Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I played midwife's assistant for the day

Fun stuff! It was hard to just "observe" and keep my mouth shut in the appointments, lol, but I did. I suppose it really is a good indication that I want to be a midwife that I was quite pleased to be dipping test sticks in cups of urine (checking everything from specific gravity to pH) and making homebirth packets. I think I'm going to take a couple months off when I finish my BS classes, save up a little $$, and start my midwifery classes in Nov or Dec (before the next tuition hike).

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

I found it!

I found the term for vegetarian-who-eats-fish! This is from the Dr. Sears website:
Pesco-vegetarians eat fish, dairy products, and eggs along with plant foods. (We believe this is the healthiest diet for most people).
So I am a pesco-vegetarian. Cool!

I feel smart

Jeremy and I went to a day of Education Week yesterday for a little anniversary fun (5 years on the 31st, yay!). We had been planning it for a while and it was really cheap, so we kept it on even with the tight $$. It's anniversary, you know. Some things are important. And it was amazing! We went to several classes on brain function (one on the brain and mental illness medication, one on prenatal brain development), one on stress (on payday, we're getting some lavender and chamomile--it works!!), one on marriage (similar ideas to Stephen Covey), one on the culture wars, and a devotional by Robert D. Hales. I think we stretched our brains and our feet more than we have in a year or two! Jeremy really enjoyed a day of learning, with no pressure for grades or anything, and I'm always happy to be drinking in new information. The prenatal brain development is a nice addition to my future-midwife-knowledge brain area, lol. I will be observing some prenatals with a local midwife soon, hopefully next Tuesday. Score! And Jeremy is coming around slowly to my being vegetarian-who-eats-fish. He even asked if there are any vegetarian restaurants in town. I have no idea. There should be!!!

Monday, August 18, 2008

I hate money. And meat.

Because I don't have it. We are really trying to budget and take cash out for cash stuff and not use debit cards, but it doesn't work yet because we have so much "we'll pay it next paycheck" stuff left over from the last month (mostly bumped from when we paid for mom-in-law's car repair, which delayed our rent payment, which just set off a cascade including two of our own car repairs), resulting in our having NO money for the next week, and having to pull almost all of our savings into checking just to cover the bills we already wrote for, and we'll still be late on a couple that have to wait again. There goes my (ideally) down payment on my midwifery course. *cry*

Anyway. On the flip side, I've successfully been vegetarian-except-for-fish (there has to be a real term for that somewhere) for a week now. Woot. Jeremy thinks I'm crazy but he doesn't have room to talk on that subject, lol.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Doula training rocks!

Wow. That was nine solid hours of amaaaaazing information. Massage, counter-pressure, acupressure, aromatherapy, laboring positions, birth information, business info, etc, etc, etc. And I might already have a client! We'll see. I have a potential client, how's that? And I got more information on a possible midwifery apprenticeship to start later, too! I went to DI today and got a recent Medical Terminology book--I'm doing one midwifery/doula education thing at a time while doing my regular classwork in the morning (okay, mom, lol? It's just not interesting to put in my blog, "I read three teen novels this morning for my class, Weetzie Bat was awesome" like I did Wednesday). I did get my official grades for my last two regular classes, A- in both classes. I just don't see a big increase coming in my income when I finish. I am finishing. I'm just less excited about that. Jeremy is working on videography stuff these days, which he actually tried to go to school for (yay, ADD), and he's working on what he can do without a degree, which is pretty much everything, lol. He'll be using what he tapes of the girls' birthday, for instance, for his portfolio, and offering low-cost event taping/editing around here for a bit to build up his portfolio. He's got most of the stuff already.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Umm... Wednesday?

Just a quick note. First of two doula classes tomorrow! And then a service project with the (I think) younger sisters in my ward so I might actually get to meet someone in the neighborhood, yay! Well, someone else. I'm comfortable enough to say hi to one other mom in my ward, lol. I have to miss some work for the class so I figured I'd go to the service project too!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Books and breasts

I'm starting a local two-part doula course Thursday, yay! And then I'll tack on my HypnoDoula cert. I'll be done with my Adolescent Lit class for my BS by the end of the month, and only have one 2-credit class left before I can graduate and move on to midwifery studies with my whole mind.

Last night a friend of my husband's asked me how long I was going to breastfeed Chloe. My first "one of those" questions. Mind you, she's only 10 months now. I told him I was probably going to let her self-wean, and his face about fell off as he said kids DON'T self-wean, and she'd still be trying to breastfeed at seven. I did my best not to fall off my chair laughing, as Chloe was bfing at the time and she wouldn't have like that. Kids don't self-wean. Uh-huh. His jaw dropped a bit too, when I quoted the WHO stats of breastfeeding being recommended for at least two years. He's the same one who said I wouldn't be able to give birth without drugs (did it!), etc. I keep winning, LOL. I'm doing better with my little brother on bfing/cloth diapering/natural birth education, but more on that later. (Today while I was talking about bfing, he commented sarcastically that of course no one would want a baby to have the milk its mother made for it; that would be silly. I'm so proud of him, heehee.)

Monday, August 4, 2008

I'm finally saying it

I want to be a midwife.

There. I said it! I'm becoming less scared and more excited. I mean, I felt the call but I was terrrrrified, lol. Now, (okay, so not that long--it's been a week, but a week of researching and reading like mad about midwifery and birth) I can honestly, firmly say that I want to be a midwife, and that I am getting very excited about the idea. I just read a post by another midwife about catching a baby, and the very line sends a thrill through me--I will be doing that someday!!!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Options, options

So, I applied for a rockin' part-time job that, if I get it, will pay off some debt and then be enough part-time to focus on midwifery studies. I'd be writing summaries of books for entrepreneurs--basically Cliffnotes for businessmen. I am currently thinking about the following options for school stuff:
Ancient Arts Midwifery Institute for my midwife education. It is by all accounts a very tough, challenging, educational course that will more than prepare me for the NARM. Also an apprenticeship, hopefully with Better Birth!
ALACE doula certification, plus HypnoBabies hypnodoula certification.
Possibly HypnoBabies instructor and ALACE instructor. 
Possibly breasted lactation consultant course, and being a LLL leader, working towards IBCLC. That's a lot of work. I'll have to think about it.

Friday, August 1, 2008

New life path

So, I have been putting this off because I wanted to type things out completely, but I might as well admit I'll never have or take the time so here's a start! I was getting my BS in English/creative writing so I could edit. I have been editing for almost four years now while getting my degree. I have 5 credits left before I finally get that special piece of paper. I still intend to start up my freelance thesis/dissertation/etc editing Website. However, I'm not aspiring to be "an editor" anymore. I've been there for almost four years, generally underappreciated, underpaid, and away from my family as my husband and I work opposite shifts. So the freelance thing will be nice, if it brings in enough. But I'm not expecting it to be enough alone, and I've been feeling this weird call to something else entirely, something I am actually passionate about. I am tossing around various related options: doula, childbirth educator, lactation consultant. All things that dance around one option: midwife. Even the word is scary, so full of portents of responsibility, blood and fluids and sweaty brows, women in bathtubs, on hands and knees, latex gloves and "I feel the head!". But I feel the call. So I am definitely becoming a doula, and getting the bonus certification of hypnodoula, and I will be seeing birth from that perspective for a while. But I also emailed a very experienced CPM near me about job shadowing and a possible future apprenticeship. I'll be busy trying to distract myself until I hear back from her. Eeeeeeeek.