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Hey all- Chris here again:

Wow has the last few days been filled with a lot of emotions, some I’m not really sure how to even explain. It also been amazing to see all the stories, memories and experiences most have been sharing on these social media pages about my mom and it has really helped my family, especially my Dad, Brother and myself. We obviously knew how amazing she was and how much she inspired us daily, it’s truly awesome to see how she did the same for some many lives. My mom and I had wanted to create a post a while back explaining what happened in 2021 and why in essence Beach Cities Midwifery ceased to operate. Additionally, I know my mom and my family would want the community to know and understand ultimately what happened and how April 11thbecame a day we will never forget. This also is going to help me, and I hope at the very least it will help others.

Part 1 Where did Beach Cities go: 

One of the reasons this part of the story took so took to write was the fact that not one reason, not one person stopped or could have stopped what my mom had created at Beach Cities Midwifery, but it was multiple factors both personal and in business that brought about the end of BCMW as we knew it just 12 months ago. Like many businesses, the last few years were a challenge, COVID, massive inflation and price changes along with dwindling reimbursements really put a strain on Beach Cities. While having roots in this community for over 20 years, employing hundreds of staff and impacting thousands of lives directly and tens of thousands indirectly Beach Cities Midwifery needed to solve a big problem, how can we exist past BJ’s retirement, who will take over and can we do this without her. See 2021 was the year of my mom’s retirement, the year she was going to hand her lab coat up, focus on grand babies and pass the torch to a new generation of midwives. She was ready to retire, especially from clinical and call. 

About this time last year, my parents decided it was time to leave California and move out of state but my mom was still committed to finishing 2021 and keeping BCMW going as there was still lots to do and so many families needing midwifery care in southern California. After the move, she continued to travel back to California and spend a few weeks here on call, seeing patients and working to transition the practice to potentially new owners and/or existing staff in hopes to keep the BCMW legacy going. Around June of 2021, I retuned from a trip and had lunch with my mom at one of her favorite lunch time places called Black Bird Café in Long Beach, amazing place if you’ve never been. Our topic of conversation was the closing of Beach Cities Midwifery by the end of 2021 and that she was going to attempt to sell it to someone. I remember being so excited as finally she could retire and travel the way she wanted to, we toasted, and I was just overjoyed at the moment. After a few minutes, the dread set in about what the really meant and remember discussing all the patients, staff and families that would be impacted by this. So, we set a game plan and set off to achieve the goal of keeping at least the memories of BCMW alive and pass the torch. 

At first, we attempted to find a buyer for all the birth centers and/or find someone who could take over and at least run the daily operations allowing my mom to retire from the day-to-day duties. Maybe do a birth here and there but largely help operate BCMW from a distance and at this moment allow her to get ready for Baby Ellie to come into the world in November. After a few months, it was starting to become obvious that no one person could fill the role my mom had at BCMW, not even a medical group and finding one buyer was likely not going to happen. Early in the fall, after a surgery to repair her hip, since she finally had time things started to evolve, in what we now recognize differently today than we did at the time. There was a sudden rush to my moms’ desire to get Beach Cities to a place where she was able to move on, a place where she felt “things were taken care of” and I remember it just killed me on the inside as she worked so hard for this, so hard for these patients and so hard for our staff. But like a captain, she worked methodically to ensure everything was taken care off, all the while things started to change with her, subtly she kept strong keeping a lot of us in the dark at this point. Like us, she didn’t know anything was wrong either, but I sense she could feel something was wrong. 

Around late September, we had found someone to take the lead with BCMW but only in Long Beach, my mom worked daily to secure a future for that birth center and the patients that we already enrolled and would one day in the future also become patients. We were so blessed that a former staff member my mom adored was going to take over, ultimately keep a lot of the staff on board and employed and help keep the birth community legacy in Long Beach she established going after almost a decade. At around this point, we learned the last day for BCMW would be November 19th 2021, not December 31, 2021 like we had all thought. I know most of the staff (myself included) were just devastated, I remember being unable to sleep knowing not only could I do nothing to keep things going (not a midwife) but trying to afford a midwife at the time was nearly impossible. At that point we scheduled a staff meeting to tell everyone the news about closing and who was taking over and when the last days would be for each office. I was just in shock. That meeting was the first time I heard my mom’s voice in a few days and I remember wondering who is this person talking to me, whose voice is this and I thought at the time it was just a delay in the zoom given their internet was always so bad at home. I texted my brother and dad and asked what that was all about, and they said it had begun a few weeks ago slowly and they weren’t sure but she was going to get it checked out. 

October was a rough month, my mom and I talked daily as we started to plan the transition to the new owners in Long Beach and worked to transition patients in Laguna and Corona. While her voice was changing, she was stronger than ever and more determined to get things accomplished. Like a mother on a mission, she was working relentlessly making sure everyone in the company, every student she worked with and quietly her family were taken care of, had a place to go and wouldn’t be left without a place to go. The whole time, no one, not even my mom knew what was truly happening with her body. On November 3rdwas the last time I walked into any of the offices still under the ownership of Beach Cities Midwifery as an employee. I left the following day for a long-planned trip to Europe and I knew I would never be working in those offices. On the 19thwithout much ceremony, we had our last day in all the offices and turned over the Long Beach office to the new owners. I was devastated, I know my mom was too but at the same time she was relieved. She as relieved because for the most part, she had ended things on her terms but also in a way that took care of everyone in some way or another. Prior to Tracy and I getting back she held a “garage sale” and even took care of loading the storage unit, with help from my dad of course as she knew her time was getting short and that one day she wouldn’t be here. She didn’t want to burden anyone, never did. We both agreed we would keep Corona around for a month or two and see what we can do, given we still had faith we could find a buyer and find a buyer we did. At the 11thhour, my mom was able to negotiate a deal with a buyer for the Corona office, she got a fair price all things considered and was able to negotiate the future of the birth center and her legacy in the area. December 1st, she had sold both the Long Beach and Corona Birth Center, we were transitioning to the new owners and a good amount of the staff were still employed, including myself which she seemed so proud of. She even fist bumped me at dinner on the news. On December 16th, 2021 my mom helped re-open the Corona Birth Center under a new owner, with a few existing staff members, zero patients and all the heart and love she brought to every project. 

While there is still a lot more left of this story, this is the end of part one, what happened to the birth centers. Laguna Hills birth center was closed as the building space it occupied was sold. Maybe one day things will arise again in the area and my mom’s legacy will continue right where is started, I have a feeling she would have wanted it that way. Know that Long Beach and Corona are thriving and will continue to thrive for a long time. They both have new names now, the Long Beach Birth Center and Circle City midwifery and are owned by wonderful people. They both still have some of the same staff my mom adored and even new ones, including midwives and students my mom help shape decades ago. Stay tunned for part 2 which will help better explain to those wondering what actually happened to my mom, the most amazing human I have ever had the chance to experience.       

Hey all, Chris here, here's part two,

Well. It has now been two months since my mom passed away. She was one of the greatest humans that I ever had the chance to be around. She not only was my mom but also someone I worked with nearly everyday of my adult life and someone who mentored and encouraged me to follow the path I have followed to today. I’m not going to lie, there hasn’t been a day where I haven’t thought about her and still most days find me at least once ugly crying if not outright sobbing. Like so many of you reading this, I really miss my mom, BJ Snell.  

I wish I had all the answers and knew exactly what happened to my mom, but we at least have an idea given all the indications and symptoms. While I know my mom was somewhat of a private person, I am writing this and giving some insight to everyone as to what happened as this may help bring closure. I guess I need to start this back in October as we were preparing to have a company meeting to announce the inevitable closure of Beach Cities Midwifery and the Beachside Birth Centers later that year in December. I remember getting on the zoom with everyone and hearing her speak and couldn’t tell if she was losing her voice or was getting emotional or perhaps just had a bad signal and was “buffering”. After being on the call for a little longer I started to get concerned about her voice. Like I had said earlier, getting off that call I was so confused as to what was going on. 

When we all spoke later that week, my mom was going to go in for testing to see if she possibly had a stroke or was possibly still having them. After testing and a few days wait, she was cleared and would need to do additional testing to determine what was ultimately gong on. Well, a few days turned into a few weeks as her medical team worked to try and determine a diagnosis. During all of this, unknowing as to what was really going on she moved forward with her plans to sell the birth centers and had a few people interested. This included a larger hospital group, a fellow provider, and a former employee. Unfortunately, she could never find one buyer to take over the entire practice and keep everyone employed. Sometime in late October early November she told me her doctors had concluded that she had myasthenia gravis, a non-life threating auto-immune condition that can largely be managed. While that wasn’t perfect, it was something. 

November roared in as we had originally planned to close and transition the offices in December but with my mom’s new diagnosis, she knew she would not be able to deliver babies at all hours of the night and continue the way she had for nearly 22 years. Around this time a former staff member had begun negotiations to purchase the Long Beach location and establish and keep the birth center open under a new name and owner, now called the Long Beach Birth Center. However, for me, my last day was slated to be the 4th of November as I had a long-planned trip coming and not knowing what I did now, I felt the need to get away from it all. While I was gone, the negotiations with the new Long Beach owner finalized and by the time I returned, the Laguna Hills birth center had been emptied out with most everything sold or donated, the Long Beach Birth Center under new ownership and the Corona location had closed but a potential buyer was interested in restarting and keeping things closed. 

December brought some good news, not only had we now found a buyer for the Corona practice allowing it to stay open my mom was to start treatment formally for her autoimmune condition with a positive road ahead regarding her future. On December 16th we reopened the Corona birth center, now called “circle city midwifery” with my mom seeing some of the first patients there and bringing on several of the midwives who would get the practice going again. Looking back, I was also lucky to get a chance to stay on with the new group as it was a great distraction from the unknown coming months. Doing well at this time, I got to spend time with my mom several times around Christmas and over New Years, she was doing great and excited about what 2022 was going to bring, especially getting a chance to do her dream vacation to Israel to see the Holy Lands. 

The new year rolled in normal aside from the fact Beach Cities Midwifery only existed figuratively, in one year we had gone from a thriving midwifery led birth center group, to largely nonexistent. My parents had listed their condo in California and were preparing to move everything out of California, which only meant they wouldn’t be here as much, but my mom was still planning to come out a few times a month to work with the new owners, help transition the patients and help where she could. Around early January her voice started to get worse, she would struggle more to talk; physically exerting herself and only being able to get a few words out at a time. She was excited though, as they were planning to start a more invasive treatment program, I remember he needing to get a booster so they could start a “reset of her immune system” in hopes to slow down the MG. January continued to roll on though, she came to the office in Corona to help bring on Elizabeth Bader, one of her students and friends and show her around the new office. By the end of January she wasn’t responding well to the treatment and she was significantly losing her voice and becoming more and more frustrated with the progress of her conditions. 

February for me was rather busy, the practice in Corona was growing, my parents had just sold their condo in California and around the 14th, my mom was up for an award at Cal State University Fullerton. They were naming a simulation lab room after her as she was instrumental in acquiring the funding to help make this happen. We had such as great time! She was limited on what she could say but was still able to communicate and she had so much fun seeing many of her friends, colleagues and what CSUF had become. We even had a chance to go out to dinner at one of her favorite restaurants where she enjoyed a great steak and desert. That was their last trip out to stay their condo as they were closing on it shortly, good news is she would be out later that month for an appointment. It was so nice to be able to see her every few weeks. The end of Feb, she started to really get weak. We went out to dinner again for the last time that trip, the food was super delayed, and it was hard for her to make it through dinner. She wasn’t looking good. The next day she was admitted to Saddleback Hospital for observation and to escalate her level of care as she wasn’t responding very well to treatment. These were the first few days my phone started getting a little quieter.

March 11th was the last time I hugged my mom and said goodbye. She was in good spirits; she was at home hanging out with grandbabies and she was excited about her new discharge plan. She had a positively outlook on maybe having a good summer and I as bummed when she told me she likely wouldn’t make it to my cousins weeding in June, I didn’t think much of it but said I would go for her and that seemed to make her smile.  I left heading off to Aspen and there was an awkward feeling in my stomach but that was quickly dashed when the guy next to us had a tire blow out and clipped our car. I thought to myself, that’s probably why I felt weird and kept on doing my thing. Over the next few days and weeks I sent her pictures and texts almost daily, she was so thrilled to see how Aspen had changed. Loved to see the pictures from Monument valley, that was always something I remember, her asking every few weeks, “where’s waldo” today and I would send her a pic. I kept telling her one day we would get her back out on the road so she could see it in person. 

In late March, Corona was back in full swing, Long Beach was operating under the new owners now for a few months, babies were being born and spring was upon us. Tracy and I were in Utah again for our anniversary. Sadly, my mom wasn’t doing well, and she was having trouble keeping food down and weight on. After a few phone conversations, she was encouraged to go to Mayo Clinic out in Arizona and have them evaluate her MG and determine if there was a better course of action. They decided to admit her and start plasmapheresis, which should have started to make a major difference in her treatment and condition. While she was hospitalized for the second time, I was giving her daily updates from Utah’s greatest national parks, coming within just a few hours of the hospital. I wanted to go see her so bad, but timing didn’t pan out and with Covid I was worried about brining her outside germs, especially while in the hospital. Thankfully, in early April she was discharged, however she there were some new initials on her paperwork.      

April 7th, I jumped on a plane heading to Chicago with the wife as she had planned to go with some friends on a “girl’s” weekend to visit a friend, but many couldn’t make it. When we landed in Denver for a quick layover, my mom sent me a text ill never forget. “Hey baby, we need to have a family meeting”. At the time, those words were normal. We were still working together on many projects; we were talking about the normal tax season as well as the sales of the practices and the buildings we owned. I remember replying “can I come out next weekend so I can finish the work week next week”, which she liked and said of course. Friday the 8th came and I texted her several times, sent her pictures of Chicago and told her I was booked to come out the following week. She told me she wasn’t doing well but she had good spirits. On Sat the 9th, I spoke to my brother and dad and they both told me she wasn’t doing well and that she was going on hospice. I remember being like WTF, why? What had changed? Speaking to my wife that was a nurse and a friend who is a MD that we were with, we didn’t understand. What we were hearing wasn’t what we were seeing. I remember asking my Dad what was going on and that was the first time I heard they (Mayo) believed my mom had ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I was devastated!

Sunday the 10th came, and things really started to get bad. My dad and brother both were telling me she wasn’t doing well, and slowly my texts to her were growing silent. I remember reaching out to friends who knew Mama Snell and started to tell them what was going on, many had no idea as things happened so fast over the last few months. I spoke to some of her close friends, I spoke to my close friends who knew her well and we started texting her and sending her emails telling her how much she meant to us. One of the last things she ever expressed was happiness at seeing photos of loved ones. That day I remember looking at the costs to change our flights to catch a flight the next morning but of course it was astronomical. I spoke to my dad and everyone and we were all pretty sure she had several days if not weeks left, so we changed our flights to Tuesday the 12th and planned to head to my parents’ house. 

April 11th started as any normal day, the only difference is I was no longer receiving texts from my mom. One of the first times in the last 12 years my phone was silent. That day we headed off to the Field Museum in Chicago as I was still there with Tracy. I was talking to Jeff and my dad on and off and my mom was doing all right, at that point I later heard she was unable to pick up her phone, so I knew things were getting bad. I wanted to go see the lions of Tsavo at the museum because I had recently learned of them and I had such a great time two years earlier with my mom on Safari seeing these real animals. At about 1:15pm I got a call from my dad that my mom had joined her mom and dad in heaven. It was a strange at first, there was relief knowing she didn’t suffer and wouldn’t, that she went on her own terms at home, listening to “don’t stop believing” one of her favorite songs. Of course, over the last two months there has been so many mixed emotions but one thing I have had tome come to terms with is my mom very likely had ALS and she was terminal. That everyone who experienced the love the Bj Snell “still is” was lucky to have spent those precious moments with her and she was constantly putting everyone before herself. 

These last two months have been interesting to say the least, for me, things have been quiet as of recent. We have transitioned the Corona practice to Circle City Midwifery, and they are delivering babies under the midwifery model of care and still many of the policies this amazing midwife put into place. Elizabeth is continuing to carry the torch and will alongside Dr. Emeruwa, Shantal and others. Meredith is well underway in creating Long Beach’s finest birth center and you can still feel the presence of the greatness that still walks those hallways. It’s been bittersweet though, the one person who would enjoy seeing this the most is only with us in spirit. Thank you all for taking a moment to read this and I hope this had shed some light on what happened with someone we all loved and held so dearly. 

If you haven’t seen the updates, we are having a service for my mom July 9th, 2022 in Laguna Woods, Ca at the 19 Restaurant and Lounge. The event will take place from 5pm to 10pm and everyone is welcome. We hope to see you there, if you haven’t visited www.mamasnell.com please do for more information.