Hi! I’m Angelica Mendez. I’m a wife and a mama to two sweet girls – Audri and Gabi. My husband, Brian, is my high school sweetheart, and we’ve been married for 14 wonderful years. We’ve grown and changed together in so many ways, and I’m deeply thankful to God for the life we’ve built as a family.

My motherhood journey has been one of growth, surrender, and learning to trust God in every season. With my first pregnancy, I was commuting and working long hours. Late in my third trimester, I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and induced before my body was ready. After 3.5 exhausting days, not coping well we opted for an epidural. After multiple fetal decelerations, I ultimately needed an emergency cesarean. Recovery was long and difficult, and it took months to feel like myself again.

When we hoped to grow our family, we struggled to conceive. Hormonal imbalances and health challenges made the process emotionally heavy — especially when my oldest would ask when she’d have a sibling. Through prayer, support, and the guidance of an incredible Naturopath who helped with nutritional changes, labs, and progesterone support, we conceived our youngest. Our girls are 8 years apart. It was such a blessing.

My second pregnancy took place during Covid, and I approached it with a completely different mindset. I stayed active with daily walks and consistent workouts, preparing my body intentionally and doing the mental work to envision a different birth experience. I had fears about laboring alone due to hospital restrictions, and I deeply wanted my oldest to meet her sister right away. After research, prayer, and listening to my intuition, we chose a home birth. Even as an HBAC, I felt so confident and supported by my team, including Molly Parker — a doula at the time and now a wonderful midwife — who encouraged me to pursue birth work.

When my youngest was still a baby, I completed my birth doula, postpartum doula, and childbirth educator training through Fresno Birth and Baby, as well as my VBAC doula training through The VBAC Link. I feel incredibly honored to be part of such a beautiful team at Fresno Birth and Baby — and even more honored each time a family invites me into their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. It truly never stops being sacred.

I love all things crunchy, holistic, and natural, but I also genuinely value emergency and conventional medicine. I believe there is a time and place for both, and that they can work together in such a meaningful way.

Outside of birth work, my happiest moments are with my family — working out, walking, being out in nature, listening to audiobooks and podcasts, homeschooling, spending time in the kitchen, or turning up the music for spontaneous dance parties with my girls. Lunch dates with my husband and joy-filled, full-blast moments at home are some of my very favorites.

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