Difference Relationships in MongoEngine Embedded Documents

I have a schema using MongoEngine that looks like

class User(db.Document)
    email = db.EmailField(unique=True)

class QueueElement(db.EmbeddedDocument):
    accepts = db.ListField(db.ReferenceField('Resource'))
    user = db.ReferenceField(User)

class Resource(db.Document):
    name = db.StringField(max_length=255, required=True)
    current_queue_element = db.EmbeddedDocumentField('QueueElement')

class Queue(db.EmbeddedDocument):
    name = db.StringField(max_length=255, required=True)
    resources = db.ListField(db.ReferenceField(Resource))
    queue_elements = db.ListField(db.EmbeddedDocumentField('QueueElement'))

class Room(db.Document):
    name = db.StringField(max_length=255, required=True)
    queues = db.ListField(db.EmbeddedDocumentField('Queue'))

      

        
        
        
      

    

and I would like to return a JSON object of a Room object that will include information about its queues (along with referenced resources) and nested queue_elements (along with references to "accepted" references and user references)

However, when I want to return the number with my relationship dereferenced:

room = Room.objects(slug=slug).select_related()
if (room):
    return ast.literal_eval(room.to_json())
abort(404)

      

        
        
        
      

    

I am not getting dereference. I get:

{
   "_cls":"Room",
   "_id":{
      "$oid":"552ab000605cd92f22347d79"
   },
   "created_at":{
      "$date":1428842482049
   },
   "name":"second",
   "queues":[
      {
         "created_at":{
            "$date":1428842781490
         },
         "name":"myQueue",
         "queue_elements":[
            {
               "accepts":[
                  {
                     "$oid":"552aafb3605cd92f22347d78"
                  },
                  {
                     "$oid":"552aafb3605cd92f22347d78"
                  },
                  {
                     "$oid":"552ab1f8605cd92f22347d7a"
                  }
               ],
               "created_at":{
                  "$date":1428849389503
               },
               "user":{
                  "$oid":"552ac8c7605cd92f22347d7b"
               }
            }
         ],
         "resources":[
            {
               "$oid":"552aafb3605cd92f22347d78"
            },
            {
               "$oid":"552aafb3605cd92f22347d78"
            },
            {
               "$oid":"552ab1f8605cd92f22347d7a"
            }
         ]
      }
   ],
   "slug":"secondslug"
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

although I am using select_related () function. I believe this is because MongoEngine may not follow inline document links. Note, I can actually dereference python if I do something like this:

room = Room.objects(slug=slug).first().queues[0].queue_elements[0].accepts[0]
return ast.literal_eval(room.to_json())

      

        
        
        
      

    

what gives

{
   "_id":{
      "$oid":"552aafb3605cd92f22347d78"
   },
   "created_at":{
      "$date":1428842849393
   },
   "name":"myRes"
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

which is clearly a dereferenced resource document.

Is there a way to track links to inline documents? Or is it because I am following a bad schema and have to find another way to store this information in MongoDB (or, indeed, go to a relational DB)? Thank!