters and community, spending quality time outdoors. With the support of her wife, Liz Medina, Meredith has been able to find balance and great satisfaction in both her personal and professional life.
Meredith shares her gratitude for each family that entrusts our midwives and team with their care. She carries each of their birth stories in her heart, which inspire and motivate her efforts to make a difference in the lives of as many birthing families as she is able to reach through our community midwifery care practice, Long Beach Birth Center.
Meet the Team
“Good midwifery is a combination of art, science, experience, and instinct.”
-Jennifer Worth
Genevieve Heath, LM/CPM (She/Her)
Licensed Midwife / Certified Professional Midwife
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Genevieve is a proud wife, mother and a Midwife on the Long Beach Birth Center team since 2022. She is a Southern California native and graduated in 2013 from San Diego State University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology prior to starting on her path to midwifery. She went on to graduate in 2017 from National College of Midwifery and has practiced as a homebirth midwife since. She has cared for hundreds of families in every birth setting around the OC and Inland Empire.
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Genevieve began her midwifery journey as a calling, always having been interested in pregnancy and birth. After witnessing that the births of friends and family had all seemed full of fear and that the birthing person’s experience was always set aside for what was “best for the baby”, she began research into midwifery and home birth and found her niche.
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Her family life began in a whirlwind within the same year she graduated midwifery school. She married her husband and had her first daughter in the water at a birth center in 2017, followed by her second daughter who was born precipitously at home in 2019 with only her mother and herself in attendance (unintentionally). With her own two pregnancies and births progressing very differently, her eyes were opened to the truth that every pregnancy and birth is unique and life changing in different ways.
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Genevieve has a passion for caring for the overall well-being of each individual and helping her clients achieve a birth story that they can treasure. Her focus as a midwife is to attend to the needs of each family with compassion and respect, and to empower their decisions with information and support.
She says, “I love what I do. Especially when I get to witness moms find a part of themselves they never knew was there. They are strong and their bodies can do amazing things!”
Kimberly Bongcaron, LM/CPM (She/Her)
Licensed Midwife/Certified Professional Midwife
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Kim is one of the Licensed & Certified Professional Midwives on our team. She completed a three-year program through Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery in San Diego, CA, graduated in 2016 and began her practice as a homebirth midwife before joining Long Beach Birth Center in 2022. She has attended births in hospitals, birth centers, & home birth settings all around Los Angeles & Orange County. Before birthwork she graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 2009 with a Bachelors of Science in Health Science, Health Care Administration worked in healthcare administration.
Kim’s journey into midwifery began serendipitously during her undergrad, when she took an internship at a Pregnancy Community Clinic. There her eyes were opened to the world of Doulas, Midwives, unmedicated birth, & water births. In 2013, she became a certified labor doula and shortly after began midwifery school. After starting school, she found out that her great-great grandmother was a local “midwife” in the Philippines. This connection made her even more assured in her choice to become a midwife, and she knew she was in the right place.
Born and raised in Northern California, she relocated to Southern California in 2011 when she married her partner of 20+ yrs. Kim had her own birth at home when her son was born in 2020. “He was born at home quickly, into his daddy’s arms surrounded by a few of my amazing Midwife friends!”.
Kim believes that knowledge is power and birthing families should be educated and informed in all aspects of their care. They should have options and the opportunity to have the birth they desire regardless of where and with whom.
Kim says, “My goal and wish as your Midwife is for you to be educated, empowered, and supported!”.
Ray Weber, LM/CPM (They/Them)
Li​censed Midwife / Certified Professional Midwife
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Ray joined our midwife team following their midwifery licensing in 2023. They were born and raised in New York State, where they were introduced to midwifery while studying at Binghamton University, from which they graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Development before chasing their dream to become a midwife. They moved to Washington State and graduated from Bastyr University with a Master of Science in Midwifery and transplanted once again here to Long Beach, CA to work with our practice.
Midwifery has always seemed to be the direction Ray was headed. They grew up hearing stories from their grandmother who had a lifelong career as a labor & delivery nurse, and felt destined to follow in her footsteps. They say, “Midwifery brings together so many of the different skills and interests I’ve developed in my life. I saw this career as the opportunity to provide holistic care for families in the way I’d always dreamed.”
Ray’s approach to midwifery care centers around evidence-based and trauma-Informed care. They are passionate about providing LGBTQIA2+ friendly and trans-affirming services. Ray says, “It’s always exciting to be able to work with other queer and trans families!”. They strive to provide safe and sensitive care to BIPOC families and are committed to increasing accessibility to midwifery care and education. They are a Spanish language learner and enjoy connecting with families in this way when the opportunity arises.
They find importance in involving partners and family members in care as much as possible, and believe that every individual who finds healing in midwifery care is a gateway to healthier families and communities.
Ray loves living in Long Beach, and in their free time they enjoy two adorable cats, roller skating, and cooking.
They say, “I’m honored to be part of your care team and share this journey with your family. As seriously as I take this work and hold space for my clients’ hearts, I try to have fun with this job and create room for laughter and lightheartedness with families as well.”
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JENNIFER RATTS (she/her)
Student Midwife - Birth Center Coordinator
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Jen has been with Long Beach Birth Center since the initiation of our practice overseeing and organizing operations in the front and back office as well as the birth assisting team, often switching “hats'' as needed to fill each role. She has been a full time birth assistant and birth center care coordinator since 2015, and became a student midwife in 2018 with National College of Midwifery. She attends to our clients as a student midwife with an experienced hand and heart in all aspects of care as she works towards her licensure. She had an early calling to midwifery as a teenager, and has been dedicated to changing the world one birth at a time ever since.
Jen is an advocate for the safe, informed, and most positive possible outcome for each of our clients and works to remove the fear surrounding normal & natural physiological birth outside of the hospital. Her focus as our Birth Center Coordinator lies in prioritizing the overall experience of each LBBC family every step of the way, from their initial consultation through their birth and postpartum period. When she’s not bustling about at the birth center, she enjoys making plans with her birthworker friends and spending downtime with her long time partner.
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Amina Mirza (she/her)
Care Coordinator - Birth Assistant
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Amina serves in two roles on the Long Beach Birth Center team, as the friendly face you will see in our front office helping with administrative needs as well as one who may be caring for you at your birth as assistant to the midwife. She has been a full spectrum Birth and Postpartum Doula since 2018. Having her son at the birth center in 2017 sparked her interest in birth work, and she has dedicated herself to families of all backgrounds and identities throughout the perinatal period ever since. She strives to identify and meet the individual needs of each birthing person, and actively works to provide informed and sensitive support. Her passion lies in enabling families to access and achieve the empowered and victorious birth they deserve.
Rachel Gioja, RN (she/her)
Registered Nurse
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Rachel is a registered nurse and birth doula who is passionate about caring for birthing families throughout their prenatal experience. Her background as a nurse led her to the OB field and specifically midwifery care, as she believes every pregnant person should feel informed, supported, safe, and special. Rachel operates in our back office collecting labs, performing ultrasounds, taking vitals and assisting the midwives with any necessary procedures pertaining to prenatal care. The highlight of her work is doing ultrasounds and helping parents see their baby for the first time.
Yvonne Avila (she/her)
Billing Department
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Yvonne is a Billing and Revenue Cycle Specialist with over 20 years of experience in the healthcare arena. For more than 5 of those years she has focused her skills on billing for out-of-hospital perinatal care. She has assisted hundreds of families through the process of navigating insurance, advocating for coverage and financial accessibility to midwifery care.