New Skin, Officially

Even though I finished my midwifery apprenticeship December 31, 2005 and I hung my shingle (so to speak) in 2006, and even though I have had a handful of clients and babies come my way, and even though I finally got the funds to take and pass the NARM exam and become a CPM at the beginning of the year, it all seems official now.
This is because my good friend Kate hosted a lovely and fun midwifery blessingway for me last Friday night. My closest friends, favorite midwives, and sweet mom and mother-in-law were all there. My husband was there too, but I only made him sit in for the last 10 minutes of it, so that I could thank everyone and especially him for their support over the years. We shared good food, wine, yummy Lambic, chocolate cake and an outdoors, candle-lit blessingway.
I received so many wonderful, choke-me-up and make-me-sob words and well wishes. I also received trinkets, stones, beads to put in my birth bag and gorgeous poems and prose. It was a lovely night and I'm so thankful the awesome women in my life.
So thank you Kate, for giving me such a great party. It was really a healing and refreshing way to mark the end of that path and to embrace the new one.

The pictures above are from a cicada that clung to our deck yesterday. It's common for us to find the shells all over the deck and swing set in the summer time, but we've never actually caught one emerging. It was amazing. It took about 2 hours for it to work its way out of the shell and dry completely before it could fly.
I thought that since I don't have any pics of the blessingway, I would post the cicada. Definitely an appropriate image.

Saturday The Birth Project had a table at Ypsi's Shadow Art Fair. When we first got there to set up, we felt a bit like the nerds sitting next to the cool kid's tables. All the other vendors seemed to be in their mid-20s, lovely and super hip, selling super hip stuff. The buttons we ordered were lost in shipment and we were bummed about that. We thought that if we sold anything, that would be it. We settled into a day of "let's just get through this". After all, pretty mid-20s people don't care about birth or zines dedicated to birth. However, things quickly picked up when we placed an open page of issue 3 out, which has a picture of a woman with biggest, beautiful belly. So many people asked: Is that FOR REAL?
We ended up getting a handful of subscriptions on the spot, and others buying an issue or two. And then many more who took a free issue in exchange for hopping on our mailing list. Not a bad day. We were there for 13 hours in the brewery. We didn't start drining til 10pm. Was home (and drunk) by 12:30am. A good night.

Today G and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary 2 years later. (In August it will be 12 years~I wanted to do something special at 10 but couldn't afford the money or time.) We're so lame though. We tried really hard to find somewhere cool to go that didn't keep us in the car for hours and hours. Driving up north takes 5-6 hours and I didn't want to do that. So tonight we are actually staying in the only swank hotel in our fair city, which is also the same place we stayed after our reception (because we were too drunk to drive home). My mom will stay the night with the kids and in the morning G and I will take them to his mom's house where they will stay until Sunday. Woo hoo!
But we still have no idea what the heck we're going to do. But to me that's the ultimate vacation: a nice road trip with no destination.

It will be fun, and nice to flop on a king size bed that I won't have to make and watch cable tv and eat Thai food that we never get because it's too spicy for the kids and drink a couple beers because I'm not technically on call for another 2 weeks.

Here's to a fun weekend...

Blessed

Tonight my good friend and assistant is having a midwifery blessingway for me.
I'm so excited to have a chance to hang out with a bunch of great women (friends, family, senior midwives) in the same room. And of course it will be a potluck and food genuinely makes me happy, happy. So it will be a good night. I even got a sitter for the kids so G can come. He's not thrilled to be forced to sit in with a bunch of women. I told him he can hang out with K's husband and dip in on the celebration as needed/or as he can stand it. (Gushy, emotional things are very uncomfortable for him, unless it's between he and I in the privacy of our own home)

I just received a gift of sorts that made me tear up. A client of mine who had her baby a few months ago just emailed me new photos of her family and baby with the kindest words about her birth. She had recently sat in at a mom's group and they all shared their birth stories. She was the only one in 7 women who felt completely empowered and positive about her birth experience. That's very sad. She was also the only to have chosen a home birth.

So many things are changing around us. Life is good. Money is tight but not too tight. Bills are being paid and we're all happy and healthy.
Definitely feeling blessed in so many ways.

July 3rd is a good day to be born

This morning I got a call from my client due 6/28. I've gone to her house on two other occasions when she had serious labor that later petered out. She lives nearly an hour from us, so I'm already a little twitchy about not making it in time. Plus, it has been my experience that women who have a lot of start and stop labors generally go fairly quick when it's going good.
They called me at 7:45am. I was in the car by 7:58. Not bad. Very nice having mom upstairs. I'm sure my clients appreciate it as much as I do. At any rate, as I was driving there, I remembered that July 3rd was the date of the first baby I had ever caught. I had been apprenticing just about a year at that point. I was sent ahead of the midwives to labor sit for a woman an hour away. Because it was July 3rd, the freeway was packed to a crawling stop for most of the way with folks making their way up north. After a couple hours at this woman's house, I checked her and she was 7cm. I called the midwife to tell her and just as I got her on the phone, this woman's water broke with a huge gush and right behind it was the baby's head. Told the midwife, "I gotta go! The baby is coming!"
And it did.
These particular clients lived in an amazing house that was all windows on one side. We were on the top floor of their house that looked out onto a river. Just after the baby was born the fireworks started. We had such an awesome view.
What a great way to come into the world, with colorful fireworks crackling in the sky!

Today's baby was born at 4:30pm. A sweet little boy, born with his hand up by his head. That's the 3rd baby in a row I've had with a hand up at birth (well except the last one which was the shoulder dystocia). About 2 hours after the birth, the fireworks in the neighborhood started going off. What a way to say happy birthday!

A very sweet birth. This mama did so well and was so in tune with her body. I thought we might get to witness an "orgasmic birth" (no, I've never seen one either~ but I have seen 3 or so women have such strong faith that labor seemed painless). This woman today was beatific. Smiling, glowing, laughing, chanting. Very peaceful during intense, every 2minutes contractions. Then her water broke and her baby came down in a hurry. Then she started moaning in earnest, and the baby was born in 15 minutes.

This leaves me off-call for a bit. Hurray!
Time to plan a mini-trip for G and I. Can't wait. Hope we can afford it! ;)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Little E

Today is our son's 3rd birthday!
I was going to post his birth story I wrote when he was a week or so old but I can't find it. Think I lost it on the old PC's hard drive.

3 seems big to me. In his second year, he has stopped nursing, started using the potty, stopped sleeping with us (at least for most of the night), and started having real conversations that are sweet and articulate. So many new things.
3 is not a baby.

Today I did two visits.
One for a client who is 4 days over due with her second baby. The full ripeness of her belly made me yearn for the same. The start and stop contractions she's been having. I had those too. That sweet anticipation of waiting for labor to commence.

My other visit was a client's 6 week postpartum visit. The bittersweet last visit we have between midwife and client unless we meet again by surprise or another pregnancy call comes again. I held her 6 week old who has gained nearly 5 pounds in the past 6 weeks! An amazing chunky monkey like my kids as babies.

I must admit (if it isn't already obvious), my ovaries are sparking like mad.
What's come over me? Greg has also been mentioning having a number 3.
But when on earth will we find the time? Not for the making of babies, but for the 1st year of raising a baby! If we decide to ever pull the strings on this IUD, we're definitely going to have to consult with my mother who lives upstairs!

Sigh. My hormones are very full of love and sappiness this week.