Summa TIME!

So summer time is finally here, the weather is warm-ish, not quite hot yet, definitely not swimming, lay around and get sunburnt weather but here none-the-less. The kids are keeping me occupied for sure. I am working very hard at time blocking so I can get my school work done, get the projects around the house done, figure out time to get to the birth centers, go to social events, and spend quality time with the family and the garden.




I went to a midwifery meet up last week at Lennon's house and it was really nice visiting with other midwives and learning some different opinions and ideas and how these Ladies have grown into them. There was Patricia (I think was her name) who is from Mc Minnville, Laura and Angie from Salem and Lennon from Salem there. I enjoyed discussing things from how much medical training do we need, vs how much we use or choose to use to differing ideas about why to be licensed or not. It was quite enlightening.

Last night I went to a fundraiser for Debbie's birth center. There wasn't much of a turn out but it was fun to hang out with her and her daughter and a friend. She asked if I wanted to be on call for a client due in a few weeks and I got to meet her this afternoon. She is a lovely mother with 3 boys already and due with another boy. She had hospital births with the others and is really looking forward to no interventions and respectful attendees. Her stories about the last experience she had at the Lebanon Hospital were very painful to hear. I am happy for her that she chose Debbie to assist her this time. I feel really good about her.



Tonight I went to a presentation at a hospital in Stayton, the Santiam Memorial Hospital, where Elise and Mabel talked about their waterbirth options there. They seem like really great ladies. I talked with them about apprenticeship opportunities and they seemed like they might be interested in having me come to observe occasionally. It will be interesting seeing water birth in a hospital setting. I think that is about all I can handle in that setting as I really prefer to stay out of there all together. It would be cool to build a relationship with other types of providers though so I can have referrals for all kinds of people that I can honestly be comfortable sending them too. While I was there I also met a childbirth educator and lactation consultant who was really nice named Emily. She invited me to sit in on any of her classes so I will probably take her up on that in the near future!

I haven't been able to do much with SWBC because I have not been able to leave the kids for the day. Between them and college courses, it has been hard leaving the house at all since last week. But I am itching to attend births and really want to be making progress towards being able to practice. At this rate it is going to take me 4 years minimum before I can start having my own clients.




The organizing of books and files for my phase 2 assignments is making progress though and I am feeling really good about the possibility of completing phase 2 earlier than needed. I wish I had no issues with money so I could just focus on this and buy books and hire some help around the house. Even if I could have 2 days a week to be out it would make a huge difference. With Tim working so hard in school, it is going to be really hard the next few years. I am considering looking into some other work so I can just get done at LBCC and then work part time for an income. if I could get some Doula clients, that would help considerably. I need to weighout some options. start a business and pay the overhead on that, or pay for some memberships and do more marketing for Doula work.... hmmmmm....

I love social networking

seriously, I do...

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decisions

Between the last blog posting and our post due momma heading to the hospital Wednesday and walking out against doc’s order when the only option for her at 43+ was a CS, to go back the following evening and submit (I don’t know the outcome of that yet) coupled with my own daughter’s emotional issues getting to a point where she has an appointment for evaluation to determine if she is autistic/asperger’s, I have come to the decision to postpone my apprenticeship and spend the summer with my family and get caught up with AAMI and college classes.



I am due to complete phase 1 by next weekend and I am going to try my hardest to do so, I have a lot of the assignments complete and have been getting organized, but I have not been able to read the entire workbook as of yet, I am on page 100.

I am marching in my town’s Strawberry Parade with a midwife who opened a birth center in my town this year.

I am coming to understand on a deeper level why Carla is so passionate about the licensure bullshit. As I watched 2 mommas (2/3 of our May clients) who have ended in CS struggle with staying within the boundaries of the law that allows them to birth with their chosen midwife and watch as the midwife struggles with herself to care for these mothers who ventured outside of her legal boundaries, I am fearful, disappointed, disgusted, overwhelmed and confused. I struggled to accept my Preceptor’s decisions, even though I understood her position and it was not a win win for anyone. The amount of people’s lives that were effected by the need to stay within boundaries of the law was unacceptable. I wanted to just allow these 2 momma’s to relax and let go and not be trying to have a baby and force what you can not force without drugs and violence. Luckily I was able to experience witnessing a beautiful, natural, uncomplicated birth in the midst of it all to reassure myself that IT IS POSSIBLE to just go with the flow and everything is fine and babies are born into happy healthy parent’s hands. Refilling only chux pads and gloves because nothing else from the birth kit was used, leaving the room as soon as the baby was born and leaving mom and dad and baby alone for an hour undisturbed, allowing the grandma’s to handle the older brother and help the parents while we merely were there for holding safe and sacred space, it felt so right, so beautiful, so incredible to serve the way we are meant to serve…. That is what I want to do for families, without the hindrance of time tables and legal bullshit in the way. A relaxed, easy going, confident mom and supportive family makes all the difference in the world.




So, yeah… I am going to step back, still participate at the birth center and do promotional work once a week, hold classes and get togethers and stay active in the community, but I am not going to be on call, I am going to spend time with my family while we grow more accustomed to supporting my daughter with special needs and grow my garden and visit with my extended family who is coming to visit and work on my school work so I can stay on task. The goal is to go back to the birth center on call again in Sept 2011.

What a ride…..

The perfect midwife

My idea of the perfect midwife is: someone who can be focused, calm, and fast to think of solutions. Someone who can facilitate growth while maintaining relationships that lead to sharing the same empowerment amongst the community as a whole. Someone who knows how to “pay it forward” and trusts that she can give willingly and know that she will receive what she needs in return. She is appreciated by the community and people trust her. He can be tough when she needs to protect herself or the people she is caring for, she can be brave when she has to do something hard, she can be quiet when it is time to witness and she can be available when she is needed for help. She is strong in her convictions but not afraid to learn from others. She is open to diversity in cultures and respects traditions and different belief systems. She honors her work as a midwife as a privilege and is gracious for the opportunity to help people who seek her. She knows when to say no to someone she cannot help. She balances her passion for service with her love of her family. She sets an example to the community of peaceful presence and responsible agency. She is happy to teach other women the arts that she possesses and knows that by enabling more people to practice, she ensures everyone a better life. She is ok with not living in luxury and appreciates the little things in life, she finds her riches in the relationships she builds and the people she calls friends. When things get difficult, she can calmly react and manage the situation and even if there is not a favorable outcome, she is confident and humble at the same time.

learning the office ropes

This week has been very exciting, learning how the file system works, how to log MANA stats and where to find things around the birth center. I am loving working with these ladies, Anita is especially patient and sweet. I am so blessed to have such a great team of women willing to teach me how to make this happen. I have to get some paperwork ordered for documenting my expereinces correctly. Definitely some organization is in order. Today, I brought some extra clothes and supplies to keep here. Yesterday I spilled my drink all over my skirt ont he way here! So embarrassing.

I am exhausted at the same time. School is kicking my ass (I am getting a C in all my classes), and sick kids at home. Tiana is starting to get very demanding and manipulative about attention seeking, Olyvia has had a fever for 3 days and just finally decided to cooperate about medicine. Tim has a lot of school demands keeping his attention, and Robbie is doing his usual, helping half assed self. He is so capable of more, yet he is so distracted and unwilling to show some effort to think of anything but hisown desires, guess that comes with his age...

Peggy has been a Godsend, helping so much with the kids and taking care of Olyvia while she has been sick. I just love her so much! I can't wait to bring her to the BC to meet the ladies and have a quilt workshop weekend! Tiana is excited about it too.

Pitocin's untold impact

Pitocin's untold impact

This is incredible information that everyone should be paying attention to.