Heart of Houston Birth Center
Mary Love: Clinical Director, Certified Nurse-Midwife, Family Nurse-Practitioner
Mary’s first encounter with a midwife was on the night she was born as she slipped into her mother’s awaiting hands. It was in her early 20s that she heard the call and set out on her own path to become a midwife, first attending workshops and assisting Pamela Hunt and the other midwives at The Farm. She received a bachelor’s degree in Nursing Science from Tennessee State University and her master’s degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University. In addition to being a Certified Nurse-Midwife at Heart of Houston Birth Center, she is also a Family Nurse Practitioner with experience in pediatric primary, urgent, and emergency care. When not catching babies or thinking of ways to fix a particular problem, Mary enjoys cooking, gardening, sewing, and folding laundry. She is married and shares four wonderful children with her husband.
Jessica Gonzales: Facility Director, Doula
Jessica has worked in the field of women’s health for over 20 years. The midwives who mentored her taught her that pregnancy and birth should not be treated as an illness, but embraced as a transformative life event. Her experience includes medical office and lab administration as well as medical business startups. She trained as a midwife’s assistant in Summertown, Tennessee, with the midwives at The Farm. Jessica founded Village Birth and Babies, a full-service doula service for families in the Houston area. Jessica is the mother of two incredible little girls conceived via IVF and Reciprocal IVF. She is committed to reducing the maternal mortality rate in Houston by improving equal access to evidence-based care for people of color.