Doula or Midwife? How to Choose the Right Birth Support in Colorado Springs

If you’re preparing for birth and feeling unsure about who does what, you’re in good company. So many families ask the same question:

“Do I need a doula, a midwife… or both?”

This post is meant to give you clarity without overwhelm. My hope is that this feels like a gentle, grounded breakdown—something you can exhale into, rather than one more thing on your to-do list.

What’s the Difference Between a Doula and a Midwife?

A doula supports your emotional, physical, and mental experience throughout pregnancy and birth. I don’t perform clinical care—my focus is your comfort, clarity, and sense of grounding.

What Doulas Do: As your doula, I provide continuous emotional and physical support, offer comfort measures like massage and breathwork, and help you make sense of information and choices as labor unfolds. My role is to support both you and your partner with a grounded, steady presence.

A midwife is a licensed medical provider who oversees your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum clinical care. They focus on health, safety, and the medical side of birth.

What Midwives Do: Midwives monitor your health and your baby’s wellbeing, provide clinical care throughout your pregnancy and birth, and manage the medical aspects of labor and postpartum. Their focus is safety, assessment, and clinical decision‑making.

You can think of it this way:

• Doulas protect your experience.
• Midwives protect your safety.

Both are important, especially for families who want care that feels both safe and deeply supportive.

Why Both Roles Matter for Colorado Springs Families

Both roles bring something essential to your birth team. Your doula tends to your emotional landscape and comfort, while your midwife tends to your health and your baby’s wellbeing. When those two forms of care come together, the support becomes both clinically safe and deeply human.

Having both means you receive balanced support: clinical safety from your midwife, continuous emotional steadiness from your doula, and a team that brings expertise and compassion together.

So many Colorado Springs families share that having both felt like the perfect blend—feeling truly safe, deeply cared for, and able to stay present through their birth experience.

At Active Peace Maternity, my holistic approach weaves these elements together with trauma-informed care, gentle guidance, and a calm, grounding presence.

When to Hire a Doula, a Midwife, or Both

There’s no one-size-fits-all path—it really comes down to the kind of support you want surrounding you during pregnancy and birth. Here’s a simple way to feel into what might serve you best:

Hire a doula when you want…

someone walking alongside you through the emotional and physical experience of pregnancy and birth. This might look like steady check-ins, hands‑on comfort techniques, and having a calm guide who helps you understand your options and feel grounded in your choices. A doula can also help you sort through providers and resources—like midwives, OBs, chiropractors, pelvic floor PTs, and lactation support—so you’re not navigating everything alone.

Hire a midwife when you want…

relationship‑centered clinical care from a trained medical provider who is responsible for your health and your baby’s wellbeing. A midwife monitors how you and baby are doing, offers clinical assessments, and can manage complications if they arise. Midwives practice in homebirth, birth center, and hospital settings, so you can choose the environment that feels safest and most aligned for you.

Hire both when you want…

• Emotional steadiness and clinical expertise
• Reassurance for your mind and comfort for your body
• A birth team where each person stays in their lane but collaborates beautifully
• Support that honors your values, your safety, and your autonomy

Many Colorado Springs families find that having both a doula and a midwife creates the most balanced, grounded, and personalized birth experience—whether that’s at home, in a birth center, or in a hospital.

Holistic Birth Support: The Active Peace Maternity Difference

At Active Peace Maternity & Massage, I blend evidence-based support with grounded, intuitive care—so you feel informed, emotionally held, and connected to your own body and instincts. Families often tell me this approach gives them a sense of calm, clarity, and inner readiness they didn’t know was possible.

Here’s what makes my approach unique in Colorado Springs:

• Trauma-informed, judgment-free support
• Integrated doula and bodywork options (including BRM® and perinatal massage)
• Holistic guidance across your entire journey—fertility, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum
• Flexible, mobile in-home care so support comes to you

If you’d like to explore what your support could look like, you can learn more about my full range of holistic maternity services, including doula support.

FAQs: Doula vs. Midwife in Colorado Springs

Can I have both a doula and a midwife?

Absolutely. Many families feel the most supported when both roles work in harmony—your midwife tending to clinical care, while I focus on comfort, grounding, and emotional steadiness.

How do I choose?

It can help to reflect on what kinds of support help you feel most grounded. Think about your personality, your medical needs, and the type of birth experience you want to cultivate. If you’d like personalized guidance, you’re welcome to schedule a Connection Call so we can talk it through together.

Will my midwife do what a doula does?

Midwives handle your medical care. Doulas care for you—your emotions, your comfort, your experience. The roles complement each other beautifully.

✨ Bonus Tip:

Believe it or not, your doula can be a beautiful bridge for finding the right midwife or OB. Many of us stay closely connected with local midwives, OBs, and community providers. If you’re exploring your options, I’m always happy to share a list of folks whose care and values align with what you’re looking for.

Ready for Calm, Supported Birth?

If you’re exploring how doulas fit alongside other members of your birth team, you might enjoy the next guide in this series: Doula or Nurse?

And if you’d like to talk through your unique birth vision, you’re always welcome to book a free Connection Call with me. We can explore what kind of support would feel most nourishing for you and your family.

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Thanks for reading part 2 of the Doula or…? series - A Translation Guide for Figuring Out Which Professional You Really Need.