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Midwife Care

Safe, Holistic Prenatal Care and Natural Birth Experience

At BCH, you have the option to choose a certified nurse-midwife to be at your side from the time you start trying to conceive and until after your baby is born. They focus on providing you and your family with comprehensive, high-quality prenatal care and an empowering birth experience with deliveries in the Family Birth Center at Foothills Hospital.

Is Midwifery Care Right for You?

While obstetrician-gynecologists remain the go-to professionals for pregnancy care and delivery in the United States, midwives are growing in popularity. In fact, nearly 1 in 10 births today are attended by a midwife. But is a midwife right for you?

Certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) are advanced practitioners with graduate education in women’s health care and midwifery. They focus on each woman’s unique maternity experience and embrace holistic approaches, which can include alternative and complementary therapies. Their empowering model of care is also more of shared decision-making, with the midwife educating and supporting you both emotionally and physically — from pre-pregnancy and childbirth to post-delivery.

Are you a candidate for midwifery prenatal and childbirth care?

Not all moms-to-be are good candidates for midwifery care. It is a good option if:

  • You have no major complications during pregnancy. The conventional obstetrician route is best for high-risk pregnancies or deliveries.
  • You want childbirth to be as natural as possible and aim to receive very little medical intervention when labor is progressing normally.

Personal, Collaborative Relationships

When you choose to have midwifery care with Foothills Community Midwives or Boulder Medical Center in Boulder, you’ll benefit from a close, personal relationship and safe, compassionate services. Our highly skilled midwives take the time to get to know you and will listen to your goals and concerns, ensuring you’re well supported emotionally and physically.

During labor, your midwife will assist you in delivering your baby as naturally as possible, offering comfort and support with stress-relieving holistic therapies, hands-on adjustment and minimized medical intervention. They will continue to care for you while adapting to motherhood, offering both postpartum care and support with infant feeding.

BCH nurse-midwives also have a close, collaborative relationship with the obstetricians at Boulder Women’s Care and Boulder Medical Center in Boulder, who are available 24/7 if any midwife mom-to-be develops a serious medical concern during pregnancy or labor and delivery. All share the same commitment to helping you have a safe, happy and healthy pregnancy and the best birth experience.

    Childbirth at Foothills Hospital

    BCH’s Foothills Community Midwives and the nurse-midwife at Boulder Medical Center in Boulder help expecting moms and families create empowering birth experiences in the comfort and safety of a hospital setting, with deliveries in the Family Birth Center at Foothills Hospital. Spacious rooms offer inspiring mountain views, queen-size beds and oversized hydrotherapy tubs. During labor, a midwife will assist you in delivering your baby as naturally as possible, offering comfort and support with stress-relieving holistic therapies and hands-on adjustments.

    When the big moment comes, you will receive very little medical intervention if labor is progressing normally. All the while, you can rest assured that an obstetrician is on-call and our home-like Special Care Nursery right onsite, should extra medical care be required.

    Our certified nurse-midwives offer the following services:

    • Comprehensive prenatal care for low-risk and moderate-risk pregnancies and births (e.g., pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, vaginal birth after cesarean)
    • Labor and delivery care in the safety of a hospital
    • Pain management options from alternative and complementary therapies to epidural
    • Postpartum (after birth) care
    • Infant feeding support

    Our Foothills Community Midwives Team

    foothills community midwives
    From left to right: Certified Nurse-Midwives Marcie Mullins, Paige Swales and Martine Tesone, (not pictured: Megan Mack)

    Midwife with Boulder Medical Center in Boulder

    Erin Harper-Sanchez, CNM

    Take a Virtual Tour: Peek inside our Family Birth Center. Every element is designed to make bringing your new baby into the world as special as possible.

    Download our guide for creating a birth plan. A birth plan is a valuable tool for communicating your desires for your labor, delivery and post-partum time with your care team.

      Schedule an Appointment

      Foothills Community Midwives see patients at offices located in Erie Medical Center and within Foothills Medical Building in Boulder. To schedule an appointment please call 303-415-4045. To schedule an appointment with the midwife at Boulder Medical Center in Boulder, call 303-938-4710.

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