End of July Check in

My check ins are too few and far between but that is not because I am not doing anything…

I am still maintaining good grades at community college. This term I am taking technical writing, speech, medical terminology and eastern religion. All of these classes are giving me opportunities to expand my midwifery skills, from writing papers and studying for my technical writing paper which is on how and why we should reduce c sections.

This Wednesday I will be delivering a 5-7 minute informative speech about how the home birth rate has risen 20% since 2007. I plan on video recording this and using it on my blog and website for informational and advertising purposes. I am really looking forward to this project.




The medical terminology class has been very challenging and fun at the same time. I spend more time on that class than any other class at this point and have been taking weekly quizzes averaging about a “B.” I remember a lot of it from taking A and P for massage therapy school, but that was over 10 years ago and it is a good review!

The Eastern Religion class has been very “enlightening” and I am learning some very wonderful things about mindset and the role of suffering in life and how to overcome it from ancient texts and practices that suit me very well. I am going to a Buddhist temple for an assignment and am looking forward to learning how to better meditate and keep focus and centered and not allow my expectations or attachments to rule my life. I might even stick with this routine of going to “church” as Westerners would call it, Temple as Easterners do, on Monday nights as part of “me” time.

I spoke with someone in the college about teaching a childbirth education course as part of their community parenting classes. They were not very receptive and even went so far as to tell me they would not want to present a conflict of interest with the hospital’s classes. I had to inform them that the hospital’s classes would not be the same as my class because I was going to get down into depth of the actual physiology of birth, including the hormonal changes and aspects of the environment that will help maintain safety for the mother and baby both physically and psychologically without the use of any interventions, keeping the focus on NORMAL and not on medicalized birthing. She wants me to present her with my resume, references, a full outline, bibliography and an interview when I am ready to get started. I am looking forward to the challenge and my goal is to be teaching a summer class there next year, that will not only appeal to expecting or planning parents, but also some of the nursing program students as well. It will be at least a 6 week course covering pregnancy, birth and postpartum. I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew planning this, but I am certainly up for the challenge!

The bookshelf is getting fuller. I found a great deal on 3 ring binders at a 2nd hand store, 21 for $5, can’t beat that! I have been getting organized still and working on the list of assignments for phase 2. At this point, I am 2 weeks behind where I intended to be, but I feel confident I can make up some of that time now that my husband will be home more to help with the kids. The downside to that is that he will be home and also contribute to the distractions… ahhh, married life!




I have been working on my herbal knowledge and practices as well. Studying the local herbs, where to get them and what they do. I have even been consulting with some people about their ailments and helping them find herbs that might help out with things from allergies to infectious wounds, menstrual irregularities and headaches.

I love being a student midwife. I really really do!

How to Make Herbal Tinctures

What is a tincture and why do you use it?
A tincture is a fast acting infusion of an herb or combination of herbs in an alcohol base. The herbal tincture is more potent than a tea or infusion, requiring a smaller dose and easy to administer to sick people and children. Tinctures also can be stored for a long period of time and still be effective making it a very efficient way of using herbal medicine.

Step 1: Gather needed supplies
How to choose herbs. Researching an herbal remedy for what ails you is important. There are many sources that conflict on the usefulness of an herb or how to properly identify an herb so make sure your source is credible. There are a few well known herbalists, like Susun Weed who publishes many books and tours teaching classes to the public. There is also an American Herbalist Guild that you can use to find out if there are any herbalists in your area that may help consult you on herbs that would help whatever your concern is. You can find them here http://www.americanherbalistsguild.com/

Herbs, dried or fresh? After you have decided what type of herb to use based on your need, you then need to obtain this herb. You can easily find dried herbs in leaf or root form online at websites such as Starwest Botanicals (http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/) and buy them in bulk so you can make large quantities of your preferred medicine. If you are using dried herbs, the ratio of herb to alcohol is one ounce dried herb to six ounce of spirit. If you are growing your own herbs or can harvest them in the wild as some prefer to do, you can use one ounce of fresh herb to one ounce of spirit. (Weed, pg 137) If you are wild harvesting, make sure that you are finding a source that is free from toxins or bacteria. Don’t harvest from road sides, polluted river banks or areas where animals are likely to have defecated on the plants.

Alcohol. The type of alcohol you use to preserve your herbal tincture is a matter of preference. Homeopathic doctors and pharmacists often use pure grain alcohol, but this is very strong and can burn the inside of your mouth if you are using it without diluting it in juice or water. Most people use brandy, vodka, or rum, as long as it is around 100-80 proof. 100 proof means that it is half alcohol and half water and many dosages that you will find assumes this is the material used.



Appropriate sized containers. You will need to gather canning jars of the appropriate size for the amount of tincture you plan to make. I recommend using quart jars with tight fitting lids like you would for canning. You will also need to gather the jars you plan on storing your tincture in and administering the doses from, like the brown bottles with droppers that you can find through many of the stores you would buy your herbs from or from a pharmacy. The jars you use to store your tincture in long term should be colored to block the sunlight from your tincture.

Step 2: Combine your tincture ingredients
Now that you have your supplies in order, you can fill your jar with the appropriate measurement of dried or fresh herbs and the alcohol of your choice. Cap the jar tightly with a lid and label the jar with the ingredient used and the date. You will need to store the jar in a warm, dark place and remember to shake it daily for 2 weeks. This helps to release the properties of the herb into the alcohol. The tincture needs to steep in the solution for at least 6 weeks. Some people like to make their tinctures on a New Moon and that way, they know that if they wait 2 full moons their medicine is ready!

Step 3: Strain and Bottle
You have waited patiently and your medicine is ready to be used. Using a piece of cheese cloth or fin muslin, pour the contents of the jar through the cloth and into a clean bowl, squeezing the herbal material to release any remaining liquid. Discard the used herbs. Making sure your storage dropper bottles are clean and sterile, use a small funnel to pour the tincture into your bottles, label them and they are complete!

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...

Birthing Assistance, doula, natural birth education and support.

Makawee Birth Assistance Website

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.