Meet the Midwives

We are midwives, mothers, educators and advocates. Our passion for reproductive justice brought us to this work. We promote the full scope of midwifery that is our global lineage: compassionate care from birth to death, menarche to menopause. We believe in a community-based model and we help our participants gather the resources they need to shape their own experience in ways that honor their values and individual needs.

Maryann Colella, LM, CPM

(she, her) English and Spanish (second Language)

Born and raised in LA by a single mama who taught me at a young age the truth about “the birds and the bees,” I was surprised by how little my middle school friends knew about their arriving menses. I quickly became an informal bathroom body literacy educator (and I probably taught them some other things their parents didn’t want them to know- oops!).

When I learned at age five that I was born by scheduled cesarean because my older sister was born by cesarean, my mother tells me I was emboldened with a sense of injustice; “Why wouldn’t they let me try to get born?!” I soon began to carry everywhere a coffee table book called A Child is Born and would show any willing stranger in the grocery store a large color photo of a baby crowning. Thankfully, my mom never censored my passion for biology.

After coming off hormonal birth control in my early 20s, I began offering free “radical menstruation” and Fertility Awareness Method workshops every summer in rural Vermont. In 2013 I started my own doula practice in Boston, MA and I also volunteered as a doula with the Boston Abortion Support Collective and for teen parents giving birth at Brigham and Women’s hospital. In 2013, I went to Guatemala to learn Spanish and had the honor of being hosted by a local midwife in a small village outside of Xela.

In 2016, I started midwifery school at Maternidad La Luz and began training at their high volume birth center on the border between El Paso, TX and Juárez, MX. While there I served hundreds of Juarense families and became passionate about birth on the border.

Upon graduating, I moved with my partner to Puerto Rico, which had just been hit by Hurricane Maria, to be closer to her family. In 2018, I started a midwifery practice with another midwife, Marla Rodríguez Morales, and we offered care for pregnancy loss, birth, and insemination. I also started working with the local abortion doula collective. In 2021 my partner and I conceived with our first attempt at home IUI and I birthed our child at home in 2022. Three months postpartum, I began working in a community midwifery practice with the non-profit organization Caderamen

Now that our little one is wanting buddies, we decided to move our family to Tucson, where we have friends and community with kids. Thanks for welcoming me; I hope to be of great service!

MY STORY

My FORMATION

ACTIVE Certifications and memberships

Arizona Licensed Midwife

Certified Professional Midwife- North American Registry of Midwives

Advanced Provider- Neonatal Resuscitation Program

Basic Life Support- American Heart Association

Member- Asociación de Parteras de Puerto Rico

Training

Midwifery Graduate- Maternidad la Luz

Breech Pro- Breech Without Borders

Twins and Breech Master Class- Breech Without Borders

Resolving Shoulder Dystocia- Gail Tully, CPM

One Day Workshop- Spinning Babies

Intrauterine Insemination and Sperm Washing- Liam Kali, CPM and Audra Karp, CPM

Pregnancy Loss for Midwives- Molly Dutton Kenny, CPM

Emergency Skills for Midwives- Ruth Kauffman, CPM, RN

Midwifery Assistant (1 Week Training)- The Farm

Rodin molina, MSN, CNM, PMH-C

(she, her) English and Spanish (second Language)

I am a certified nurse midwife who has been working in perinatal health since 2009. In that time, I have been lucky to see birth in many settings and from many vantage points. I have worked as a doula, prenatal educator, home birth assistant, hospital nurse, home visit nurse, perinatal support group facilitator, and midwife. I received my Bachelor of Nursing degree from Northern Arizona University in 2016 and my Master of Nursing degree from Frontier Nursing University in 2022. I am certified in perinatal mental health through Postpartum Support International. 

I was born in Michigan and grew up in North Carolina but Tucson is my forever home. I feel passionate about providing Tucson families with safe and connected options for care within their community. I believe deeply in shared decision making, helping clients feel empowered with knowledge so they can make informed choices for themselves and for their families. When I was a new mother, before I was a midwife, I wanted care providers who listened to me and respected my choices while providing me with safe care and high quality information. I seek to provide the families I serve with the same care that I wanted when I was the client. I have two daughters of my own. When I'm not working or with my family I stay sane by running, reading, and being a bit of a gym rat.

MY STORY

My FORMATION

ACTIVE Certifications and memberships

National Certification: American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB)

AZ Licensure: Registered Nurse & Certified Nurse Midwife 

Perinatal Mental Health Certified via PSI (PMH-C)

Neonatal Resuscitation Pathway (NRP)

Basic Life Support (BLS)

American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM)

Training

Northern Arizona University Bachelors in Nursing 2016

Frontier Nursing University Masters in Nursing 2022

IUI for Midwives 2024

Happiest Baby on the Block Certified Educator 2020

Ultrasound for Midwives 2022

Spinning Babies 2020

OUR Philosophy

We affirm that each person has the right to decide if, where, how, and with whom they want to give birth. As midwives and mothers, we know that childbirth is a normal, common and physiological process. Therefore, we trust that most pregnant people have the ability to give birth naturally and with joy, outside of the hospital. At the same time, we recognize that most is not all, and as skilled attendants, we are trained to make informed recommendations, support shared decision making, identify complications, manage emergencies, and transfer care when appropriate.

Midwives are skilled clinicians trained in various supports for the labor and birth processes, including interventions sometimes required to facilitate the safety of the birthing person and their baby. We use these interventions judiciously, and only when necessary. Much of the time childbirth just requires patience, an attentive eye and supportive presence, and maybe some strategic wiggling of the hips.

We believe that midwifery care is relational, and as such engage our clients as active partners in decision-making and communication. We believe in education, evaluating options, and holding space for the gray areas. 

We respect the experiences of conception, loss, termination, pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum as profound events in our clients' lives, and witness them as such. We treat newborns with the utmost respect, knowing their first moments meeting the world are powerful ones, and that the early minutes and hours as a new family require the same gentle care as the birthing that preceded them. 

We believe that each pregnant person has the intuition to listen to and trust the wisdom of their own body. With this in mind, we offer collaborative support so that each person can flourish in their own power. Our ultimate goal is to give people the radically personal support we all deserve in order to have transformative, embodied experiences that we carry throughout our lives.

“ I touch my own skin, and it tells me that before there was any harm, there was miracle.”

- Adrienne Marie Brown