Find a Doula Near Me in Grand Junction, CO

I was born and raised in Panama, and with a North American and a Panamanian parent, I bring with me a taste of multicultural integration. I grew up in the country side of Panama, so moving to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, to be outdoors as much as possible, enjoy hiking with our dog, kayaking, camping, and live a simple life, makes it feel like home. Ways I support families are connecting with baby prenatally, navigating birth (knowing now that the birth experience has a big impact on how our life unfolds and who we are), transitioning to parenthood, understanding postpartum recovery, boosting & (breast)feeding support, tips & tricks for less cry and more sleep, early brain development, and creating parenting habits with consciousness. I have over 35 years of working with families and their little ones in different fields, and with time, I became a strong promoter of prenatal bonding. My main focus is to help families as early as possible in their pregnancy, right after birth, with reading their newborn’s body language, expressing feelings, and practice processing them. The postpartum recovery period can be tricky... mothers go through wild hormonal and emotional changes throughout this journey, and adaptations, and infants as well, bring with them memories from the womb and the birth, which sometimes are manifested with cry. I model self-regulation, using tools like deep breathing and connection, helping the family, so mothers recover smoothly, and babies enjoy growing, feeling safe, loved, accepted, and understood, giving them tools to keep wanting to explore and be able to learn. I usually do overnights to help create a system, specially in those first weeks to help recovering baby’s birth weight, and so parents get some sleep; encouraging & empowering them. I am based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, although I love going all over the United States and get to know new places at the same time.

I was born and raised in Panama, and with a North American and a Panamanian parent, I bring with me a taste of multicultural integration. I grew up in the country side of Panama, so moving to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, to be outdoors as much as possible, enjoy hiking with our dog, kayaking, camping, and live a simple life, makes it feel like home. I model self-regulation, using tools like deep breathing and connection, helping the family, so mothers recover smoothly, and babies enjoy growing, feeling safe, loved, accepted, and understood, giving them tools to keep wanting to explore and be able to learn.

I am a DONA Certified Birth Doula serving Durango/Bayfield and surrounding areas. I prepare couples to experience the beauty of childbirth through one-on-one training beforehand, continuous in-person support during labor and delivery, and postpartum support afterwards. I also include birth photography as part of my birth doula package!

Mary is an AlloDoula Acadamy Certified professional doula. She has been a postpartum doula since 2017, after leaving the field of teaching preschool after 20 years. Mary also holds a MA degree in Educational Psychology through Boulder Journey School and the University of Colorado Denver. Mary’s passion for working with babies and families stems from growing up as the child of a neonatologist. She views infants as being born competent and capable citizens that should be treated as such. After becoming a mother in 2012 Mary truly understood the benefits of having extra support during labor and postpartum. What she enjoys most about this work is connecting with families and helping to ease new parents into this major life transition. She loves sharing her knowledge with others and supporting parents to become confident in their own abilities and strengths. Mary is passionate about infant sleep and creating positive sleep habits and strategies for families. In addition to her postpartum doula certification, Mary has taken a number of trainings focusing on lactation education and infant sleep support. Outside of work Mary enjoys snowboarding, reading, gardening, seeing live music and spending time with her 12 year old son, Summit James.