Middle Way Midwifery

08/20/2025

Hi! New name changes! San Juan Midwifery is now Middle Way Midwifery LLC ✨

After 6 years of practicing on the western slope, I looked around this year and said, “Woah, I am not the same midwife I was when I first came to Colorado” and thank goodness for that! I hope in another 6 years I feel the same way!
Middle Way has much meaning to me. As a young spiritual woman, I found comfort in finding what Buddhists describe as the Middle Path - the wisdom of neutrality in a world of extremes. On top of a foundation of: what is true when we move with pure Love? Beneath the noise, what arises?
As a midwife, I found myself representing the Middle Way as my practice grew. Hey now, you can have both - have your baby in your kitchen, and get that ultrasound, and have a trained licensed midwife at your birth who carries western medicine, herbs, and trusts in the unique oxytocin of home. Or whatever feels true for you! Get an epidural, but call upon the home birth midwives to walk the spiritual and emotional path of the death of the maiden and the birth of the mother. I have witnessed many variations of the Middle Way over the last 9 years and it’s my favorite part of my work. What is true for YOU, right here, right now? What if that decision was neutral? It doesn’t have to put you in a judgmental, labeled box. It’s simple truth. It’s your Middle Way.

Thank you for walking with me 💛

(I’m a one woman team, so please bear with me as I update name changes everywhere. We will also have a new location next month! More to come 🥰 the only reason I can take leaps of faith is because of my families 🙏🏼)

08/17/2025

07/31/2025

The gray hairs of Midwifery 🩶
I was 23 years old when I caught my first baby. Unknowingly entering what could only be described as a Spiritual Path that is deeply in the physical yet still mostly Unseen.
Each year I age I actually feel more and more like I’m finally stepping into myself. To watch the grays come in, reminds me of the sleepless nights and the squats in corners and next to beds where I’m holding Women physically and emotionally while guiding babies in. I’m reminded of the times I begged women to eat and hydrate while I needed friends to midwife me the same. The white stripes in my hair represent much more than just age, they represent the families I’ve held and the wisdom gained with that ask.

With that, the pressure of approaching the “geriatric” age of a woman and our biological clocks comes. But without any of the celebration of the body that got us here and how I know her more than the year before and the year before. Instead I practice daily gratitude for all she’s held and walked.

I get to say my aging hair is here because of New Life!! How lucky am I?!
If I was blessed to be your midwife, can you give your baby (babies*) a big kiss for me and thank them for keeping me on my toes and for my growing grays? 🩶

07/17/2025

NEW STUDENT ALERT! Give her some love like y’all are so good at! 😍

Many of you know her as the owner of the Grand Junction Birth Collective! She has also been a doula for sometime now. I have been watching and loving on Alaina for years and now it is time for me to sweep her up in my arms and practice as she pursues midwifery! She has attended over 180 births as a doula and birth assistant for Bloomin’ Babies and some home birth midwives, so she comes with a great amount of experience and knowledge!! She also just assisted me at a birth this week and was such an amazing space holder, while also knowing how to anticipate needs.
Here is her bio and picture of her gorgeous family so you can put a face to a name. For now, we have agreed to have her along my side until December, when I will be taking a vacation. Then in the new year, we will reconvene and see where both of our needs our. Though I won’t be surprised if she attends my 2026 births with me as well! 😘

————-

Hi, I’m Alaina Marquez! I was born and raised in Gunnison, Colorado, and have called Grand Junction home for many years. I went to Colorado Mesa University (CMU) and Colorado Christian University (CCU), got married, had four amazing kids, and found my calling in birth work. For the last six years, I’ve supported families as a doula, birth photographer, childbirth educator, and mentor to new doulas through my training program.
Since 2022, I’ve been studying with GoMidwife to become a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM). My passion for midwifery started back in high school in a career prep class, and although my journey into this work wasn’t a straight line, it led me exactly where I’m meant to be—supporting homebirth and learning what it truly means to be a homebirth midwife.
When I’m not attending births or meeting with families, I’m usually with my own—hiking, gardening, swimming, enjoying good food, and soaking up time together. I’m so excited to be working alongside Jaime Doty and serving families in this beautiful valley and contributing to a beautiful, holistic midwifery practice. Thanks for letting me be a part of your story as you welcome new life into the world!

06/17/2025

Hi! Tickets are officially bought! Reminder, if your birthing window is during this time, I will be off traveling 😊
Shout out to a few of my repeat families who have revealed to me that they were real careful this spring to make sure I can go on vacation this winter 😂😂

There are still 2025 slots between now and December, but not many! 2026 due dates are already coming in too! So fun!

😘☀️🏝️

05/05/2025

Happy International Day of the Midwife!
Cheers to my Veil Holders
Witnesses to the Seen and Unseen
The Scapegoats of the Birth World
To those of us who have felt safest at times at gatherings to just say, “I’m a teacher” instead of proudly stating the truth “I’m a home birth midwife, and I know I’m about to open a can of traumatic wounds by just saying that”
Because you too are simply human and exhausted at times
And if one more person implies your work is “dangerous”, you’re not sure if you can play the game required so often
When earlier that week you watched generations of trauma bleed out from a woman’s uterus in a raw, non-instagram worthy form
You called in a Soul who took a little longer to fully enter their body
You held space for the deep intimacies and intricacies of a new family unity
You cried from pride, exhaustion, humility the whole drive home at 3am while the rest of the world slept
You stood up for what is right, not necessarily what has always been
You held the mirror to women because you know damn well they are capable of rising to the occasion, but they’ve just never had someone believe in them
You moved your hands and body on the other side of what was “Not the plan” and at times traumatic, but it’s because you didn’t become a midwife to not bring the wisdom of the ancestors with you to births, and at times that means you have to Do and not be passive to the Bigness of what this is

May you be seen in your work in this world, my midwives. I see you 🤍🖤