Tales of a Middle Wife

You can't win them all

2012-01-31T12:03:00.001-05:00

Another birth occurred with a client yesterday morning but this one arrived at the hands of a surgeon. Momma was from Nigeria and here to attend school, husband back home waiting for news of his son's birth. Baby was breech at 38 weeks. We tried having a chiropractor adjust mom specifically to help turn the baby and then followed up with moxibustion. Baby would turn vertex, then go back to breech, vertex and back to breech.

When her water released on Saturday night, unfortunately baby was back in a breech position. I tried to ascertain for sure but baby was floating up so high it was hard to palpate body parts. So we waited for labor to help baby move down, get some dilation going and just see. Dilation never happened, baby moved down just enough so that heart tones came below the belly button and made me question whether baby was breech or just posterior? After water had been ruptured for over 24 hours mom had just enough of a rise in her temperature that we decided to go in. Ultrasound confirmed baby was breech so they did a cesarean. Baby Lincoln was frank breech and wasn't that big (7 lb 14 oz) but he just did not descend and dilation did not occur. Cord was wrapped around his neck twice and that could have been a factor, but momma also had a pelvis that was slightly rotated inward on one side which also could have kept baby from feeling comfortable in a head down position. Who knows? Either was he was what a mentor midwife refers to as an NCO baby (Not Coming Out)

I stayed with mom at the hospital through surgery and recovery room. A lovely IBCLC made sure baby was brought in to mom right away and established skin to skin and nursing, which was lovely to watch. So happy mom got to do that in the hospital/surgery environment. That doesn't happen often enough.

Baby Lincoln is quite handsome:

Midwife went 50 something hours without much sleep so I really crashed last night and today I've had to play catchup with missed appointments from yesterday. So I'm recovered now and waiting on the next little one who is should make their appearance any day now.

A few sunny days and a baby

2012-01-28T17:18:00.003-05:00

So since moving to the Atlanta area I have realized it rains a lot here. So much so that I count sunny days rather than rainy days.

Today is sunny. Sunny is good. My muddy back yard is grateful too.

Helped a couple give birth at home for the first time this week. First baby was in the hospital and wasn't a good experience for her. They had a very large finished basement room right off the driveway that was just perfect for the birth room. The door arrangement made it easy to bring in equipment. It was carpeted and the room was HUGE! Bathroom right off the main room. They had set up the pool there and the laundry room was nearby making filling the pool with hot water easy. They had set up a card table with 4 chairs which made charting and finding a place to put water bottles a breeze too. The entire front of the room was two large bow windows with a long seat. Made setting up birth trays and equipment so accessible.

Mom started off in the pool but later birthed in a squatting position over a vinyl/felt backed tablecloth. Little boy, 7 lb 4 oz who was welcomed by his family with great joy. Cutie patootie!

Now I am waiting on one who was due yesterday and another who is due tomorrow.

May they both be born on a sunny day as long as they aren't the same day....

To grey or not to grey....

2012-01-05T16:14:00.001-05:00

That is the question.

I have colored my hair for many years now and when I am negligent (or too busy) to make a hair appointment and my roots grow out some, it is very evident just how much there is now.

I have to admit, for grey hair, it's not bad. It's a nice silver but it is heavier in some spots than others. Not yet nice and silver all over so I keep vacillating about whether to just go grey or keep coloring.

I have to admit, I like myself better as a brunette. It's fun to get highlights and to keep seeing a version of myself in the mirror that more closer matches my youth. I'm still very young in my heart, but body just betrays me at times.

I don't really have to pay big bucks for the coloring...that might become a tie-breaker. I have a family member who works at a very nice local salon and has put me on a list of clients she can attend to for free, I just pay her a healthy tip and we are both happier for it.

It's just the constant battle with the roots and my schedule. And the wondering if my hair shouldn't match my age, you know?

And the trying to figure out HOW to grow it out without it looking really weird. A skunk stripe that gets wider and wider. I can't hide out for the next year while going through the transition.

I'm in a field where I deal with young women and families. Would they relate better to someone who looks a bit younger or someone who exudes the feeling of wisdom and experience?

Either way, tomorrow afternoon I will be covering the roots yet again and getting some more highlights. The debate within still rolls along unanswered.

You may weigh in on the debate. My roots want to know....

Don't speak too soon

2011-12-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

I spent Wednesday making homemade spaghetti sauce and let it simmer in the crock pot overnight to make sure it cooked down and the flavors all melded together nicely before my family dinner the following evening. All the presents were purchase, wrapped and under the tree. Stocking were filled, table was set, desserts were made, floors were clean (quite a feat since it had been raining all day). Late Thursday afternoon just before my family arrived I had not yet heard from my remaining December client and I posted on Facebook that it looked like I might be home free!

Not so.

Family arrived a little late because of the evening traffic and the horrific rain. As soon as they arrived, bringing the bread and salad we got those ready and sat down to eat as our only family Christmas gathering. I was so excited to enjoy all of them together and to see everyone open their presents. I had eaten maybe half my dinner when I heard my phone vibrate.

Yep it was. Apparently she had been feeling a bit crampy most of the day and labor had gotten active around 5-ish. 60 seconds long and about 5 minutes apart and she lives an hour away. So I put a few things in the car quickly, tried to say goodbye without crying and left home.

Baby did not arrive until after 8 AM the next morning, but I'm oh-so-glad to have been there. This momma was a first timer but she was so strong and brave. We had been worried a bit about the baby's size, having been told a week ago that he was 10 pounds. Also worried about mom's blood pressure but it had stabilized and she was self-monitoring with my electric cuff at home. It took a few unusual skills to deliver him but what an adorable baby!

And he weighed 9 lbs even, not the 10 lbs the ultrasound had indicated. Just goes to prove how inaccurate they can be.

The parents are in love with their beautiful new son and I'm honored to have been there.

I'll be seeing one set of grandchildren this afternoon and another set on Tuesday for babysitting. I'm actually "off call" for about 10 days though I have plenty of prenatal and postpartum appointments to keep me busy all week.

One done, one to go before Christmas

2011-12-21T09:19:00.001-05:00

Of course I thought I was safe planning a family Christmas gathering this coming Thursday evening. One daughter is spending the holiday down in south Georgia so we planned our family Christmas a little early. Should be fine with two December mommas due the first week of the month, right?

Wrong.

One of them just delivered yesterday in my office, pretty near the file cabinet. No, that wasn't the plan but it was working at the time. She was supposed to deliver in my office. The house they are living in is owned by someone who wasn't comfortable having them deliver there. This mom was a repeat client from south GA, having moved up here to the Atlanta area about mid-pregnancy. She was supposed to have a water birth. I had the pool assembled but they were bringing the clean hose to fill it. Upon arrival, mom was so deep into labor that it became clear to me the pool was a moot point. There would be no time to fill it. Mom wanted to at least try so dad was faithfully filling it. I was rushing around trying to finish setting up for the birth.

She was so intent on her labor, on her knees beside the pool, resting her head on the side for support. I did manage to get some chux pads under her because her water was still intact. A short few minutes later I heard her say, "OK, here we go!" She was pushing. I asked someone to hurry and get the vinyl/flannel tablecloth that had been intended to protect the mattress on the guest bed in case she birthed in there. It was slid under her while I donned gloves and grabbed a towel and my stethoscope. It one push I held the top of a little head in my hands and with subsequent pushes the baby girl was born. Dried her and made sure she was breathing and threaded her back through the mother's legs so she could sit back and bring her new baby up to her chest. When the mom leaned back on some pillows against my filing cabinet and picked up her baby, her eyes met mine with a smile and she said, "Well, hello. This is the first time I've seen your face this morning!" Made me laugh. Well, she had been a little busy focusing on other things.

So, this one is delivered and now I'm still waiting on a first time mom who is over due by 13 days.

I have some cooking to do tomorrow for our family dinner and of course, I would really love to be there when my children and grandchildren open their gifts. Timing is everything in this business.

And two more in the wings

2011-12-09T10:26:00.001-05:00

Waiting on a couple more babies to arrive, hopefully soon. One is a first baby for this mother and the other is baby #8 to the other. I signed up for a two day advanced midwifery skills workshop on Dec. 14 & 15 and plopped down a nice fee that isn't really refundable, so please pray those babies either come before or after those births!

The workshop is called BEST (Birth Emergency Skills Training) and covers a lot of territory in 2 days. Not only does it look good on your resume, but the training is critical for those rare times when you really want to make sure you are doing everything you can to get the best outcome.

I managed to get a LOT of Christmas shopping out of the way yesterday by just shopping online. Should start seeing some boxes arriving soon. Saved gas money and my time. With an Amazon Prime membership (thanks Erin!) it really is the smartest way to shop. I just have mainly the men in my life to shop for now. Why are they so hard to shop for?

Two-fer

2011-12-03T22:23:00.001-05:00

So this past week has held the births of two clients. One came early Wednesday morning, a 9 lb 12 oz baby boy who joined an older brother and sister. Beautiful easy birth to a sweet couple.

The 2nd birth was Saturday night and was a baby girl, 7 lbs 14 ozs. She also joined an older sister and brother.

It was the first home birth for both couples and they both said how much more they enjoyed the experience over their hospital births. I'm so glad.

Now, I have two other moms due this coming week. One is a first time mom and the other is a repeat client expecting baby #8. Looking forward to them both and hoping they wait and space their birthday apart.

Full week of prenatals and a couple of consults coming up also. I like staying busy. Atlanta is being very kind to me.

Taking chances

2011-11-22T21:43:00.001-05:00

The life of a midwife involves being on call. This gets especially risky when you try to plan anything important.

I have a mom who is 41 weeks tomorrow (Wed) and three other moms all around the 38 week mark. They are in various directions. My daughter, Erin, had a birthday this week and I wanted to plan a birthday dinner celebration for her but I was nervous about whether I'd actually be able to attend myself! I planned food that could be cooked in the crock pot and side dishes that could be made ahead and refrigerated so 'just in case' dinner could go on without me.

It worked. No one went into labor....yet.

Now Thanksgiving is approaching. One daughter is heading to her mother-in-law's house that day so we are going to attempt a family meal on Friday instead.

Trying to think of traditional foods that can be made ahead and have them ready to go again, just in case.

Hoping the timing of these little ones is again working in my favor.

You just never know.

Going high tech

2011-11-03T10:54:00.001-04:00

Having learned to use a computer many years ago, back when they had the huge floppy disks and you needed to know how to use code, I think technology has come a LONG way. I've tried to keep learning and moving forward with the technology.

So, they've come out with a great software program that allows you to do all your charting with home birth clients online. You could potentially go paperless but I'm not sure I can ever make myself throw the paper completely away. But I did look into the idea and decided to take the plunge. Some of the advantages are that you can bundle all of a patient's chart together in one pdf file and email it to someone who might need to be on call for you. Each client also gets a unique link to their own files so they can view and copy their own charts also. The program is called Private Practice for midwives.

I purchased an IPad to use because it's size makes it easy to take along to births and I can go online and chart on the fly at a birth. The problem is, we midwives are unique in our labor charts. Everyone has one they have developed over time and are used to using. Even though I have added on to mine over the years and modified it, I'm used to it and really like it. The PP program didn't include a form to use for labor charting, so I had to figure out a way to make my pdf file usable for charting online.

Enter the app store! I found an app called PDF Expert. It was not expensive (was it free, can't remember!) but it allows me to upload all the pdf forms from my main computer and annotate them as I need to. You can either type into the form or you can just write on the screen with your finger. You can use different colors so that your notes stand out too. It is the perfect solution!

So, now I can do all my prenatal notes, upload scans of labs, add SOAP notes, chart at a labor, use my own postpartum sheets, etc. All from my little portable IPad.

Yes, I do love technology.

Another successful VBAC

2011-10-23T10:40:00.001-04:00

Woke up around 4:30 AM on Saturday morning, turned over and had just about nodded off when the phone rang just before 5 AM. My last October mom calling to say she had been having contractions for a couple of hours. She stopped during the conversation to breathe through one and listening to how long this contraction lasts and how mom is working through them usually indicates to me about how long we have to get there.

Hung up and called my apprentice to get her up and ready and I washed my face, put enough makeup on so I wouldn't scare anyone and got dressed. Most of my equipment was already in the car ready to go except for one case, so I grabbed that and headed out the door. This client doesn't live very far away, so I got there just shortly after 5:30. She was about 8.5 and it was her 4th baby. First two babies were cesarean births and her third was a hospital VBAC, so this was her first home birth, but second VBAC.

She had wanted to labor in the birth pool but deliver out of the pool. The pool had no water in it when I got there and it was clear there was no time to get it filled. I scurried to bring in the rest of my equipment and to get set up. The funny thing was, the mom ended up just filling her regular sized bath tub and getting in it for comfort and she ended up giving birth there with very little room to maneuver for herself or those of us helping. It was one of those tubs with the sliding glass door enclosures, so you can imagine.

The birth had it challenges. A hemorrhage and weird placenta issues. Retained and a possible extra lobe. It just broke into pieces and I had to go get them. Baby was an adorable 9 lb 6 oz girl who did beautifully and momma handled the blood loss really well.

Why do I have this funny feeling that now that I have an apprentice, we will get a variety of teaching type births?

Butta

2011-10-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

I was "due" for a butter birth. You know, the kind that are easy as melted butter? So, we finally had one this week. False alarm at the end of last week but this time the mom called me slightly out of breath and I knew this was no false alarm. They live an hour away, on a good traffic day. Problem is, she called me right about rush hour traffic time. It took me an hour and twenty minutes to get there.

But when I arrived, the doula was helping the mom work through contractions and when I checked her, she was 5.5 cms along, a far cry from where she had been at last week's false alarm. That was around 6 PM and we had a baby at 9:46 PM in the birth pool.

Mom's makeup was intact, hair looked gorgeous and she pretty much smiled through the whole thing. Perfect 8 lb. 8 oz. baby boy. A few minor stitches were needed but that was all.

We were there for 3 hours postpartum and then it only took 45 minutes to drive home at that hour of the night.

I love butter births. Wish they were all that way!

VBA2C birth

2011-10-09T11:38:00.002-04:00

Two weeks apart, I've had some marathon births.....both began on a Wednesday and finished up on a Friday. Exhausting hours spent serving mothers who had a goal. Keep birth as normal as possible within the boundaries of safety.

This week's momma came into my care in south Georgia. First cesarean birth was for 'suspected' pre-eclampsia, which actually the labs did not support (I saw her records). She was induced way before her body was ready and never dilated. Baby in distress and emergency section. 2nd surgery was just because there were NO VBAC options in her area so she had a scheduled cesarean at 38 weeks. This 3rd pregnancy, someone had told her about me. She approached me just before I permanently moved to Atlanta. After I settled up here, she continued to see me, traveling great distances once a month in order to achieve her goal. Towards the end of the pregnancy, the distance made it difficult and expensive for me to monitor her but we did what we could. Blood pressure crept up into a zone a few times that made me a little edgy, but we ended up running liver enzymes several times that gave us the assurance that it was not really pre-eclampia but just pregnancy induced hypertension. Her blood pressure was monitored daily by a nurse in south GA and we also arranged for a consult with a perinatologist who is home birth supportive. He agreed with me that we had time to wait for this baby to arrive on her own steam without our interventions.

So this past Wednesday night, mom's water broke about bed time (I'm learning that bed time for a midwife is a very subjective term). I was called and they made plans to go ahead and drive up. Upon arrival, it was obvious that somewhere between our phone call and the drive up, labor had begun. Upon checking though, mom was still about 2 cms We still had a long way to go. Baby was posterior, meaning she was facing forward instead of facing towards the mother's back, which creates a situation where the head just does not put good pressure on the cervix, so you frequently don't get a lot of progress. The mom had been seen by a local chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy issues and she made a series of house calls, one time staying for several hours to adjust, work with and support this mom in her attempt to achieve a vaginal birth. At one point during Thursday night, we were able to get mom to sleep for about an hour and a half before contractions again picked back up and became painful enough to wake her. That was the only sleep I got during the long ordeal also.

After that nap, when contractions picked back up and were very painful because of the back labor, and there were still no cervical changes for about 24 hours (3 cms) the decision was made to transfer in to a facility that would be able to offer her some pain management options, perhaps something to increase the intensity and frequency of the contractions and allow her to achieve her goal of a VBAC.

Our first choice hospital only had one practice that allowed VBACs and they turned her away. To stay there would have meant a mandatory repeat section. So we left there, still in labor and traveled to Emory. Our first choice physician there turned us down also, but then we learned that their staff OBs and residents there routinely do VBACs, even VBA2Cs. They were extremely supportive, curious about her situation and they took her into the system. I was introduced as her midwife and no one blinked an eye. We had a bubbly, friendly, supportive RN who worked hard with my momma to help her get the birth experience she wanted. It took an epidural and some pitocin to provide the pain relief she needed and for her to relax enough to finish the job, but the combination is just what it took for success. We went in at about 5:30 AM and momma requested and got an epidural around lunch time. Baby was born pretty quickly after that, at 2:16 PM.

Lots of tears in the room--momma, daddy, doula and me all knew the determination it had taken to achieve this moment and we were most grateful that it had happened. Nursing has been going great too.

We are very grateful for a medical facility that offers this option for mothers with previous cesarean births and for the respectful way in which we were all treated. It made this mother's dream come true.

A few changes

2011-10-03T09:35:00.001-04:00

Our 32 year old son is arriving today. He will be staying for 'a while' as he job hunts, perhaps redirects his career and life. He is an ex-military medic, having served in Iraq. He spent 6 months traveling across the country on his Trek for Hope before heading back to Tampa where his son lives. He was able to work as security for a high class night club there, but only for 20 hours a week and that wasn't enough to live on. Resumes were sent out everywhere but the job market there isn't too good.

So, he is reluctantly leaving behind his almost 5 year old boy to stay with us for a bit, hoping the job market here might be better. Time will tell, but if you can, would you say a little prayer that all is successful in that arena?

I had an expectant couple stay with us for a few days for closer monitoring and because it seemed like she was starting to 'cook', but after several days of false hopes, she and her hubby left to return home to south GA yesterday and wait out the days until the baby decides on her birthday. Hopefully they will be returning soon.

Loving this cooler fall weather but honestly I tend to be cold natured and can only hope it will stay this way and not get colder. I'm old enough to know better, but still.....

I get to have a postpartum appointment this afternoon with a 10 day old baby boy and his momma. That is always special. Love checking on baby's weight gain and getting to snuggle and answer momma's questions and help her with any issues she is having. It's my favorite season of providing care.

Fall?

2011-09-21T12:45:00.002-04:00

Sometimes in GA it's hard to know if the seasons have really changed or not. But I'm finding here in Atlanta, you definitely get a few more cooler temps that we had in south GA.

So I've observed big ole crows cawing lately, leaves starting to shed, much cooler mornings and days, busy squirrels and a few adorable random chipmunk sightings. I like fall. I don't like winter much however.

Two mommas both due this coming week and one called this morning with some signs and symptoms that perhaps things might be happening soon. I've been on a birth break for far too long and am ready to get back to a birth again!

Our family is going to grow again by one next May with the birth of another grandchild. With baby Ian coming in November, that will give us 7 grandchildren! Ian evens up the boy/girl ratio so the May baby will cause someone to need to even things out again. (smile)

I've gotten involved in a Beth Moore bible study on Daniel that I am enjoying. The interaction between the women in the group has been decent, but I am disappointed that not a single one has bothered to introduce herself to me or find out more about me. That was half the reason I joined a Bible study, so I could meet new people and hopefully form new friendships. I will persist however. I'm stubborn that way.

Order

2011-09-08T08:08:00.003-04:00

I am a woman of order. My life just flows much better when I have order around me. When we moved recently, the first room I moved over and set up was my office. Because I was continuing to see clients all during the move, it was important to have a place to see them that was neat and professional looking and wasn't chaotic.

We are moved in and I'm fairly set up. There are still boxes tucked into corners that aren't supposed to be there and need to be moved and unpacked. One of our beautiful entertainment stands that I had intended to be put into Tom's 'man cave' wouldn't turn the corner and go into the room in the basement, so it now resides in the laundry room holding cleaning supplies. Might be a blessing in disguise because there was no where else to put cleaning supplies. Sometimes you gotta punt.

When unpacking and setting up my scrapbook corner, I knew I was missing two large plastic bins full of 'stuff' for scrapbooking. I was in the basement looking for the vacuum cleaner and opened the door to the furnace room and not only did I find my vacuum cleaner but also spotted the two drawers full of my scrapbook items. Why men just set things anywhere I have no idea.

I was looking for something in my large office storage closet and saw a box of candles, light bulbs and emergency lighting in there. I don't know why, it just is.

I have a pile of garage sale items set aside and plans to go in together with a friend to do a garage sale in a couple of weeks. That will free up some space too!

Our washer and dryer had set unused for a year in the basement of our previous home while we used the set that were already in the house. Unfortunately, a year of sitting unused was apparently not a good thing for a couple of older machines. We found another used set of Maytag machines this weekend and they were delivered on Monday. I can finally wash clothes again. Around here with a husband in construction, that is critical.

We had a birthday celebration over the weekend for our youngest daughter, Kayla. It coincided with a visit from our grandson Benjamin and his mommy Raquel from Tampa. They flew up on Friday morning and I picked them up at the airport. It was SO NICE to have all of my grandchildren together under one roof. Loud, chaotic, busy and messy.....but nice.

This is the living room from the hallway. Bennett has found his favorite spot I guess.

This is the corner of the grandchildren guest room. The PackNPlay is there and hopefully we will soon have a twin bed to put there for overnighters. Going to recover the rocking chair in something that will match all the red.

This is the sewing/scrapbooking/dog crate room that also houses a shelf with gazillion research notebooks on various midwifery topics.

This is the dining room. It opens on the back wall to a large deck.

I passed!

2011-09-02T21:36:00.003-04:00

And I cried. With relief.

16 years of experience and education all rolled into a skills exam and a written exam to try and prove to someone what you know. Maybe to prove to yourself.

But it's done and I passed.

We're moved and the old house is cleaned out. Now just to empty all these boxes in the new house and find a home for everything, hang pictures and get organized.

But not this weekend. This weekend is for celebrating. My grandson Benjamin and his mommy are here and I don't get to see them very often. And my youngest daughter just had a birthday and we are getting us all together to have a family dinner and fellowship and celebrate.

We have a lot to be happy about.

Moving stinks...

2011-08-24T09:44:00.001-04:00

That is all.

NARM

2011-08-18T16:56:00.002-04:00

Took the NARM on Wednesday and drove home today. It was 350 questions, broken up into 175 for the morning session and 175 for the afternoon session. I feel like I was confident on the majority of them. There were some questions that I really didn't know and a few that I wouldn't have chosen ANY of the answers (but that isn't an option!). They give you a comment sheet because the exam is always undergoing revision so I took the time to at least make comments on 9 of the questions. I could have commented on others but it would have eaten up too much test taking time. Did each half in about 2 1/2 hours, so I used up about 5 of the 8 hours allotted. I won't get the results back for a few weeks.

So, in the mean time I guess I'll focus on packing, moving and getting settled in my new home. I really want to stay put for a while and meet people in my neighborhood, maybe start a Bible study, find dentists and family doctors, etc. Haven't done that in Atlanta because I knew we weren't going to stay in one place.

Now, I want to put down roots.

Moving!

2011-08-15T15:10:00.002-04:00

So, this coming weekend we will start moving stuff over to the "new" house. I haven't packed a thing yet. Between house hunting, vehicle shopping, catching babies and seeing moms for prenatals and consults and studying for my exam on Wednesday, I haven't had time for packing.

Driving up on Tuesday to Nashville. Meeting a fellow midwife for dinner that evening then an early evening to bed, early up on Wednesday morning. Have to be at the testing facility at 7:45 AM. After the test will spend the night with a mom expecting twins that I have known since she was a little girl. Thursday morning I will drive home early and hit the floor running packing and organizing for the move.

It will be good to have this behind us and settle down in one spot for a while. The good news about the house is it is easy to find, just 5 minutes from the interstate and even though the individual rooms are small, there are a lot of them. Tom is planning his "man cave" and I will have a room just for crafts and sewing. It has a huge long room in the basement that is carpeted that I can use for my office and there is a bathroom right there for the moms to use. It is perfect in that respect.

I'll just be glad when every box is unpacked and every picture is hung and I can put my feet up and enjoy being HOME again!

The hunt

2011-08-08T07:20:00.002-04:00

For a while now, both my husband and myself have been consumed with looking for two things--a vehicle for him to drive for work and a new house to rent.

At the beginning of the year, when our son left to walk across America, he was unable to find a buyer for his truck and the timing meshed with the incident of my husband's truck needing a new engine which we could not afford at the time. So hubby took over the payments for my son's truck while he was gone and drove it daily. A few weeks ago, our son returned to Tampa to job hunt and needed his wheels again. So Tom drove it down to Tampa and then had to purchase an airline ticket to fly back home again. But that left him without transportation during a time when I was "on call" for the most recent birth. So, he would drive it to work with the stipulation that he had to not be too far away and had to have his phone on his person at all times! Not the best situation and one that made me very nervous.

So for about two weeks, he searched and searched for something we could afford that would meet his needs for work. Finally found a dark blue extended van with all parts working that fit the bill so he purchased it. Not a moment too soon as the baby arrived a little more than 24 hour later.

But in the midst of the vehicle search has been an ongoing house search. Our lease is up the end of September, but that is not a good time to be moving because I have two mothers due then and one of them is driving up from south Georgia to birth up here---at my house! I need to be settled already by then!

So, we found a house but couldn't decide on it right away. It wasn't perfect but it has a lot of square footage, the master is on the main floor, there is a huge basement with finished rooms, including a large area perfect for my office and a hall bathroom that would be great for the office too. Nice level yard, good parking, quiet street, great location, minutes from the interstate. It has 6 bedrooms because there are three on the main floor and 3 more in the basement. But the bedrooms are very small, bathrooms are small and there is no outside storage for Tom's equipment. The kitchen is small with not nearly enough cabinet space or drawers for me. And to top it off, the house is older, no fireplace and it's not "pretty". It's a tradeoff in many ways.

So we have kept looking and looking for something else---anything else that would meet our criteria. We have found other listings that are very nice, but each house has some kind of tradeoff. Mostly the cost! To get all of our "must haves" the rent soars up around $1500 a month. We just don't want to spend that for rent but hope to spend the year saving some money and building up our credit scores again to possibly purchase up here again in a year or so.

So time and scheduling were driving me crazy. We are hoping they will accept our application for the 'not so pretty' but big house and we can start moving in on August 20. Just a few days after I travel to take the NARM in Nashville, TN.

No stress. ;)

A new month

2011-08-03T20:56:00.003-04:00

Well, two of my July babies came in late June and one of my late July babies came in August. I guess it all evens out in the end. And here I was, worried that they would all clump together in the first part of the month and overlap!

So this last baby was born to a young lady whose mother and I have been acquainted for about 20 years. Many years ago I used to get my internet through Compuserve. They had forums on different topics you could join to meet people interested in the same things. They had a Christian homeschooling forum, so I joined. I met quite a few other moms on that forum and some time later, even after Compuserve was no longer available, we ended up with a core group of women who stayed in touch and formed a Yahoo email group. We called ourselves the "Loopie Ladies". We would talk to each other online using a chat program called Mirc, long after we had put the kiddies to bed. It was our way to fellowship and let off steam. I have had the privilege of meeting several of the moms in person. Most of our children are all grown up and several are married and have children of their own, making quite a few of us Loopie Ladies grandmothers now. The baby I caught this week is the granddaughter of one of my Loopie Ladies friends. I got to meet her in person at the home prenatal visit for her daughter's upcoming birth, and she was present when this little one made her appearance.

Small world, right?

Didn't she end up with an adorable granddaughter?

So, most of my month of August is going to be spent studying for the NARM which I am taking on the 17th of this month in Nashville, TN. I think as soon as we get back we will be moving into a new house.

But I don't even want to think about that right now...

Sewing, waiting, looking

2011-07-24T14:22:00.003-04:00

Not too much going on....at least in the baby department. I am waiting on a mom who is in the due zone now and she will be my last one for a couple of months, believe it or not!

Janelle and I went fabric shopping the day she left to head home. I found some adorable batik fabric and decided to try and make Lucy another summer sundress. The vibrant blue will make her pretty blue eyes very noticeable. I've finished it except for running the elastic through the waistline and legs in the bloomers. She is coming over for a visit this afternoon so I should be able to do that when she arrives. I'm going to take her picture in the dress when I get it finished and will upload it later.

Sent Janelle home because she had been here for several weeks and we just had the one baby left. I mostly needed her because I had so many due so close together that I was worried about someone going into labor at the same time. She experimented when she was here with gluten free biscotti and spoiled me.

We are house hunting and truck hunting. Tom had been driving our son's truck while he was walking across the country on his fund-raising trek. He returned it to him two weeks ago and we've been sharing a vehicle ever since. Not good when you are a midwife. So we are on hunt for the perfect used truck. We need to find a rental house in the right location in the next month or two, so we are also trying to drive around neighborhoods, check out online sites, etc. Interesting but slightly frustrating too.

TTFN

Racing the stork

2011-07-15T09:55:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I know that the stork doesn't bring babies.....the mother and baby are the deciding factors. But I had a day yesterday where it felt like that big old stork was racing me twice, but I won both times.

Wednesday night I got a call from my pregnant overdue birth assistant. She was having contractions and felt they were getting closer together, but by bedtime they had settled into an every 12 minute pattern and didn't get any closer. She advised me to get some sleep and she would call if/when things got closer and progressed. I never sleep really well in that situation. You are always sure the phone will ring at any moment and she lives an hour away on the west side of Atlanta. I endured a snoring husband and restlessness mixed with fatigue.

Around 4:30 AM the phone did ring, but it was not my assistant calling but a new client from Columbus who traditionally has early babies with no problems. Her water broke and she was in labor. She goes really fast and I had a two hour drive.

I have a young lady staying with us right now acting as my interim birth assistant but this client had asked me just me and no one else. So I left Janelle at home with the admonition that I might need her to go to my regular birth assistant's house and monitor her if things picked up there.

On the way to Columbus, the dad called and said mom wanted me to know things were getting close. I still had an hour left in my drive when they made that phone call. About 5 minutes before arrival, dad called again and wanted to know my location. Mom felt pushy. I told him I was almost at his road. A 5 lb. 4 oz. little girl arrived just 15 minutes after I did. She was healthy, cried and pinked up, had no trouble nursing or anything else. Great birth!

I headed back home, trying very hard not to fall asleep at the wheel. Arrived home, downed one gluten free biscotti, took a shower and went to bed. I slept for about an hour and the phone rang again. This time it was my regular assistant saying her contractions had taken a leap from 12 minutes apart to 2-3 minutes apart and things were moving quickly. She was entirely alone as her husband, a police office, had to appear in court that morning. I had an hour drive to get to her. Janelle and I quickly drove to her house and unloaded gear. Her husband was thankfully there by then. Baby came about an hour and a half after our arrival. She pushed out a 9 pound girl and then had a bad hemorrhage, which resolved fairly quickly. Mom was a little light headed for a bit, but handled it pretty well. This baby nursed like a champ too.

After cleaning up mom, baby and area that mom birthed in, Janelle and I ate some dinner out then came home and took a long soaking tub bath. We got a full night's sleep (much needed!) without the phone ringing again.

But it's a full moon tonight. I can't guarantee I won't be racing the stork again....

Houseguests

2011-07-08T10:09:00.003-04:00

The end of June and first of July brought lots of houseguests. First, my south GA client drove up with two of her children on June 29th and then very efficiently produced a new baby boy during her first night here. By daylight, her husband and another son arrived and so did Janelle, my temporary assistant from Virginia.

You see, one of the mommas due this month is my previous assistant. Her due date actually falls next in line, though who knows which momma will win the race. Janelle was present for the first, rather traumatic birth a few weeks ago, then did not quite make it in time for this recent birth.

So now, she and I are just keeping ourselves busy and twiddling our thumbs waiting.

And waiting.

But tonight, I hoping to have my oldest granddaughter Olivia come spend the night and tomorrow with me. Hoping to find something fun to do with her around.

So, babies....hold off for about 24 hours then, k?

BTW, my client houseguests were awesome. I don't regret for a second having them come up to deliver here. They were helpful and sweet, fun to be around and it was kind of nice having a newborn in the house for a few days. They left after 72 hours so I could keep an eye on mom and baby for a few days.

We had both daughters and their families over for a hot dog lunch on July 4th. Hot dogs were all I dared to offer with the possibility of labor duty looming. Right before lunch, I was outside on the brick sidewalk in front of the house and I honestly don't know exactly what happened. We have lots of tiny twigs, limbs and leaves on the walks from all the recent storms and I think I slipped on one and sprained my ankle. It is still black and blue but at least I can now put weight on that foot. It probably is a good thing the babies held off just a little bit so I could get around.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful summer!

July came early

2011-06-29T23:11:00.004-04:00

I have 5 mothers on my calendar who I anticipated attending in July. One of them decided to come a few weeks early. A 6 lb 10 oz. little girl, a head full of dark hair and two happy parents. The birth itself was sweet and peaceful, but the mom had some issues afterwards and had to be transported.

Today, a mother from south Georgia arrived at my house, along with her two youngest children. She followed me up to north GA to deliver in our home. Her husband is coming up this weekend and bringing another son, unless baby decides to come sooner. Mom has been having lots of prodromal stuff so she wanted to go ahead and just get here!

In the next day or so, another young lady will be coming to stay with us also until at least this first baby arrives. She will assist me with this birth and we'll see if I feel she is needed for others. The other births have more people helping out, so she might not be needed.

So, I have moms due July 2, 10, 18 and 27. Who knows what order they will arrive! Please pray however that they each choose their own unique birthday with a little rest in between for the midwife....or at least some spare driving time in between for the midwife. They are spread out geographically a little also.

Then, I get to go take my written certification exam on Aug. 17th in Nashville, TN. Some time to study would be nice....

ADDENDUM: The July 2 baby is the family that was traveling here from south GA to birth at my house. She came up on Wednesday evening because she'd been having lots of prodromal labor for a while. We had a baby the next morning at 3:56 AM. One of the fastest deliveries I've ever seen! I was blowing up the pool and as soon as I got it blown up I heard her making pushing noises and thought what a waste of time that was to blow up the pool! Hurriedly put down some plastic on the floor of my guest bedroom and some absorbent pads and caught the baby gloveless. It happened that fast. 9 lb 8 oz baby boy. Husband and other son were here about daylight on Thursday morning and they are all here recovering for about 72 hours, then will head back home.

Sewing

2011-06-13T16:10:00.003-04:00

I've been on a creative binge lately. Designed two new websites within a week then decided since I had a little time before the July babies start arriving and I was finished studying for the NARM clinical exam, I would try to sew something.

There is the cutest little pattern for little girls that goes together really quick and is so cute and cool for summer. A little sundress that is lined with a contrasting fabric that crisscrosses in the back, comes over the shoulder and buttons there.

Took Erin and Lucy fabric shopping and we found some really cute material for both Lucy and Kate. These are my two youngest granddaughters.

I have finished Lucy's except for adjusting the elastic in the waist and legs of the bloomers. Finished Kate's top but haven't started sewing the bloomers yet. But I have a couple of pics so you can see them.

This one is Kate's and will have solid green bloomers.

This one is Lucy's and is done except for adjusting the elastic. When I see them in the outfits, I'll take some pics.

One more hurdle!

2011-06-11T10:39:00.002-04:00

I passed the clinical portion of the NARM!

It took forever for the letter to get to me and that in itself made me nervous.

I was at the fabric store with Erin and Lucy, picking out material to make Lucy a dress when my husband called and told me I had gotten my letter telling me I had passed.

The letter was mailed on June 8th.

The cover letter said to please complete the application to take the written exam and send the $700 testing fee in by June 8th.

No, really.

Don't think that will happen. But it is going out in today's mail if I can get to the bank before noon!

More to come...

What are you "Pinterested" in?

2011-06-04T12:10:00.003-04:00

OK, when I first got an invite to join this website from a friend, I let it sit in my inbox for a while. Like I needed just one more social networking place to stalk, right?

Then in boredom one day, I took a look at the actual email and followed the link.

You know how other people always seem to be able to find the MOST INTERESTING THINGS on the internet? Cool pics, cool craft ideas, fashion, funny quotes, gorgeous places to visit or vacation, decorating ideas, sewing ideas, etc.

The idea is to create 'boards' which are just organized categories. You can create as many as you want and call them whatever you want. They have a "Pin-It" link you can drag up to your toolbar on your browser. Then as you are surfing the net and you find something worth sharing, you just click on the "Pin-It" button on your browser and it allows you to pin the picture to one of your boards. Anyone who follows you can see the cool things you have found.

You can subscribe to other people's boards if you want and if you see something on THEIR board you really like, you can either comment on it, 'like' it or you can re-pin it to one of your own boards too.

I have a collection of interesting and beautiful front doors, decorating styles I love, adorable animals, books I'm interested in, food/recipes, quotes I find interesting, vintage items, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Go on now....join up and be sure and follow me!

Pinterest website

Half there

2011-05-28T19:40:00.003-04:00

I 'think' I passed the clinical exam yesterday. The examiner does not grade it, she only marks off the boxes if you demonstrated that you could correctly perform a skill. She isn't allowed to say much, but when I asked her in general how she felt I did, she said she thought I should sleep well.

I guess you could even interpret that several ways.

I should sleep well because my mind should be at ease because I passed?

Or I should sleep well and rest up to take it over again?

LOL I will feel better once I get an official notice.

If this portion is passed, I should be able to take the written 8 hour exam in August.

The exam was a little confusing--the way it was broken up. I'm not allowed to talk about it so can't say much. But when you are used to doing a newborn exam from head to toe and you have a system that helps you remember to do everything and the exam has you break it up into separate parts, it breaks your focus. Just saying....

Got home and remembered just two things I forgot to do. If there were only two, we're good.

The Challenge

2011-05-25T08:36:00.003-04:00

Picture this:

You gave birth 2 years ago without giving much thought to the process. After all, the doctor will tell you everything you need to know, right? He convinces you at 39 weeks to induce, after all, your baby is getting HUGE in there and you'll never be able to birth that baby without consequences. So you agree and eventually at the end of the day, as labor stalls and baby stresses out under the myriad of medical interventions and medications, you end up with a cesarean.

You had fully intended to breastfeed, but others held and tended to your baby for many hours after birth and when you finally got to see him, you were so spaced out on pain medications, honestly you couldn't focus enough to even try to latch on. The nursery staff at the hospital was worried about the baby's low blood sugar, so they started him out on formula. After that, with the pain and awkwardness of holding the baby so his weight doesn't sit over your incision, you finally cave to the inevitable and give up on your breastfeeding goal.

When the 2nd baby arrives, you are wiser by far. This time things will be different! You research your birth options and are able to birth naturally. This little one is in your arms from the very beginning and she roots and finds the breast with determined intent and alertness. You sigh with the satisfaction of a goal achieved and an oxytocin high, pouring love all over you and your baby. Your midwife helps you achieve a great latch and gives you some sound advice, but after a few hours of observation and clean-up, she leaves you snuggled up in your own bed with your new baby. Your mother is keeping your older child for 24 hours but after that, she has to go back to work. During the night, the baby doesn't seem to be latching quite as well as she did in the beginning and it sure seems like she is hungry all the time. Doesn't seem like much is coming out and by morning your right nipple is starting to feel the burn each time you feed the baby. Mom is no help because she never nursed any of her children, so she has no advice. Husband is clueless too....

Midwife makes a postpartum visit and asks you about how breastfeeding is going and you mention your struggles. She again demonstrates how to get the baby latched well and gives you a few things you can do to help heal that already tender nipple. She suggests some LLL meetings, but the closest one is 30 minutes away and you don't know just how comfortable you would be going to "something like that".

The first few weeks go by and breastfeeding gets easier. You and baby are finally getting a grasp on the whole latching thing, nipples have healed and milk is flowing, baby is happy and gaining. You have your strength back and you AND your two year old feel the need to get out of the house. Maybe you will go grab some lunch at a local fast food place with that indoor playground and then pick up some groceries while you are out. While packing your diaper bag, you smile thinking about how few things you need to take along now that you are breastfeeding this baby. No more powdered formula and bottles with the right amount of water in them, no more looking around for hot water or a electricity to heat up the bottle. Breastfeeding is SO convenient! And with the way this little lady's eating schedule is all over the place, that is a good thing!

So, you pack everyone in the car in their carseats and head to your favorite lunch spot. Wow, getting TWO kids out of the car is sure a lot more complicated than when you just had the one. Note to self: buy harness for older child to keep him from darting across the busy parking lot while you are getting the baby out. You order lunch and manage to get it to the table without spilling the drinks or dropping the baby. Lunch is spread across the table and you have just taken a bite when your youngest offspring wakes up and smells food. Oh no, seems like she just ate an hour ago? Maybe it was longer by the time you changed her diaper and dressed Junior and found his shoes, packed the diaper bag and managed to get everyone in the car and drive here, I can't remember.

Either way, you have a baby who is making her needs known to you and everyone around with her hungry cry. Now what? You could go to the dirty restroom, but you can't exactly leave your food laying out on the table. Maybe you could pack it all back up in the bag....no, Junior would never hear of it and besides you've just squirted ketchup all over the wrapper for his fries. People are starting to glare at you and the noisy baby, wanting you to do something to just make it stop.

OK, you can do this. You can just feed her right where you are. You have a blanket and can just throw it over your shoulder so no one will know what you are doing. Wow, this getting her hooked up right under a blanket isn't as easy as it seems. You can't see and if you hold the blanket away from you to shed some light on the situation, you don't have a hand left to guide the breast and baby very well. Now, you're getting embarrassed and feeling pretty warm. Does Junior have to ask you about feeding the baby in that loud 'outdoor' voice of his right now? The baby is feeling your combined heat and the heat of her own body trapped under this blanket and she is not happy about it. She waves her arm continuously to knock away the offending blanket. You finally just stop fighting her and leave the blanket off, with only about an inch of bare skin showing. Baby is happy and being fed, Junior is finally focusing on his chicken fingers and you are able to steal a bite of your sandwich without dripping the condiments on the baby. You take a sip of your drink to cool off. Then you dare to raise your eyes to look around the room. Maybe you're just being paranoid but that older woman there seems to be glaring at you. A table of teenagers sit in a booth nearby and you notice they are looking, elbowing and giggling, while passing some kind of comments back and forth. Dear Lord, it sure seems like they are talking about you. Two men take a look, smile at each other and make some kind of comment before breaking into laughter. You notice another mom watching her older child on the playground while feeding her child with a bottle. She momentarily catches my eye and then looks away. You can decide if that was a wistful look--was she wishing she was breastfeeding or was she thinking at that moment that she was really glad she was not?

You manage to finish your meal, spend some time in the play area and head home. Forget the grocery store. You'll never do that with two children again! You get an invitation to have dinner at some friend's house later in the week. You are SO looking forward to an evening out of the house, some girl talk, etc. You go and Junior immediately enjoys playing with their only child, the same age. The baby managed to sleep through the dinner hour and you are looking forward to spending some time with another woman/mother. Soon after you settle down in the living room, the baby starts to stir and you realize it's 'about that time'. Yep, your watch and the baby confirm that she needs to eat. You start to hold her in your lap and lift the edge of your tshirt up to feed her when my friend interrupts and says, "Oh, you would probably be more comfortable in the rocking chair in little Stevie's room" Oh, OK. So you timidly retreat as she follows you to turn on the lights. She smiles and quietly mentions that her husband is really not 'comfortable' seeing women breastfeed, so it would be better if you nursed back here. She closes the door as you finally get the now frantic baby up to the breast. You listen to the sounds of her contented swallowing and sighs, mixed with the sounds of laughter and jokes that you are missing from the living room.

You feel like you are missing out. Missing out on life. Missing out on fun. Missing out on the very badly needed time with other adults and especially your 'friend'. You wonder if this whole breastfeeding thing is really worth it. You originally thought you might make it to a year, but now you're thinking, "Maybe I'll just do it a few more months until I start solid food."

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? What is wrong with a culture that has SO sexualized the organ God provided us with to nurse our young that we must be hidden away to use it. Do you see cows wearing a 'hooter hider' or a mother cat hiding away to feed her kittens? Does any other species consider this obscene or hide it away? Maybe more important, does any other culture but the U.S. do this? No, not really.

As a professional concerned with lactation and health issues, I know how beneficial it is to give your baby species specific milk. How very NORMAL it is to be healthy. It is only when we substitute and give other pasteurized milks from other species that we lose out on the myriad of benefits that our bodies were designed to both give and receive through breastfeeding. But I also know how difficult it is to overcome the false advertising claims of the formula manufacturers and the lack of education concerning breastfeeding. I know not only is it hard to get moms to turn back to this most basic form of feeding but to continue to do it long enough to reap ALL the benefits.

One of the hurdles we face it public opinion and ridicule. We can ALMOST tolerate a mother feeding her baby a few months, but once they start sitting up, babbling, and taking little baby steps, it becomes culturally unacceptable to see them at the breast. Yet, study after study has shown continued benefits of extended breastfeeding. Some of the benefits are "dose related" meaning the longer you nurse, the lower your risk factors will be for a certain disease.

But as long as we keep it hidden away, as long as seeing it isn't NORMAL, as long as we forget to educate people from the cradle on up, we will never make it easy for moms to choose to breastfeed. As long as she knows the ignorant, the embarrassed, the uninformed, the glarers are out there, ready to make her feel dirty and ashamed for daring to nourish her baby at the breast, we will not make progress in our quest to improve the health of our culture.

Most moms I know work really hard to be discreet, but those hooter hiders just scream, "Look at me, I'm breastfeeding over here!" Blankets are hot and babies hate them. Sometimes larger breasts are harder to hide. But the majority of moms can nurse with practice in public and you will never suspect a thing until you get close enough to actually see the baby is attached and not just napping on mommy's chest.

This topic is in the forefront of my mind and the news this week as I participated in a 'Nurse In' in Forest Park, GA where a crowd of over 200 mothers gathered to protest the wording of a new city ordinance that would have limited the sight of public breastfeeding for mothers and babies over 24 months old. While most of the people I work with in this business are aghast that this should even be an issue, the written comments following the news reports of various television stations concerning this issue just point out how very far we have to go to correct the ignorance and public opinion out there.

Next time you notice a mom nursing in public, if it bothers you....look away. If you support her efforts to give her baby breastmilk, give her a smile and a discreet thumbs up.

It's starting to come together

2011-05-19T18:50:00.002-04:00

Next Friday morning (27th), I'm asking for prayer for this tired old brain. I will taking taking a clinical skills exam for my midwifery certification. When I sent in my application, you had to have documented 45 full pages of skills...where you acquired each and every one of them in detail. Now, they are preparing a package which will be sent to a 'qualified examiner' and I won't know which skills I will be tested on, I just have to be prepared for it to be any number of hundreds to choose from. I have to bring with me an expectant mother at least 28 weeks along and an infant not over 6 weeks old. They will be the live models I must demonstrate the skills on, though they don't require anything of an invasive nature. I have a looooong list of supplies I must bring along to use and I have all that in place, just don't have the mom and baby lined up yet.

I know all the skills, it's just that they must be performed an exact way, in an exact order and you must verbalize everything you do, everything you find, what you are looking for and that you would document your findings. That is more intimidating than you would think.

If (when!) I pass this portion, they will allow me to sit for the 8 hour written exam in August up in Nashville, TN. If I pass that also, I will FINALLY have achieved a goal of many years.

Finishing something, a certification that means a ton to me.

So, a little prayer for my brain to remember the right words and procedures next Friday morning would really be appreciated about now.

In other news, I'm enjoying a relatively quiet month, as both of my May babies have already arrived. This has allowed me to spend some time with both of my daughters and grandchildren. I'm in heaven!

One night, two baby boys

2011-05-07T08:42:00.003-04:00

Another midwife, who lives south of Atlanta called me one day to ask if I'd be willing to help her out with a birth. She has a young lady she is very close to that lives in MS and was expecting her first baby right about the same time this client was due. The young lady didn't need her to deliver the baby but she did want her nearby right afterwards and for a few days following. So I agreed to be on call for her if the local mother didn't deliver before she needed to leave.

Come to find out the client she needed me to be on call for lives about 5 minutes away from me. That was good because the mom delivers very quickly and last time her midwife of choice didn't make it in time for the delivery. So the plan was, even if her regular midwife was still in town, I would still head there when she was in labor because of her fast delivery. The dad was particularly happy with that plan. I got to meet the mom several times before labor began via an informal home visit and one home prenatal.

Problem was, I had my own client, due just a few days after the above client. She also delivers very quickly and she was about an hour away. So my prayer was they would not go into labor at the same time.

I need to be a bit more specific when praying....

Friday night, I was tired and heading to bed around 11 PM when my phone rang. It was the dad for the nearby client of the other midwife. Mom was definitely in labor but contractions were still 10 minutes apart. I assured him all my equipment was in the car ready to go, just let me know when they were 5 minutes apart. He said, fine, no hurry at this point, just wanted to give you a heads-up.

About 5 minutes later he called back and said her contractions were now kicking butt and 5 minutes apart. I hurriedly pulled myself together and got there pretty quickly. Mom was in the tub and I listened to baby who sounded good. While there her water broke, listened again and baby still sounded fine. Momma started making pushing sounds and I figured we'd have a baby pretty quickly.

Usually this momma's water breaks and then you very quickly have a baby but this time something was different. A couple of times baby's heart rate would go down but it would recover. This is common in head compression as baby presses against bones during the 2nd stage. Other midwife arrived and still no baby. We finally got mom doing some things to help baby if malpositioned because no progress was being made in bringing baby down. The thing that worked best was having her climb the stairs. She only did it once and suddenly baby started moving down. When baby crowned and was born, the reason became more apparent. A straight face up baby presented, with a very bruised forehead. That explained a lot.

So the other midwife and I tag teamed. She put in a few sutures while I did a newborn exam on the baby so we would finish up much quicker. We had mom cleaned up and back in bed and linens being washed when around 4 AM my phone rang again.

Other mother (my client) in labor. She hated to call and wake me up (LOL) but she had been having contractions for about a half hour. From the sound of her voice I knew it was not a false alarm. Ran back to my house long enough to restock some gloves and headed her way. I got to her house at 5:06. My assistant was not there yet. Mom stood in the shower and her water broke. I'm still setting up and know I have limited time to get everything in place for the birth. Mom decides to sit on the toilet to help support her during pushing, then as baby crowns she kind of just squatted over the toilet and baby is born in just a few pushes, just about 10 minutes after my arrival.

First baby was only 6 lbs 8 ozs. but the second baby was 9 lbs. 12 ozs.

After several bouts of excessive bleeding with mom #2 were resolved, I didn't get to leave there until about 9 AM. Took my assistant out to breakfast (she arrived just a minute or two before the birth). Got home and went to bed!

Next time I pray, I need to ask that the mothers not go into labor at the same time AND that I get some rest between babies!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Displaced

2011-04-27T10:25:00.002-04:00

On Monday night I attended a community meeting here in Atlanta for a proposed birth center. I believe in the project and hope to see it come to fruition to give the women of this area yet another childbirth choice.

Had to park in the parking garage of Atlanta Medical Center and walked around the block to get to my car, holding my pepper spray with my finger on the trigger the whole time. It was after 9 PM and it was pretty intimidating to walk alone. When I got to my car, my GPS was of course not working in the garage, I was trying to dig the parking ticket out of my pocketbook and retrieve my wallet to pay the attendant and figure out which way to turn out of the parking garage when my phone rang. It was my hubby calling to see if I was all right. I didn't know it but he was in the middle of a monster thunderstorm at home. It was just starting to sprinkle in my location.

As I got closer to home on I-75, the roads were terrible. Flooded and everyone was going super slow to try and avoid the huge places where high water had accumulated. When I got off my exit it was ominously dark--street lights and traffic lights were out. Then I turned into my Paces neighborhood.

Wow. High, sloped driveways and property were spilling tons of runoff water onto the streets which were littered with debris and large limbs. It was dark and still raining. Our streets are very curvy so you had to both avoid the high water and be careful who might be coming in your direction if you crossed over the center line in order not to flood out your car.

I had almost made it home when my headlights revealed one of the reasons the neighborhood was in darkness. A HUGE oak tree spanned the road and power lines dangled onto the road. OK. There is another way to reach our home from a different direction, so I managed to turn around and head around to come at it from the other direction. I was less than a block away from home when I saw yet another tree across the road coming from the other end of our street. I was blocked from going home!

Called 911 to report and was told there were over 30 downed trees in the area which had knocked out power poles, lines and blocking streets. The dispatcher told me to find a place to stay because it was going to be quite a while before they could clear the trees and make it safe to enter. Called Tom to let him know he was blocked in and I was blocked out.

Hungry. I didn't get to eat dinner before leaving home. Thought about staying with my daughter in Decatur and woke her up when I called her to see if it was all right. I knew I still needed to find a late night place to eat that was open and still drive 30 minutes to her house putting me there that much later, so I opted to just get a motel room for the night instead. No toiletries or change of clothing, not even a toothbrush or hairbrush. Just a room with a lock on the door and a bed. My phone battery was going fast and I had no charger with me and was 'on call' for two mommas due soon. What fun!

The next morning, I took a bath and put back on the same clothes from the day before and was able to get a toothbrush/paste from the motel desk. Breakfast at the motel. Headed home.

Challenging. Utility trucks and tree chipper trucks blocked every path, along with traffic cones and "do not enter" tape strung across the road. Finally on one end of my road, a workman gave me a tip. One of my neighbors where the tree was down blocking the road had a circular drive which wrapped around behind their home and came out on the other side of the downed tree. They were letting people use their driveway. I was able to get home and let Tom know he could get out, pack a suitcase of my most important needs, my computer and my cell phone charger and head back out the same way to a Starbucks with an electrical plug to recharge the phone. In my car were also all my midwifery equipment in case someone called in labor.

Fully charged up I headed back home hoping the roads were cleared and electricity was restored. The trees were cleared fairly early in the day but the workers were not letting people go back and forth because of the downed power lines.

Late in the day, we were able to leave and go get something for dinner and it was a little easier and we could see that Georgia Power had almost finished up linking the downed lines up and down the road. By the time we returned after dinner the power had been restored.

Tonight they are expecting a line of powerful storms to come through that may include tornadic activity. We don't intend to go anywhere and we may end up in the basement. We have food in the house and I'm planning on bathing before the storms hit. Now, if we can just keep some mommas from going into labor and my phone all charged up we should be good.

Atlanta has certainly been.....interesting.

Recent

2011-04-25T10:45:00.007-04:00

Just a few things from this past week:

We're finally able to share the news that our daughter and son-in-law are expecting baby #2 in November.
Got to babysit Lucy while Erin went to her first prenatal visit
New client confirmed this week but I won't get to catch her baby as they will be moving to Hawaii before she delivers
I'm on call for a mother due soon who lives about 5 minutes away from me. She is another midwife's client but didn't know about me. She delivers pretty quickly and the other midwife lives an hour away, so it's fairly probable I will get to deliver.
One of my own clients is also in the due zone. Praying they don't collide.
Kept the youngest daughter's three children for the weekend and enjoyed them. We did Easter egg hunt that afternoon with their church family.
Got to see my two other sisters and my dad for lunch Easter Sunday. That's a rarity.
Planted some pretty flowers in pots and a few herbs also. I love the smell of fresh mint!
Reading a nutrition book called "The 80-10-10 Diet" which is more like a lifestyle change rather than a diet. Still reading and mulling some things over with it. Not sure just yet if I will make the jump.
Attending a community meeting this evening for a proposed birth center here. I don't consider it competition but a welcome addition to women's birth choices.
The owners have put the house we are renting on the market. It looks like another move is inevitable. I hate moving. Again.

Here's a couple of pics from the weekend:

My sister Francina, myself, my dad and another sister Paula.

Olivia and her Easter basket at the hunt.

Noah is enjoying the day too.

And Kate finds an egg. She really got into it and had quite a stash!

And we didn't get to see Miss Lucy Bird at Easter because she was in south GA but this is a picture of her from the weekend as she was enjoying a backyard swing at her other grandmother's house.

Didn't get to see our Benjamin either and have no current pic because I mostly get sent pics over my cell phone and haven't figured out how to move them from the phone to computer.

More media for the Trek

2011-04-15T09:50:00.003-04:00

My son Matt has had some really cool encounters lately with some gifted people. Recently, while passing through Louisiana, he had the pleasure to meet a very talented photographer and videographer. Both used their gifts to benefit Trek for Hope and their motivation was to get the word out and let people know about the foundation Matt is so passionate about. I hope when you see this, you will forward the links and encourage everyone you know to make a contribution, however large or small to this amazing organization (Special Operations Warrior Foundation)

Matt Parrish project from Jonathan Ford on Vimeo.

Here is a link to the photographer's blog with these excellent pics:

Henry McCoy Photography

If you live anywhere along the I-20 corridor going out west, contact me to let me know you might be able to house Matt for a night and let him shower, eat, wash clothes and recharge phone. On the way back he will be following along the I-10 route, more southerly.

Also, if you know of newspapers, radio stations or television stations along his path, please contact them and let them know about Matt and how to contact him: 813-505-0492

South GA

2011-04-02T13:02:00.002-04:00

Back in south Georgia again, waiting on the birth of a little one. This is a friend and former client who was due after I would be relocated, so she was seeing her old obstetrician. He is a good one who saw her through 9 successful VBACs. I was with her for #10 VBAC (baby #11) and this will be baby #12. Her OB was not available for her last birth and he was more than willing to buck the system which would have banned her from attempting her 10th VBAC (insane!) but he said if he was not on call, he was pretty sure other OBs would only do another cesarean and not give her a chance. So, since I had no other clients due this month, I agreed to come back down for her birth.

Today, I have planned a reunion picnic for former clients and their families. I have no idea how many will try to come. But I'm bringing my camera to take lots of pictures.

Hoping to get to see other friends and family while I'm here. Also hoping baby will cooperate and not take too long to get here. I have prenatal visits scheduled for the middle of next week back in Atlanta.

You hear that little one?

Birthday!

2011-03-26T09:36:00.002-04:00

This weekend (Sunday) is my youngest granddaughter, Lucy's, very first birthday! We are going to celebrate it today with lunch at her house and hopefully some party time at a nearby park. The darkening skies overhead are trying to tell a different story, but we're hoping it holds off until after we see Lucy open presents and get covered with icing and cake.

Kayla is spending the weekend at a ladies retreat and wanted to make our family's fav cinnamon rolls to take. The last few batches she made did not rise, so she asked me if I could come help her make a batch to take with her to the retreat. Torture! I'm eating gluten free now and almost found myself ready to lick my fingers before I remembered that wasn't a good idea. This batch rose perfectly and looked delish! Luke was keeping all three children for the weekend and I asked him if I could take at least one of them home since we were all going to the party today and I could return said child at that time. So he sent Noah home with me.

I took Noah to a ChikFilA playground first, then drove home where we played for a while. Then Tom and I took him to our favorite Mexican restaurant where he was given a large balloon tied to a small package of Teddy Grahams to weigh it down. He ate his whole quesadilla and some chips, colored in everything on his paper kids menu and decided he needed to take his crayons home in his pocket. He colored me a picture of himself when we got home. But the funny thing was on the way home he requested the window to be down. We complied with the window about half way and Noah had his balloon between himself and the window. Here is a video of what happened next...

I wish you could have heard his little boy giggles though....

So, bathtime and a few cartoons in bed and he did just fine for the night. Pancakes for breakfast and now we need to think about getting ready for Lucy's party.

I'm loving living here nearby.

Our freedom is your freedom

2011-03-23T10:44:00.002-04:00

Not talking about national security issues here. Just talking about women and birth. About a woman's right to choose when, where and with whom she births. Seems like it should be a fundamental right.

I think currently about 27ish states license CPMs (certified professional midwives). Unfortunately, Georgia where I live and North Carolina (the state of which I will write about) do not yet recognize this certification or allow them to practice legally. Some states have taken the high road and allowed for voluntary licensing, but have decriminalized the practice even if the midwife choose to practice without a license.

Calling yourself a midwife and entering into practice is a responsibility and a privilege. When done right and with skill, you assist women throughout their childbirthing season, often from pregnancy planning on one end of the spectrum to menopause on the other end of the spectrum. Your job is to continue to learn, both skills and information that can be passed on to the mothers who ask you to come along for their journey. A sacred trust and bond are often formed between midwife and mother. A good midwife is not only skilled but she is part counselor and part cheerleader. After all, with most of a woman's interactions coming from the negative impact of the media and unfortunately other mother's experiences, one of the biggest jobs is helping her to learn to trust the process and her own body's ability to do what it was designed to do.

As to the skills part, the CPM doesn't make you a midwife. Years of apprenticeship, education and experience are what make you a midwife. The CPM is just one way to "prove" that knowledge to an increasingly skeptical world. There are plenty of very skilled and reputable midwives in practice ALL OVER THE WORLD who do not have the letters CPM behind their name, but when push comes to shove, you'd want them with you when a baby is on the way. There are also a few CPMs that you probably wouldn't want to darken your door either.

I'm reminded of the scripture, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men." Proverbs 22:29 It is the skill and compassion of a midwife that should make a way for her. However, I know we live in a world that doesn't always know how to evaluate those things, except for a certification process. It fails in many ways though.

However, the underlying truth to my discussion is that when a midwife, skilled and proven, loses the right to practice legally in the state in which she lives, ALL the women in that state lose. They lose to a medical culture who has lost touch with what a normal birth looks like. They have lost to a political process which is led, not by reason and statistics, but to whichever group can afford the best lobbyists. They have lost to a cesarean rate which is immorally high and leaves many women as obstetrical cripples, with limited choices as to how to birth their subsequent offspring. They have lost the most fundamental freedom of birthing mothers: who do I trust to see me safely through this process and who do I want to surround myself with when I birth this baby? This might sound, if you are not very well informed, like it could be a dangerous choice, but the statistics would not bear out your fears.

Yes, there are times and situations when birth leaves its normal low risk status and that is when the medical community does its best work. They can be the cavalry needed to rescue mother and baby during those situations. But for normal, low risk women it is overkill.

Enter Amy Medlin, CPM in NC. She has a court date this morning for practicing midwifery in a state which does not recognize her credentials or skill. Amy has safely tended to hundreds of mothers and babies over the years. She has an excellent reputation. Her arrest involved a stillborn baby in which she was not the primary midwife, nor was she present when this mother gave birth. She was supposed to assist another midwife but didn't get there before the baby was born. Another birth in which she was involved in skilled resuscitation after the birth of a baby is where she was actually arrested. Resuscitation is something practiced in every hospital in the world from time to time. But you don't see them arresting a physician who assists at a birth in which the baby needs help getting started. You don't see a physician in handcuffs and shackles held overnight in jail before being released on bond.

No.

Why do legislators allow the "competition" to completely control who their competitors will be? Historically, in THIS country alone, there has always been a need to discredit and vilify midwives from the obstetrical community. In other countries, they work peacefully hand in hand, both knowing their strengths and weaknesses and doing what is best for the mother/baby. The practice of obstetrics is full of interventions which have NO scientific basis for their continued use. Think early cord clamping, multiple ultrasounds, separation from the mother at birth, birthing in the lithotomy position, withholding food and water during labor. I could go on and on.

But today, Amy is the victim. But she is not the only victim. Every expectant mother and future expectant mother in NC is a victim. A victim of a system out of control but in control.

Pray for her today. Pray for women in this state and every state. Pray for midwives. Then speak up. If your state has good laws, be thankful and pray for those states who do not. If your state does not have good laws concerning non-nurse midwives, contact your state representative and let them know this most basic right of YOURS is not being upheld.

I love digital

2011-03-22T09:13:00.002-04:00

Some of the boxes which have sat for 6 months under my garage, waiting on me to move here and deal with were boxes and boxes of photo albums and old pictures. I finally starting tackling those boxes yesterday.

Since the digital age has come along, when you have a blurred picture or one that just isn't a good shot, you just delete. But back in the dark ages, when we had to take our film to the photo lab and wait to see just what had been captured on that roll, you sometimes ended up with just a handful of shots that were worthy of hanging onto. The rest were blurry or you ended up wondering exactly why you thought that moment was worthy of capturing.

So, I've been tossing. Blurred images, moments that weren't really worthy of finding their way into the dozens of photo scrapbooks that are apparently in my future. I have stacks in the making of family shots, group shots, my children and other memories I want to keep on my desk. They will be saved for a rainy scrapbooking day, hopefully better organized than they were before.

And this afternoon, I'm going to see a possible new chiropractor. After spending days unpacking and lifting boxes, I need her! She is a specialist also in treating pregnant women and babies, so I will probably refer clients to her and I wanted to get the chance to meet her too. Hopefully she won't be too expensive.

If anyone has been really successful at setting up an HP scanner with a Mac computer, would you tell me your secret? So far, I have been unsuccessful.

Starting over

2011-03-21T13:04:00.002-04:00

All this free time is strange. I'm not used to having so few clients. I usually have twice this many and all the accompanying prenatals, phone calls, emails, births, postpartum visits, etc.

That means I've gotten a lot done around the house. Unpacking more boxes, organizing...even the hubby who was perfectly content NOT to be organized.

Cooking all of my evening meals now since E-Mealz came into my life, so that is good. I guess I'm going back to a more domesticated lifestyle. That was hard when I lived in temporary housing for the last 6 months until I could move to Atlanta.

Starting over with friendships too. Especially hard when you live in a community where everyone has a locked gate to their driveway, your clients are half your age, and you have no current interest in institutional churches at the moment.

I think I'll get some school work done. Haven't been able to focus on that for a while....

A first

2011-03-10T10:45:00.003-05:00

...in what will, I hope, become a busy habit. First Atlanta area birth, I mean.

I've been telling the grandkids that with Nana living in Atlanta now, I finally won't have to miss birthday parties and will get to spend more time with them. So Saturday night we went up to Luke and Kayla's house for Noah's 4th birthday party. Kayla had put it off until I moved here, just so I could attend. We got there early so we could take Noah shopping and let him choose his own gift. He wound his way back and forth in the toy aisles but kept coming back to a talking "Woody" figure from Toy Story 3. That boy loves him some Toy Story and especially Woody. In the middle of our shopping trip I get a phone call from a mom that is due the following day. She is in labor.

Big sigh.

It's a 2nd baby and her contraction pattern sounds like labor is well established and I should probably get going, but her voice says different. She still sounds too chipper.

So we make our Woody purchase and take a smiling Noah back to his house in time for his party/cookout. Erin/Wesley/Lucy and Wesley's parents arrive and I get to see them for a few minutes. But I know it is an hour drive from where I am to the laboring couple so I called my assistant and tell her I think we should probably go. Kisses all around. Fortunately I have my equipment and her chart with me. Erin and Wesley agree to take Tom home.

I get there and am greeted by a laboring mom who is still smiling. Listen to the baby (it is happy) and check mom's progress. She is 2 cms. and cervix is still posterior. Baby is in a good position though. Assistant is there, so we go ahead and set up for the birth and decide to head to a fast food place for some chili. It is raining and cold and this sounded good. Encouraged mom to just rest and let labor proceed.

My midwife friend, Debi, from Tennessee had volunteered to come help so she drove down. After chili, we went to find a Starbucks. Debi found us there. She needs new windshield wipers and gets them and puts them on her car. We drink coffee until they chase us out and close up the Starbucks then decide to head back to laboring mom.

Just as I'm turning on their street, dad calls and said mom's water broke. We hurried into the house to find a mom not smiling anymore. Labor was in high gear. Baby still doing very well and a check reveals mom is now 7.5 cms. Yay! Within the hour she births her baby in the birth pool.

I always enjoy it when the parents choose not to find out the sex of the baby ahead of time. And I really like for them to discover the sex first. Mom tearfully brought her baby up to her chest and held him there for a few minutes while I checked out his vital signs. Covered him with a towel and said, "Well, what do you have there?" Moms answers she didn't look yet. I encourage her to take a look so she pulls him away from herself to reveal little boy parts. Their first child is a little girl so that was a nice surprise.

I love the look of relief on her face in this picture! Baby Solomon was healthy and beautiful.

Sorry, Noah! Nana hopes to be very busy catching babies, but I got some making up to do to you!

Trying something new

2011-03-03T10:32:00.002-05:00

For Christmas this year I gave both the girls a membership to E-Mealz.

What, do you ask, is E-Mealz?

It's a website highly recommended by Dave Ramsey set up to help you save time and money at the grocery store. Not a bad goal. For those of you who like to coupon, there are added benefits too. For those who are tired of going to the pantry with a glazed over stare, trying to figure out which items will jump out at you and beg to be cooked each evening, this will be a blessing, trust me.

You can choose a menu plan for the size of your family, the grocery store where you most frequently shop and even choose a specialty plan, such as gluten-free, low fat/low carb, or Weight Watchers points type plan. The menus are made up for you each week, with an accompanying grocery list, all the recipes, and sometimes clickable coupons.....all from the SPECIALS at that particular store that week. Both girls (and others I know) have said their families have loved the menus and recipes and they have loved not having the do the work each week to plan and execute the grocery shopping.

So I signed up for the gluten free plan, but it uses a lot of cheese and dairy products which I am also very sensitive to, so I'm going to try and see if I can find dairy free alternatives to use with the recipes and see how it goes.

If you'd like to try it, click on this banner and check out the sample menus. It's only $5 a month and I'm betting you will save more than that is using the specials, coupons, eating out and TIME!

Not visiting

2011-02-28T22:48:00.002-05:00

Ever since we moved our home to Atlanta, back last fall, I've only been able to be here for short visits. Even though it was my home I never really unpacked or got terribly relaxed because I was always here for a quick visit to see clients and run back to south Georgia before the next baby came.

So, now I'm here. Really here. Unpacked my suitcase here. Hubby is bringing a UHaul full of my belongings tomorrow and I will be able to unpack it and put away the rest of my belongings and be HOME. I think it is going to take me a while before I quit feeling like this is a visit and it really dawns on me that I don't live in south Georgia any longer.

Good news: Today as I was packing up my last belongings to drive up I got an email from a young lady that I had spent some time talking to on Saturday afternoon. She was going to pray about taking my practice and the present and upcoming clients in south Georgia. The thought of leaving an entire half of a state without a midwife had weighed heavy on my heart. But Melissa wrote me this morning that after talking with all her loved ones and spending some time in prayer, she feels this is the right time and place for her. I am ecstatic!

In the morning, my son Matt, continues his "Trek for Hope" across America. You can read his blog by clicking on it in the right sidebar of my page here. He is very passionate about raising funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and has committed a year of his life to walking from Tampa-Atlanta-LA and back again on foot with no escort, just his ruck sack, tent and sleeping bag. I'm glad he and his dad came down to help me load everything up and he kept me company on the drive up this morning. Check out his blog and read his stories. It will encourage you that our world isn't as crazy as we think and that there are still good people out there, everywhere you look.

Secrets

2011-02-21T08:46:00.003-05:00

I love the fact that sometimes as a midwife, I find out there is a new baby on the way long before anyone else knows about it. Moms call me for advice, then caution me not to tell anyone yet about their surprise, at least until they can make the news public. I even had a mom call me once and tell me her news and she hadn't even told her husband yet! So sweet though to be able to say "Congratulations and I'm so happy for you" and be the first to do so.

Lately though it has been touched with a little sadness too. They really wanted a homebirth with me in attendance and I won't be here. So we talk about their other options, some things I'm hoping will fall into place and other possibilities. I won't get to be here when those babies make their entrance.

So, I'm still waiting on the last baby to be born down here and then I can head to Atlanta for good. This mommy always delivers early, but of course this time she is a full 40 weeks today and we are still waiting. Dad and mom have both been down with the flu so I can only imagine that God is timing things in His usual perfect way. I know He remembers the fact that I have a momma in Atlanta due soon too.

The big news for me is I mailed off my application for my certification as a CPM this past Friday. I literally could have cried with happiness and relief. It was an inch thick 3 ring binder full to overflowing with the documentation they require and it took me almost two years to get it all filled out. I felt there should have been a marching band and confetti at the post office when I took it there to be mailed. What? Did others not understand the significance of this momentous occasion? Once received, the NARM will take a look at it and make sure every "I" is dotted and every "T" is crossed (to the tune of $700) and there is always the possibility of an audit of any of my records and files. This would slow down the process of course. If accepted, they will send a clinical skills exam to the preceptor of my choice and if I pass that, I will be allowed to sit for the 8 hour written exam, most likely in August of this year (another $700). If I pass that I will receive my certification. Not an easy process but one that could not even begin until I mailed that documentation. I think you see why it was so important to me.

In other more mundane news, this house I am staying in in Quitman has some features I would like to take with me to Atlanta. There is a nice magnifying mirror placed on the outside trim of the bathroom window. It allows you to put on your makeup in natural light and it makes the BEST mirror ever to put on eye makeup or to pluck eyebrows. How ingenious! I can even see in it without my reading glasses. I want one.

Off to shower and start my busy day. Chiropractor visit this morning and a postpartum visit with mother/baby this afternoon. Maybe a baby soon?

Things I will miss/things I will look forward to

2011-02-15T08:55:00.002-05:00

In making a move to Atlanta after having lived in south Georgia most of my life, there are many things I am going to miss so much. I realize I am gaining some good things too (which I will also mention).

Things I'll miss:

The smell of fresh baked bread in downtown Thomasville
Grassroots Coffee. Not JUST the coffee but the vibe and friendliness of the place
Knowing my way around and every short cut to get somewhere
The fact that you can be pretty much anywhere in 10 minutes in town
Friends I have known for 26 years. We've fellowshipped together, taken meals together, raised our children together, educated our children together, grown together, in short, we know each other's history and experienced it together
I know in life there is more to come with these friends: weddings, births, deaths. I won't be here to share in those things with them
Running into families in town with babies I have helped bring into the world, mothers and babies I have helped to get nursing started out well, couples I coached through pregnancy and birth.
The sound of the church bells in downtown that play hymns out for the whole world to hear. It's such a holy thing.
Playing cards with Steve and Marian
The brick streets downtown
How beautifully orchestrated all the pieces are in place here to practice good midwifery--labs, consults, ultrasounds, medications for clients through various supportive physicians
The Farmer's Market
Richard's at night
My ladies Bible study
Having grandparents and other family not very far away
Being half-way between both sets of grandchildren
Dawson Street and the historical district
Being able to drive down so many streets and point out nice, quality homes that my husband built

So, though my heart is sad to be leaving all of that behind, what do I have to look forward to?

Having all my belongings in ONE house, not divided between two dwellings and offices
Having someone to eat dinner with in the evenings (hubby)
4 out of 5 grandchildren within an hours driving distance, along with their mommies and daddies
The gorgeous Atlanta skyline
The possibility of snow each year (as long as I don't get snowed in!)
Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Costco
More sushi places to eat than you can shake a stick at
The myriad of birth related conferences held there every year. CEUs should be easier to accomplish
Having the possibility of backup if I'm sick or need to plan a vacation with so many other midwives available
The beautiful woods surrounding our new home and the deer that visit (but not the raccoons)
The sense of adventure I feel anticipating what God has for us to explore spiritually there. I have no idea who we will fellowship with, but the possibilities are endless. Just want to be obedient.
The TONS of places to explore and visit: museums, parks, galleries, etc.
Shopping. Now if I only had money.
The new families and babies I am meeting and will continue to meet

Things I AM NOT looking forward to:

Learning my way around. My husband keeps trying to verbalize where things are and how they are laid out. I am not an auditory learner.
The traffic. It takes forever to get anywhere
Being snowed in with the possibility of someone going into labor.
How cold our new house is in the winter.
The slow, inconsistent internet service through Bellsouth
The shower in the master bathroom. Very hard to regulate the temperature
The electrical breakers which pop if more than one thing is running in multiple rooms

I'm going to have to push myself to find ways to meet people and make friends. It will be very easy to just turn into a bit of a recluse with only clients and family as my only contacts, but I know I will need more than that. So be praying for outlets that will allow for deep friendships and fellowship to happen.

The Bell Curve and midwifery frustration

2011-02-07T16:46:00.004-05:00

Sometimes in birth if a labor isn't following a normal pattern you strive to determine the root cause. Baby not descending? Is it truly 'too big' (pretty rare) or is it a positional thing? Are contractions strong enough to be functioning well to produce the desired effect in labor?

In birth, you have four "P" factors: Power, Presentation, Passenger and Passageway

If birth does not seem to be functioning normally, you take a look at each of these items to see what might be causing a holdup.

Sometimes, it is simply a "tincture of time" that is needed. Sometimes mom gives up or gives out before that needed time can be prescribed.

That's where the bell curve can bring some understanding to a tired midwifery mind.

If you remember from your math or statistics classes, the bell curve represents where the general population falls according to the majority (of whatever you are trying to classify).

On the left of the bell curve, you have a woman with a pelvis you could drive a Mac truck through! She has a gynecoid pelvis (the most typical shape), baby ends up in a great position, and she labors and delivers with expediency and efficiency. She most likely will deliver a baby even if they are malpositioned, breech or huge. Yes, she is the ideal but you can see, she isn't always the most typical.

In the middle, you have the majority of women. They may need a little evaluation or assistance or just plain old time, but they are also going to deliver their babies without much interference. Maybe a positional change or time to let a baby rotate, but by and large they are good to go without working too hard. God bless them, they compose the majority of the birthing population.

Then over on the right, you have moms who will probably need some assistance. Either nature gave them a pelvis that statistically is in the minority and therefore slightly more challenging for a baby to traverse, or a baby is very malpositioned and causing problems, or nutritionally mother/baby have been undernourished and this can cause problems (pre-eclampsia, abruption, etc.) or baby is large and needs time to mold his bony structures to fit, or any number of other challenging situations. Midwives are usually pretty good at meeting these challenges. Unlike the medical community, which sometimes solves all malposition issues by simply creating stronger contractions with pharmaceuticals, midwives really strive to determine the root cause and see if it can be resolved another way.

Sometimes, we have just the right little trick up our sleeve.

And sometimes, we don't.

I really hate it when someone falls into that last category. It is usually absolutely through NO FAULT of their own. Fortunately, this is again the minority of women but we still see them. We have pulled every trick out of our Mary Poppins bag and nothing has worked. Sometimes, in the medical environment, their pharmaceuticals have not only NOT helped but then have stressed out the baby so that the surgical solution is the only one left.

These are the ones that leave you feeling frustrated. Perhaps there was just one more trick you could have used to reposition that malpositioned head and reduce that swollen cervical lip, one more maneuver you could have used to turn that reluctant or persistently posterior baby, perhaps if you had just had a little bit more time...

But you didn't. Mom may be tired of trying and just wants pain relief. Maybe the bag of waters has been broken longer than is safe to continue, maybe baby starts expressing their own stress in their heart rate and you know it is time to throw in the towel and admit mom has fallen into the far right of the bell curve. Those who will need more intervention than you can give them at home. I know this is necessary and at times is life saving. You are especially grateful for caretakers that will work with them and help them to have a vaginal birth if possible. And equally grateful for physicians that have the skill to perform a cesarean if it is truly needed, though it is performed way too often in our country.

So, why does it feel like a failure? You know statistically there will always be those that fall into that last section of the bell curve, but you keep trying to keep your own clients from falling into that statistical divide. Mine today transported and was so blessed to get a physician that assisted her to continue on and get a vaginal birth and for that I am ecstatic, but it always makes me sad that someone didn't get the birth they hoped for.

Stinkin' bell curve.

Two more

2011-01-23T14:26:00.006-05:00

Since I blogged last, I've had two more births, a trip to Atlanta, a trip to Tampa and back home. I only have 2 more births in south Georgia before Atlanta will become my permanent home.

The first birth was guessed by myself and the daddy to be a little boy. My predictions have been on target for a while now, but this time daddy and I both were wrong and mom delivered a beautiful little girl. Mom was pleasantly surprised at how far along she was when I arrived and it wasn't too long before we had a baby. Maddeline Elizabeth, 6 lbs. 10 ozs.

Next birth came early the next week. Both moms delivered a couple of weeks "early" at about 38 weeks. That's not considered premature, but within the parameters of normal for sure. Again, mom was very happy to discover how far along she was when I arrived. I expected this one would go as fast, but we later realized she had an asynclitic head which made for a cervical lip that took a while to resolve and slowed down her descent. She was born with a "party hat", more technically known as a caput. Beautiful water birth, however and this mom's first homebirth. She did a beautiful job of bringing forth her new daughter. Didn't get to guess on this one because an ultrasound revealed her gender earlier in the pregnancy. Here is Norah Hope, 7 lbs 4 ozs. at birth:

Norah had some major peeling going on that first day and her face had taken a beating from her sideways trip down the birth canal, but when I returned a few days later for her postpartum visit, her mom had been wiping her face down with some breastmilk and she was just smooth and GORGEOUS! I'm convinced breastmilk is a magic potion in so many ways.

Had a new assistant for these two births and she was great. Nadine is a trained doula but has not been able to follow through with her certification. She learned the ropes of both my equipment and my charts very quickly and I really enjoyed having her along. After both births we visited Cracker Barrel for a meal and enjoyed just visiting and getting to know each other a little better.

Because both babies so cooperatively arrived a little before their due dates, I was able to travel down quickly to Tampa and see my son off on his Trek for Hope. Also, got to see my grandson Benjamin and his momma Raquel for a quick visit. Matt's journey has gotten a lot of media attention and I'm very proud of the way he's handling everything. Very articulate and mature in his dealing with the media, etc. He's had a few challenges already but is rolling with the punches. Here he is holding Ben just before departing:

At the send-off, held at the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, we met a young man who was taking pictures. I first assumed he was with a newspaper or the television station that was there doing interviews with Matt, but later learned he was a fellow soldier friend of Matt's, having roomed together in Iraq. He is an EXCELLENT photographer and the pictures he got at the send off were just beautiful. Here is one:

Yesterday, I was able to attend the Spinning Babies workshop with Gail Tully and later on that evening, also attend her shoulder dystocia workshop. I learned so much that will hopefully find its way into my repertoire of "tricks" that can be used to help a mom have a more normal birth and spare her a trip to the hospital and deal with stuck babies. Gail is very knowledgeable and in the smaller group that evening, I really enjoyed getting to know her better. We had some good fun, fellowship with other midwives and learned a lot.

At the workshop, I also got to meet a young CPM who is going to seriously pray about opening her practice in south Georgia. Please be praying that if it is God's will, she will know that and respond to the need of the many families that will be losing their choice when I leave.

Over and out for a bit.

A New Year

2011-01-10T11:05:00.003-05:00

First blog of the new year....

I got to spend about 10 days in Atlanta, but spent the 1st two days in bed running fever. Upper respiratory infection that really got a foothold. Unfortunately, I passed it on to my hubby also.

I got to see almost all my Atlanta clients and all is well there. I felt a bit nervous as the week went on because I left behind two mothers who are around 38 weeks and both have a history of early delivery.

But the most important thing was I got to attend Olivia's 6th birthday party. This is something I've missed for several years now and it made me very happy to be able to be present. I left her party early to head back to south Georgia but at least I got to see her and celebrate her birthday.

Short afternoon visit with Erin and Lucy too! She crawled over to me as soon as I arrived and used my pant legs to pull herself up and reach for Nana to take her. When I did she promptly snuggled up on my shoulder.

Oh, how I love grandchildren!

Can't wait until the day I'm up there 24/7 but there are currently 4 more babies to be born in south GA before I can go up and stay there.

I do love my warm house in Quitman though. Quiet and welcoming, lots of hot water showers with great water pressure and a fireplace that works, plus wall heaters in the bedroom and bath. Bird feeders out the kitchen window allow me to watch the antics of area birds.

9 more days until my son begins his Trek for Hope. The link to his blog is down on the right side of my page. Please follow him and consider supporting his cause for the families of fallen soldiers.

A considerate Christmas baby

2010-12-26T19:07:00.005-05:00

I had a client due December 24th, which in midwifery terms means "make no definite plans for Christmas". Even though my youngest daughter and her family did not come down to south Georgia this year, at least my older daughter did and my son already lives in the area, so I got to tentatively make plans to see them over the holiday.

We made plans to spend Friday (Christmas Eve) together and just hoped that the baby wouldn't choose to be born on its actual due date.

We ended up having a nice, uninterrupted day together complete with roast beef and all the trimmings. Got to celebrate Lucy's 1st Christmas with them and see her open our gifts to her. They are always fun to be around but getting to experience Christmas with little ones makes it extra special.

Then we had Christmas Day with my mom, aunt, sister, brother-in-law, two of my nieces and a great-niece and my own son! My husband had come down from Atlanta so I got to enjoy his company for quite a few days too.

I had called to check on my Christmas momma and she said her home was chaos at the moment but she was having the odd contraction all day. We both figured things might get going later in the day or perhaps that night.

I was right. Got a call around 3:45 AM. She didn't really feel like they were regular enough for me to come yet and said she would call me when they picked up. The experienced midwife in me went ahead and got up and took a shower and got ready to head her way. The weather was frigid and very windy with blowing frozen rain lightly dancing around. Even though she never called me back, I arrived on her doorstep just before 6 AM. When I checked her she was 8 cms. I'm glad I followed my intuition. We had a baby boy at 7:35 AM, 8 lbs 4 ozs. They named him Henry. He's a doll!

Thank you baby Henry for waiting on your midwife to get to have some family time before scheduling your arrival!

Now, a postpartum in 48 hours, four prenatals, including a couple of home visits out of town then I am heading back to Atlanta for New Years!

To Atlanta and back

2010-12-18T14:48:00.002-05:00

Left lastTuesday to head to Atlanta. I arrived on one of the coldest days of the year so far only to learn that our house up there was experiencing some "issues" with the heat. Apparently, during the recent renovations by the owner, he replace all the gas appliances, water heater and furnace with all electric. They put in a 3 ton unit to service a 2600 sq ft house. Sadly inadequate.

The house stayed around 55 degrees in all the rooms that first night. I decided the next morning to purchase some more large space heaters but the house is also inadequate in the electrical capacity and if you run the heaters on anything but LOW, it pops the breakers, so they are not able to work at full capacity either.

OK, maybe we'll keep a roaring large fire going in the fireplace. At least that might keep the join adjoining living areas comfortable, right? Nada. The fireplace is aesthetically beautiful, in that it is open on two sides but that apparently renders it incapable of drawing very well so our fire did nothing but fill the house up with smoke. The owners must have realized that because they had installed an ancient gas burnings "fake" log system, however the house no longer has gas piping since it was all stolen when the house set vacant for a period of time and the gas log system is rusted and not usable any longer.

So everything we tried to compensate for the cold house was thwarted and I am quite frustrated. My office space is small and the space heater I purchased for that room will at least keep that area pretty comfortable. We put a small heater in the guest bathroom also, but the entire rest of the house is REALLY COLD! I have no idea what we are going to do about this situation. It's completely unacceptable.

Any ideas that don't cost a fortune or pop the breakers?

Long distance birth

2010-12-13T23:42:00.002-05:00

Somehow I got talked into attending a birth that was 3 1/2 hours away. It was a 4th child for this mom so we discussed the fact that I very well might miss it.

I did.

Mom called at 4:30 AM and said she was achy, but had moved furniture that day (??) and thought maybe that was the explanation. She was going to drink water and soak in the tub and let me know if things didn't go away or if they got worse. Another call at 6:30 AM confirmed that it was indeed labor. I was on the road within the hour after canceling lunch plans with my daughter, emailing my pastor's wife that I would most likely not be bringing a veggie tray to the Christmas party that evening. Had to also drop my dog off at my mother's house who lives in a town along the path to this client.

About an hour and a half before my arrival, the doula texted me that the baby had arrived and was doing well. A phone call and speaker phone confirmed for me that things were fine and gave me a way to encourage baby's color to improve and the placenta to be born.

So, I arrived in time to do a thorough newborn exam, check out the mom (no tears) and go over postpartum instructions and make arrangements to come back for a postpartum check.

Made it back in town in time to bring the veggie tray!

Yet another move

2010-12-02T10:14:00.001-05:00

I totally forgot to mention a life-altering event. When I got home late at night after being in Atlanta for a week, I found my little cottage had been broken into.

Wondered why the front porch light, which I had left on, was not shining its welcome light to me as I drove up around 10:45 PM. Did it burn out? Did someone turn it off in my absence? I opened the door and went to flip on the switch and realized it was already in the "on" position. Perhaps it had burned out? I had put one of those long lasting bulbs in it because it was so high and hard to reach.

Reach to turn on a little lamp that sits on the bookcase by the door and discover it won't turn on--had been unplugged. Then the biggest realization hits me. The TV that sits beside the lamp is gone and the cable is pulled out long and sitting on the floor. The only light is a dim one I left on in the bathroom. It is just enough light I can see the broken glass all over the carpet by the window.

All of the sudden the pieces are falling into place in my brain. I've been robbed and my home has been broken into in my absence. Then my brain realizes it is entirely possible I'm not alone and I back out of the cottage, locking the door as I go and make a run for my car, locking myself in.

Call my hubby and my first thoughts are where am I going to stay this late at night (besides the overwhelming need to pee which has been on my mind for the last hour of my trip home). I call one friend who is already in bed and doesn't answer. Others have a house full of family for Thanksgiving, so Tom recommends I just go get a motel room for the night. Once I get settled in (and get to pee) and start thinking about that open window and all the other items of value that are still in my cottage and decide to call the police now instead of waiting until the morning. They meet me there and start an investigation and while they are there, I remove the items that are valuable that were not taken---my printer and all of my medical supplies, etc. Now the question comes up--where will I stay temporarily until my permanent move to Atlanta?

I have to check out of the motel on Thanksgiving Day and have no idea where I will spend the night that night. Then a friend contacted me via Facebook and says they are going out of town for the holiday and I can stay in her house as long as I need to. Not only do I have a really nice place to stay but it is private and the view of the lake where her home sits is peaceful to my rattled soul.

That day my husband reminds me that after I moved into the cottage my dad's wife had offered me her deceased parents home in a nearby city. Not as convenient for some of my clients but it offers more room and a wonderful temporary place to stay. I called her and she is delighted to have someone staying at the house and giving it that "lived in" look to deter vandals. (Hoping I will deter vandals, Yikes!)

So over the weekend, my hubby comes down and helps me get settled in. I'm enjoying several things about the house: the 1955s wall mounted antique refrigerator that works!, the gas heat that makes for a comfortable home, the little wall mounted heaters in the bathrooms and bedrooms, the screened in porch and the single car carport, having a kitchen again to cook and a washer and dryer to do laundry at my own home, the citrus tree that is bearing ripe fruit right now.

They are still letting me do prenatals in the cottage for clients who are closer to that city. It just means remembering to carry some things back and forth, which is a pain. Stocking paper cups, toilet paper, trash bags, hand towels and soap, a lamp for light, something to cover the bed and my prenatal bag and equipment, sometimes my lab equipment and spinner. Yeah, the things I do for my clients....

Two little girls

2010-11-30T09:29:00.003-05:00

Within one week's time, we had the beautiful homebirths of two baby girls.

The first one was cooperatively born the evening before Thanksgiving weighing 8 lbs 4 ozs and the family named her Ella. Momma went 42 weeks and 1 day, waiting for me to return from my trip to Atlanta for Lucy's surgery. Thank you momma and Ella! 2nd time I've helped this family with a birth.

The other little came last night. It is the 2nd baby for this family for me also. This little girl came a little ahead of her due date but she weighed 6 lbs 10 ozs. They named her Dakota.

I'll post pictures when I get internet service and don't have to tether my phone to connect any longer.

The land of cotton

2010-11-12T07:37:00.003-05:00

There is an endearing term you will occasionally hear midwives say. It's called "death by primip". No, doesn't mean anyone really died, but the midwife feels pretty dead by the time she gets home. It usually means a very long drawn out birth with a first time mom, where you question your calling to the profession many times during the process. You know you could get a lot more sleep if you just signed on to be a greeter at WalMart.

That scenario is so prevalent that I was pleasantly surprised to have this little primip momma deliver so nice and efficiently. Couldn't have gone any better. Young couple, she turned 20 during her pregnancy. Didn't seem to have much experience with babies. No childbirth classes but she was highly motivated to birth at home. If she succeeded, she would be the first female in her extended family to have a normal vaginal birth. Living in a double wide trailer out in the middle of cotton fields in the rural countryside, their favorite decor was the confederate flag.

I had loaned her a Lamaze video to watch, hoping to get some birthing skills on board before birth. Two weeks and two days after her 'due date' this mom starting having some mild contractions around 11 PM but at 3:30 AM her water broke and then things got serious very quickly. I was called then and every hour after that until my arrival. At one point the dad said to me that mom had said she didn't think she could do this....too much pain. I suggested he go ahead and get her into the birth pool for comfort and asked if she could at least hang in there until I arrived. Got there around 8:30 AM and found mom to be 7.5 cms already! Mom never complained or uttered another sound during labor. For a first time mom, this is quite incredible! Baby girl arrived just after lunch, weighing 7 lbs. 10 ozs.

And they named her "Dixie".

Postdates

2010-11-09T10:59:00.002-05:00

One of the dilemma's of midwifery is when and how much to "interfere" with the process. I still have one first time mom who is now 42 weeks. Her family is concerned and pushing her to go in for a medical induction. Her body is just sitting on ready. Checked her yesterday and baby is doing beautifully--nice heart tones, responds well to stimulus, has good variables (in her heart rate), seems to have sufficient fluid volume. But postdates babies do present special concerns. So do you interfere or allow the body to do what it does best...determine the timing of the baby's birth?

Second mom, 5th child and she is due today. Showing lots of signs of being ready, could go at any time and she usually delivers fast. They live about an hour apart.

So, if I interfere, I could risk them both being in labor at the same time. If I don't interfere, that could happen too. Either way, the 42 week mom needs to come soon, so we are starting her on the cohoshes and castor oil (if she can keep it down this time) and hoping to get baby here.

Very grateful neither one decided to come between Saturday and Sunday night when I had a vicious tummy bug. Ran fever and was throwing up (TMI?) so it would have been a terrible time to get called out. God is good to have given me the time to recover.

Then I have a nice little break between babies so I can go up and be helpful to my daughter, Erin, during Lucy's surgery on the 19th. Lots of interviews set up with potential new clients too.

A little of this and that

2010-10-25T07:22:00.002-04:00

I am working very hard this week to try and finish up all my documentation for my NARM paperwork and get it turned in. I want that much done at least. God will have to determine if I get to take the exam in February or August. Since I have missed the deadline for February, it would take divine intervention to have that happen.

I had hoped to be in Atlanta this weekend for the BOLD Red Tent event. It attracts quite a crowd of women who are interested in birth, some of them expectant. I rented table space as a vendor and had hoped to be there in person. When hiring a midwife, people want to meet you in person. But that was not to be, as I am waiting on a couple of babies who aren't cooperating.

One momma is actually due today. First baby and they live an hour and 40 minutes away. She has been doing fine until she got that virus last week, then afterwards her blood pressure started to rise. No other symptoms of anything to be concerned about but it went up over the last few days instead of coming back down. It's hard to monitor someone that distance away. They purchased a blood pressure cuff. I had her eat an entire roasted chicken (per Brewer recommendations) take Epsom salt baths and lay down for the majority of the day. I went up and drew labs to see if her liver enzymes were normal and they were. Brought her some calcium/magnesium and two herbs: hawthorn and skullcap. Between the herbs, the cal/mag, the Epsom salt baths and complete bedrest, she is finally having more normal blood pressure readings. Now baby needs to come....soon.

Since moving into the cottage, I've noticed a huge amount of foot traffic here. Lots of men walking or riding bikes up and down the street. This past weekend three people have knocked on my door while I am here alone wanting to know if I had work for them to do. The last one didn't seem to want work so much as he just wanted a cash handout. Somewhere in the conversation he said he would not rape or kidnap me. Nice to know. Now, just keep moving along sir.....

I have since actually loaded the gun I own. An unloaded gun just isn't much use if you need it quickly. Sleeping with pepper spray near me and my car keys so I can set off the panic button on the car if I needed to and alert neighbors. I also put up a sign in my window that I hope will be noticed. It has a picture of a LARGE warrior angel on it and says, "This dwelling is protected by a large angel and someone who knows how to fire a gun. I am not responsible for the lawn care and will not answer the door to strangers."

I'm a gentle soul and I really hate having to sound so unloving and tough, but there is something about living alone and feeling vulnerable in this fallen world that makes you realize you may either have to be tough or be a victim. I'd rather have to be tough.

A little frustration

2010-10-14T07:12:00.002-04:00

I have a client who is around 38 weeks. She's a primip--meaning this is her first baby so it is a little unpredictable as to whether she will come early, on time or postdates. She started running fever this week, then her husband ran fever and starting throwing up, then she started throwing up. His only lasted a day but hers lasted several days. We talked on the phone about the most important thing was to try and keep some kind of liquids down so she didn't get dehydrated. I suggested she freeze some Gatorade and crush those up or eat some popsicles. Anything that would stay down and keep her hydrated. Checked with her one evening again and suggested that if she did not feel better by morning and was still throwing up, she should go to a walk-in clinic or ER and see if they could give her some fluids and possibly some meds to help with the nausea and break the cycle of throwing up. Talked to them the next afternoon and they were at the hospital being checked out, per my suggestion. At the hospital, they hooked her up to a monitor and noted she was having some mild contractions, they did a vaginal exam and noted she was 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced and baby sounded fine. They said her nausea was because she was in early labor and sent her home without fluids or medicine to stop the nausea.

I just want to know where this person got their medical degree.

Dehydration in pregnant women will cause you to start having contractions. Did no one ask if anyone else in the family had the tummy bug too, like her husband? It is a case of making diagnosis and assumptions based on incomplete information. Kind of a "duh" moment.

It's frustrating to me because I can't communicate with the medical personnel at the hospital where she went. You never know exactly how much the client got to share and the questions they asked.

But I'd like to give them a piece of my mind.

Atlanta week #1

2010-10-08T08:43:00.002-04:00

I'm headed back to Thomasville this morning but wanted to write out something about my first week here in Atlanta.

I got a LOT accomplished this week. With the exception of finding myself a new desk (hubby decided he would take my previous one) and unpacking all of the stuff that went into it and on it, the majority of the boxes are unpacked and contents put up. Quite a few pictures hung, furniture arranged, office set up. There is one box of stuff from the clinic I still cannot find. It is a little plastic drawer that held some supplies for my office. And I'm missing my large wire office trash can with the shredder. Both kind of important and I have NO idea where they were put. There are still a few things in the garages but I've taken a look at all of it, opening boxes and seeing what was inside and still can't find these items.

This week I saw my first real client up here and talked to quite a few prospective new clients. Interviewed an assistant and an apprentice too. Met with a local midwife and talked about our practices. Good week in that regard.

Got to spend some time with both daughters. Erin and Lucy came to see the house for the first time, then I got to spend some time with them yesterday at their house, plus eat lunch out with them and Wesley. Kayla and her children came one afternoon and we decided to get some food to cook and make dinner together. So Luke joined us for dinner. Then yesterday after lunch I went to their house and spent time with the grandkids while Kayla got to go buy groceries all by herself for a change.

Today I need to sort out what things will go back to Thomasville with me and what things should stay behind. We are going to try to head to Tampa for a day this weekend and spend some time with our grandson Benjamin, if a certain little momma in south Georgia will hold onto her baby for a few more days. Lord, let her hold on!

Brought our 'stray' cat Patches up here and Tom promised to take care of her until I am here permanently. Since Tom is going to Tampa with me, hoping I can just leave her enough food for a while and she won't stray and stay put.

Can't forget the dog though. Bennett goes wherever I go.

Moved

2010-10-04T07:54:00.002-04:00

Last week I was able to finish up my move into the little cottage I am renting in Thomasville. I'll be staying there to finish up the births I am committed to there until the end of February. Tom was also able to load up everything in our house and move it up to Atlanta. Problem was, he did it in several loads and was only able to take the time to dump the contents out in the house and then return to pick up another load.

I was able to complete a birth I had hoped would arrive any day (thanks JG!) and after waiting 48 hours for a postpartum check, I headed to Atlanta to start unpacking and setting up the house there.

Did a little bit on Friday night, but most of our progress was made on Saturday. Beds put together and linens put on. Kitchen set up (couldn't find coffee pot!) and so many boxes unpacked! A family friend up here in Atlanta came and helped me unpack a good bit. I have a feeling the furniture arrangement is a work in progress but at least it is working now just like it is.

Today I need to make contact with several prospective clients and see if we can meet this week, meet several prospective apprentice/assistants, and find another midwife who can loan me some lab supplies (tourniquet and needle/vial holders) for blood draws. I have everything else but forgot those and left them in Thomasville.

We are bone tired and I feel lost when it comes to driving here. Thank God for GPS! Hoping to visit a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's today.

Mixed emotions

2010-09-17T15:47:00.002-04:00

Any time in the past that God has required big changes in my life, especially when it meant a change of location, I would find myself pulling in emotionally from what I had to leave. I think I do this so it won't hurt so much. But I'm finding myself this time with this mix of emotions.

I really like the little town I live in. I like that I know my way around and all the shortcuts. I love that when I go to the coffee shop I will always see familiar faces. I love that I know who owns different restaurants and sometimes their family too. It gives me a sense of joy to attend a function and count 7 little heads in the room that I was the first to touch and catch when they were born. I love that I am known as the community midwife here. It is sweet to stay in touch with all the families that we have known all the years we were raising our families together, homeschooling and attending church together. I find myself very nostalgic about leaving all this behind---savoring all of it so I won't forget.

But there is also a piece of me that simply has to be ready to move on. Ready to embrace the new, ready to meet new families, ready to arrange my furniture and dishes in new cabinets and new rooms. Ready for all the very cool stuff available in the "big city". Looking forward to being available to my daughters and grandchildren, having family dinners again. Looking forward to being in an area with other midwives so that I might actually get to have someone as backup in an emergency for a change, plus all these really great birth related workshops and conferences are held in the Atlanta area.

So, it's been different this time. Sadness about leaving my small town and all the people I know and love. A little fear about finding my way around a new territory, and yet a little excitement too.

The change is coming, whether I like it or not, so I best just be positive about it all.

#75

2010-09-08T19:57:00.003-04:00

Is finally here!

Nothing happened exactly the way I planned, but my milestone for certification has been reached!

It was supposed to have happened at the end of August but, as you remember that birth was at 42 weeks and not under my care.

Next opportunity was this weekend. Young couple, first baby, an hour away. Marathon labor that ended in a transport for stalled progress and other issues. She finally delivered vaginally in the hospital later that afternoon with some assistance from pitocin and an epidural.

I hadn't even pulled up in my driveway yet after having been gone for 3 days when my husband told me another couple in labor had called. I had gone about 76 hours at that point with only three hours of sleep. I almost cried. Exhausted and afraid of driving another hour away in my condition, my husband offered to drive me to the birth. I gratefully accepted. (He is always in Atlanta these days....do you know how miraculous it was that he was even around??)

This family had told me when they hired me that in the past their midwives had either barely made it or not made it at all. So at least I hoped the birth would go quickly and I could get home and SLEEP!

I got to their home very early Tuesday morning and baby arrived at 4:43 PM that afternoon. Yeah, not as fast as we thought.

BUT....it's done! #75 has been reached. I can finish up my paperwork and start this process of getting certified.

This has been a 15 year journey. Somehow I need to celebrate. I think this fall I'm going to have a picnic and invite all the families that have helped me reach it. That would be sweet.

One day when I can find the words, I'm going to blog about the husband of the marathon labor mom. He was the closest thing to seeing Christ personified in his love and attention to his wife that I have ever had the privilege to witness. He made me tear up many times during this 3 day ordeal.

And still waiting, but....

2010-08-29T09:06:00.010-04:00

We got the house I mentioned in an earlier post! I think it is going to be perfect for our needs. Here are a few pics with commentary:

This is the third bedroom which has a separate entrance into the house, perfect for my office, especially since that little opening you see will perfectly fit my bookcase for my lending library and also has a walk-in closet large enough to store all my equipment!

This is the right side of the kitchen. New tile floor, new cabinets, new countertops and new appliances. I'm not terribly fond of the orange paint on the walls but for some reason it actually works in this kitchen. Lots of cabinets and storage space!

OK, here's where the orange is not working for me. The dining room (before clean up). This will be repainted a nice soft butter yellow (pale).

This is just half of the very spacious living area. The house sits back away from the road in the middle of woods so it is very private. Love the treetop view from the windows. I'll probably just add a curtain panel to the outside edges of the windows and keep that view available! Hardwood floors will be cleaned soon. Love the honey heart pine walls!

This is the other half of the living area space, divided by a dual sided fireplace. I personally would not have laid the bricks in that very orderly stacked pattern but would have preferred a more random pattern, but oh well! It's going to be interesting to figure out how to tie the two areas together.

This is the second bedroom with built in bookcase. To the right on the opposite wall is a white brick fireplace, though I've been told it doesn't work. Still would look pretty with some candles in it!

The master bedroom. Purple is not my color. I have off white beachy looking furniture with pastel yellows and blues. This will be painted a nice neutral beige or tan before we move in. However, it is a huge bedroom with a very large walk in closet and TWO MORE closets. I can't even imagine having this much storage space. Master bath has a double door closet for storage in it also. Amazing!

That's all for now. You know how long it takes Blogger to upload pictures? Too long...

Waiting on the last one....

2010-08-25T21:18:00.003-04:00

Remember last year when I was at Casa de Nacimiento and doing a countdown on births? Well, it's taken another year but I am currently waiting on my 75th birth right now. When this baby is safely arrived I will have all the births I need to get the paperwork rolling for my certification process as a CPM (certified professional midwife).

Do you know what a long process this has been? I probably won't be allowed to take the written exam until next February but that's OK since that will give me some study time.

Prayer request! I have a monitrice client who wants to VBAC at a hostile hospital. They have agreed to do a VBAC but she wants to labor and be monitored away from the hospital when she goes into labor. She's been having lots of prodromal labor that isn't producing cervical changes and I'm a little concerned that her labor process is going to be very time-consuming.

At the same time I have this midwifery client #75. Hoping their labor/births do no collide. Midwifery client is due this coming weekend and recently lost her plug which could indicate some readiness. Can't be in two places at once so I could sure use some divine intervention!

This process of moving to Atlanta is going to get a bit complicated. We are trying to go ahead and find a house to rent perhaps by October and go ahead and move into it. That means I have to figure out where to stay here in south GA until I have completed the births I am committed to down here. I've been thinking about just the clothing situation....I'll be going into the fall and winter so will need different clothing. Then there is my midwifery equipment and lending library and supplies and sterilization equipment, records, computer, printer, textbooks, etc.

If I get new clients up in Atlanta I will have to figure out when to go up each month so I can provide their prenatal care and work around the due dates of mothers down here.

Lots to pray about.

Cubic Zirconiums

2010-08-16T08:12:00.002-04:00

I'm finally up in Atlanta getting to visit with my daughters, my son and 4 of the grandchildren. It was Erin and Wesley's 5th wedding anniversary this weekend and I was able to babysit Lucy for them to go out to eat. She did just fine and was laying in my arms contentedly when they got home. Got to see my husband, who has been up here working non-stop for a month too.

Another side purpose that I thought might be accomplished was house hunting for our probably move to the area early next year. We won't be able to purchase a home but are planning on renting. Since Tom has been staying with the girls it would be nice if we found something and could go ahead and move our stuff in there so he would have a place to live. I would have to keep my midwifery equipment and necessities with me and stay with family or friends until I fulfill all the births coming up.

Tom has been helping to work on a house up here that just might be the answer. It is right in the middle of a neighborhood of multimillion dollar homes. You drive through the neighborhood with your mouth permanently dropped open at the castle-like homes with gated driveways. This house sits far off the road and is surrounded by woods which is probably a good thing. The neighbors would most likely consider it an eyesore. It is what I would call the cubic zirconium in a neighborhood of diamonds. But it has potential!

Huge house with lots of room and storage. Basement room is unfinished but would still afford a lot of storage space that is accessible. It has this long green room on the back of the house with a large walk-in closet and external access that would be perfect for my office and equipment. The master bedroom is the biggest I've ever seen with a huge walk-in closet and two other storage closets in a little alcove. Only problem is it is painted eggplant purple....very dark. All my bedroom decor is currently pastel yellow and blue and very "beachy" looking. Wondering if they'd let us paint it again with something neutral. The laundry room has a closet for the washer and dryer but the room itself would lent itself nicely for my study area and library. The kitchen has all new appliances, a space you could easily put an upright freezer but it is painted pumpkin color. I can live with it but again, not my taste or my current decor. The living areas are side by side, separated only by a huge brick fireplace that is open to both spaces. One side is heart pine paneling and cabin cozy looking and the other is painted drywall and more modern looking. The floors are newly refinished hardwood. Separate dining room, also painted pumpkin. Storage closets everywhere, seriously. The house is surrounded by woods and kudzu. Minimal landscaping and yard. Very green when you look out the windows but it will probably look very dead and brown in the winter. Very private. I took some pictures and will post them if things work out.

The owner had mentioned he might rent the house to us at below the market value. That might put it in our budget. I'm hoping so......cause the other houses we have looked at in our price range are in horrible neighborhoods and very run down or simply not suitable for having an office there, spacewise.

Say a little prayer this one works out....

It's about time

2010-08-11T18:48:00.004-04:00

For a lot of things...my blog needs updating for one.

Last birth was a sweet young Mennonite couple, first baby. The usual long labor but she handled it pretty well. Pushing took a while and it seemed like that little head hung out at different stages for a while. I finally had to put some internal upward pressure on the pubic bone to get baby to slip down. Even then the head hung out on the perineum for longer than I was comfortable. But look what a sweet, cute little thing finally emerged!

And....it's about time my 11 day late baby arrived. This baby is getting big. Momma has had lots of prodromal labor and is miserable. I would like to babysit my little Lucybird on Friday night for her momma and daddy to be able to have a special evening for their anniversary but I can't go to Atlanta until this baby arrives.

This is also special baby #75. The last one I need for my certification purposes. He would be taking his sweet little time.

So, if you are in a praying moment, would you please pray this baby will arrive safely soon? No issues with his size and he would easily slide out into the world with me there to catch him.

Did I mention soon?

Multitasking and conflicts

2010-07-27T08:16:00.002-04:00

In my area there are no other homebirth midwives, there is no one else interested in offering a breastfeeding support group or consults and there is no other childbirth class other than the very boring one offered by the hospital (which naturally assumes they are all going to get an epidural). For many years there were no doulas, though a few more have cropped up in cities nearby and a few more young ladies are in training.

So being the busybody that I am, I've tried to fill all of those roles, educating, assisting at hospital births, doing lactation consults and running the support group. All of this while simultaneously having a homebirth practice.

Usually it isn't a problem, but every month when my support group meeting rolls around I worry that someone will go into labor and I'll have to figure out a way to call everyone quickly and cancel or leave a note on my door, or.....something.

This week I'm getting nervous. Two mothers who haven't yet delivered. A very special support group meeting this week, with all the moms wearing tshirts with the international logo on them and all their babies wearing onesies with the same logo.....we are meeting with our city's mayor and she is signing a proclamation declaring the week of August 1-7 as Breastfeeding Week here in Thomasville. Afterwards we are going to eat lunch together and brainstorm about a project we are interested in taking up. It's going to be a great photo opportunity for the newspaper to get the support group in the news and breastfeeding in general on the minds of people in our area.

Please, please, please don't let these moms be in labor that morning or for me to still be two hours away having attended a birth!

I need some other women to fall in love with these same passions concerning birth and take up the roles I play. I need to focus on ONE thing--just midwifery and bow out of these others roles so I don't always have these conflicts.

And I'm not getting any younger, you know.

The other side

2010-07-25T21:11:00.002-04:00

My last post was full of excitement and happiness for a couple that achieved their dream of a VBAC. Those are the kind we enjoy reading and they give us hope.

But the other side of midwifery is when you work to help someone achieve that dream and it doesn't quite come true.

You get the highs and you get the lows. It comes with the territory.

This mom had one previous cesarean and never experienced labor with her first pregnancy. Her physician decided before she ever went into labor that she would not be able to deliver her 8 lb. 3 ozs. little girl. This mom has spent the years since wondering and researching.

You see, the thing with 'cephalopelvic disproportion' (CPD) is unless the mom has a truly damaged pelvis, you never really know how it will perform until you actually get into labor. Sometimes the position of the baby, the relaxin hormones, the motivation of the mother, the way the stars line up and the way you hold your tongue just right (just kidding) can make the difference between marginal, insufficient or 'whoa Nelly, there's a baby barreling out' outcomes.

So unless you have some really good reason to avoid a trial of labor, it's reasonable to at least try.

So we did.

Lots of prodromal labor for many days. One trip (2 hours 15 minutes away) up only to discover mom was unchanged at 1 centimeter. Water broke this morning at 6:30 AM and by the time I was able to get on the road, it wasn't long before I was getting a phone call from dad saying mom felt the need to push. We arrived a while later and discovered she was indeed complete and gave her permission to push all she wanted. We didn't think we would make it before the baby but I guess I shouldn't have worried. This mom bravely pushed for about 5 hours before we all knew we needed to call it quits. Baby just wasn't moving down. Not even a little. Mom was exhausted, baby was actually doing great but it became apparent after a while that this baby was, as one of my midwife friends calls "NCO" or "not coming out". So the decision was made to transport to the hospital. It was not an emergency because baby was doing so nicely, but it's always a good idea to bring them in before there are issues, not after if possible.

Baby came by cesarean and weighed 9 lbs. 6 ozs. Little baby Emma. I have yet to see pictures but I've talked to dad and mom's best friend and will visit with them when they get home to see if mom needs to process anything about the birth.

Even though this may not seem to be a victorious story, in some ways, it is. The victory is in the fact that this mom got to explore her dream and had someone willing to trust her to TRY! She also had someone whose ultimate goal was to end up with a healthy mother and baby at the end of the day. I have perfect peace that even though this was not the outcome we were hoping for, it was a good outcome and good decisions were made all the way around. I am not second-guessing myself and I don't think the mother will either. I think she'll know she gave it 100% effort and that she has a beautiful new daughter to enjoy.

Being a midwife involves both sides of the story---both involve working to keep mom and baby in the "normal, healthy" box even if they take different routes to get there.

An extra special one

2010-07-20T20:12:00.003-04:00

Every birth is special, but sometimes you are involved with one that will forever be indelibly etched in your memories. Such is the birth that occurred yesterday.

This client had a cesarean with her first birth because of distress in her baby's heartrate during labor. I wasn't there, so shouldn't second guess that decision. When she was expecting her second child, her caretaker promised her a trial of labor for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) but upon arrival at the hospital after two hours of labor and 6 cms of dilation, he did not allow her to birth vaginally but went back on his promise and performed another cesarean. So, by her third pregnancy no obstetrician would take her and allow her a VBAC, so she ended up with three cesareans.

Somewhere in this journey, she began to educate herself and wonder if a vaginal birth was possible for herself. When pregnancy number 4 happened, she looked for someone who would believe in her and her body's ability to birth normally. She received prenatal care at a birth clinic for many months, though they were not allowed to deliver her baby. Several months away from her expected date of delivery, she contacted me.

Wow, three cesareans. What did the studies say? Would I be completely crazy to take her on? As I researched I was quite surprised to find so many studies on women who attempted a vaginal birth after multiple cesareans. In the majority of the studies I read (and there were many) the only real ruptures that occurred were in women who had their labors induced or augmented artificially, causing much stronger contractions that natural labor. In the women who went into labor on their own and labored naturally, there were almost NO ruptures. In fact, it appeared that multiple cesareans actually might decrease the rupture risk because the scar is so stinking thick and like cement! This mom had an adequate pelvis so I felt at peace giving her a shot at achieving her dream.

At one appointment I discovered the baby to be breech and that was too much for me to deal with in a mom who had never given birth normally before. Had her see a chiropractor who does the Webster technique and an acupuncturist who did moxibustion. It was a happy day when it was confirmed that baby was again head down and staying that way.

It was decided for her to birth at my home office. She lived just over the state line and it would have been complicated legally for me to attend her at her own home.

At 41 weeks gestation, she called at 4 AM to tell me contractions had been going on since midnight. She arrived around 5:30 AM with her birth kit, both her parents, her sister and a doula. I had the birth tub ready to go and we starting filling it up but it was hours later before she used it. Initially she was only about 2.5 cms dilated. Baby was posterior so it was taking a long time to see progress.

Late in the afternoon, another check revealed that she was just about complete except for a very stubborn anterior cervical lip. It seemed like forever before that finally resolved. Back in the pool for pushing. I kind of figured she might push for several hours, but she pushed that baby out in about 22 minutes.

This is the face of joy that comes from finally achieving a dream. From gratitude and relief that everything had worked out safely, just as you had hoped. From experiencing something no one thought was possible.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house, including mine.

A lull

2010-07-16T07:57:00.002-04:00

Hoping it isn't the one before a storm. The month is half over and I still have 4 moms due that have not yet delivered. Still praying they each choose their own unique birthdays and that we have 4 safe homebirths with great outcomes.

I had a midwife friend here for almost a week. We were thinking surely at least one baby would arrive while she was here, but no.

Three of my grandchildren are in town, staying with their other grandmother. I got to see them briefly a few days ago. I couldn't keep them myself because of all the upcoming births. What would I do with them in the middle of the night if someone were to go into labor? Hoping if things stay quiet this morning that I can go see them this morning and take the two oldest ones to ChickFilA for lunch and maybe home for an afternoon nap. Let the other grandma have a little break.

Looking forward to a few quiet weeks in August....

A close one

2010-07-06T21:12:00.003-04:00

I had a doula/monitrice client give birth this past Saturday. She had not been pleased with her first hospital birth and wanted something different. Really wished for a homebirth but the budget didn't allow so they opted instead for a monitrice situation.

What is a monitrice and how does it differ from a doula? Both offer support for the mother through coping and comfort measures, but the monitrice also provides vital signs on the mother and baby and labor progress measurements. This is out of the scope of practice for the doula. It requires more skill. The mother wanted to labor at home safely for as long as possible and zip into the hospital very late in the dilation process and just push the baby out there with as few interventions as possible.

She labored with some putzy contractions during the night Friday and called me early Saturday morning. I arrived at 7:30 AM to find that she was only about 2 cms. After working to get the contractions going all morning, at 11:30 AM she was still only about 3 cms. Exhausted from a sleepless night I suggested a nap might be in order if she could accomplish it. I went home for a short one myself.

I was called back around 1 PM and arrived at 1:30 to discover she was now about 7.5 cms. It appeared that things were in high gear and moving quickly now. I asked her husband to put everything in the car they were taking to the hospital and to return to me and we would get his wife out of the birthing pool, take off her wet clothes, dry her off and help dress her for a trip to the hospital......right away.

He got the stuff put in the car, and then proceeded to take a shower. LOL

We almost didn't make it to the hospital before the baby's arrival. Mom was complete upon arrival and we encouraged them to get her to the labor and delivery department posthaste. Mom still got the mandatory IV, blood draws, water ruptured, electronic monitor belts, etc. ALL while complete and ready to go, mind you.

Baby arrived with minimal pushing, though she wasn't allowed to choose a position of her choosing so she did tear a little which needed repair. Baby was separated from momma for a while as they did their cleanup and procedures but returned to her for a while for skin to skin. He weighed 8 lbs. 11 ozs and I had guessed 8.10 so I'm getting pretty close with my estimates!

All in all, the family was very happy with their birth experience and that is what really matters. She felt like she accomplished something important by doing it natural, she had most of her labor at home and the most intense part in the birth pool, so that was lovely for her.

Now, on to the other 4 July births. Please be praying they all choose their own birthdays and that I get some rest in between. I need to catch each of them in order to finish up my numbers for certification and of course, no transfers or complications is the ideal.

An all nighter

2010-06-24T14:09:00.006-04:00

I love those little ones who decide early in the day that they will be born that day. Especially those who proceed with efficiency....

Do you know how often that happens? Rarely.

Something about nighttime that draws mothers into labor and babies into the world.

I have a repeat client who delivered early this morning. Her body had been practicing for the main event for a few days and last night about dark the mom called 'thinking' this might be it, later called back and thought perhaps they had spaced out again, then around 11 she called back again wanting me to come check her. My regular assistant was out of the country and I had met with a newly graduated nursing student just the day before to show her my cases and equipment. I called her to tell her to be ready to come if it appeared this was the real deal. I went to the client's house and found her with significant enough dilation and contractions to stay around. There was one point during labor when I wondered if that had been wise as we didn't seem to have the best progress but I got the mom doing some nipple stimulation and from that point on we had major progress.

Baby was posterior and despite our efforts to encourage her to flip over so she would be born face down, she decided to enter the world face up. Cord around the neck once, loosely so it wasn't a problem. This little girl wanted to eat as soon as she arrived and she latched on as soon as it was offered just beautifully. Alert with her eyes open and looking around, she was pink and beautiful. She arrived at 6:32 AM after mommy, daddy, big sister and her birth team had been up all night long. 9 lbs even.

I eventually got to come home, unload my equipment and head for my bed. I have another prenatal home visit late this afternoon, so I don't have the luxury of sleeping all day. Tonight, I'm going to sleep good!

This is a few of her older siblings when they were first introduced to their new little sister. This was baby #7.

This was the last baby I caught for this family. She's now 18 months old and has just been displaced as the 'baby'.

Another little one, with an unusual issue.

2010-06-17T07:09:00.005-04:00

I attended a nice peaceful waterbirth on Tuesday morning. Wondered if I'd make it in time since it was a third baby and the family was 2 hours north of me. Dad called when I was about 5 miles away and said mom needed to push. That was the longest 5 miles in my life but I did arrive in time. Mom pushed out a lovely 7 lb. 10 ozs. little girl, their third little girl.

Here she is taking her herb bath with her mommy.

Baby had a respiratory issue that I've never run across before. She was pink and obviously perfused but she made this noisy sound when breathing that sounded a lot like respiratory distress. It totally went away when she was nursing or sleeping but was present the rest of the time. Not sure what it was, I urged the parents to take her in to their pediatrician for diagnosis. Because he was out of town and they had to see his backup doctor, that didn't happen until the next day. He diagnosed tracheomalacia, or a floppy, weak trachea/windpipe. She should outgrow it but it is frightening if you don't know what's going on. Below is a video clip of another child I found on YouTube with the exact same sound this baby was making. They call it something similar, which makes me wonder if it is the same thing with different names.

So, you live and learn! I'll never forget that sound....

Waiting on one more June baby, then the crazy month of July will begin. 5 births coming up in July.

Had a short visit with my youngest daughter and her three children Tuesday night and part of Wednesday. Here are some cute pics I took of the three grandchildren after we went swimming together.

Babies blooming out all over

2010-06-09T15:04:00.002-04:00

I've had phone calls and emails and new bookings this week with lots of new clients. I can hardly keep up with the amount of new notebooks I need to produce. I love having that problem.

I remember going up to TN several years ago to work with a midwife for several weeks up there for the experience and training. She kind of prophesied to me then that my business was about to blast off and her words have proved true. Each year my client load has grown expotentially.

This creates a few challenges though. I have a two hour radius and no real backup nearby. I don't want to take too many clients due in one month because of the possibility that they may go into labor at the same time. So far, God has been SOOO good to me and always worked those situations out. I really need a full time assistant or apprentice. My wonderful Rose is the epitome of efficiency but she is a busy girl and can't devote herself to my practice full time yet. She is in school to become an EMT and has clinical days, classtime and studying, not to mention a side job as a nanny a few days a week.

When you are the only midwife in the entire southern half of the state, you can't exactly make sure that everyone spreads their due dates out so that you don't overload too many clients on one month and not have any another month. But it may come to me having to turn away clients. I have 5 due in July alone and 4 in December. Not a single one due in August though. Go figure!

On a lighter note, I got a lemon tree today that already has 10 lemons on it. I'm thinking of all the fun I will have using the zest and juice for cooking, etc. No chemicals, etc. Just my own little lemons from my own yard.

Memorial Day weekend visits

2010-06-01T09:17:00.004-04:00

Last Thursday evening, my son Matthew arrived from NC. He came down to spend the holiday weekend here and get to visit with his son, Benjamin. Originally, Ben was supposed to arrive on Friday but his trip got delayed because his mommy ended up having to work that day, so they couldn't leave until early Saturday morning.

Hubby arrived late Friday night too after working in Atlanta all week.

You should have seen Benjamin when he first saw his daddy! Ran into his arms with abandon....

We saw Shrek on Saturday afternoon and then PopPop (aka known as Tom, my hubby) grilled hamburgers for us for supper.

A visit to the park on Sunday morning for play time with daddy and a very wet watergun fight which was actually kinda nice, since it was hot outside.

Sunday afternoon, PopPop left to head to Atlanta for his work week and attend our granddaughter Kate's first birthday party.

Monday morning, Matthew left to drive back to NC and mid-morning Raquel left to head back to Tampa.

(About to kiss his daddy bye)

The contrast of days is mind-bending.

I have prenatals this week with two repeat clients for their first visits with this pregnancy. Waiting on a 39 week momma that is a two hour drive away. That may or may not happen this week.

And the air conditioner in my car is still not working after 3 trips to the shop.

Lucy meets the grands

2010-05-24T17:32:00.006-04:00

Erin and Wesley brought Lucy down this weekend to meet both sets of her great-grandmothers. Fortunately, they all live an hour apart so it was easy to accomplish a quick visit with them all.

This was Lucy with Great Grandmother Sanders and her 2nd cousin Julia, who was born just 11 days sooner than Lucy.

This is Lucy with Great Grandmother Parrish. Lucy was tuckered out for this picture.

And this is Lucy with her daddy Wesley, her PaPa Fielding and her Great Grandmother Fielding---four generations!

And this is Lucy with her Great Grandmother Young. There are a lot of other pictures of aunts, uncles and cousins but I won't post all of them. Let's just say it was a weekend of holding and loving on the newest member!

Just in case you're interested....

2010-05-19T09:49:00.002-04:00

I have 6 more births to go before being eligible to turn in my paperwork and start taking the exams for my midwifery certification (CPM). I had thought I might have them all by the end of July, but they don't look like they are lining up just right yet. Perhaps if I have a late comer?

Anticipating 5 births in July alone. One of them is a doula/monitrice birth, so I can't count it. Please pray each of these mothers chooses her own unique "birth" day....rest in-between for me would be nice too.

Started walking/light jogging again this week. Hoping the knees hold out so I can drop some of this middle-age weight. The early mornings at Cherokee Lake where the walking track is located are just beautiful. Lots of walkers, runners, dogs and elderly trying to stay in shape.

This weekend, Erin and Wesley are coming to town to allow all the great-grandparents to meet Lucy. So I get to see one of my babies this weekend.

Next weekend, Raquel and Ben are coming up from Tampa and Matt is coming down from NC to meet up at my house for Memorial Weekend.

Two weekends in a row to see grandchildren!

In the back of my mind, I'm thinking if my June momma were to come just a tad early, I would have the rest of the month to see the other three grands also.

I have to really work to think these things through, when life revolves around momma's due dates.

Reports from the road, graduation and Mother's Day

2010-05-09T20:53:00.005-04:00

Left home last Wednesday to head to Atlanta for Erin and my road trip to Mississippi for her graduation from grad school. I took my dog, Bennett, with me, though he wasn't going all the way to MS. I figured there were plenty of people to take care of him in Atlanta while I was gone.

Got to Atlanta that evening just fine. Erin and I started out on the road about 10ish on Thursday morning. We knew the going would be slow because Lucy is nursing about every 2 hours during the day and we'd have to stop and feed her frequently. We got there just after dinner that day and I'll have to say she did pretty good on the road. Erin and I tried to eat dinner at McAlister's deli and succeeded but it was during Lucy's fussy time of the evening so it was a bit of a challenge.

She did great in the hotel room that night and we got up the next morning and ate breakfast in the hotel lobby, then just chilled until checkout time around 11 AM. Headed to Jackson so we could take a look at Erin's alma mater, Belhaven College. She saw a few familiar faces there, then we went to Keifer's restaurant for lunch because this was a favorite of hers during her college years. When our family would visit Erin at college we would eat there too and it became a favorite of ours too.

Here is Erin with the menu at Keifers:

After lunch we headed to Clinton where Erin was graduating with her masters degree and picked up her cap and gown and found her friend, Beth, who is a resident director there at Mississippi College. Beth made available to us a guest room across the hall from her apartment where Erin could rest, feed Lucy and change clothes for graduation. It made the trip so much nicer that day!

So Lucy did fine at graduation until they cranked up the pipe organ to sing this hymn and it was so loud that it woke her with a start and it was kind of downhill from there. I was afraid I would not get to see Erin graduate for staying busy trying to keep Lucy from disturbing the ceremony, but at the last minute before she walked across the stage, her friend Beth appeared and took Lucy long enough for me to get her picture as her name was called out and she walked across the stage.

So immediately after graduation that evening, we packed all our stuff in the car and headed back to Atlanta so we could attend Wesley's graduation on Saturday morning from Oglethorpe University there. Encountered a semi-truck driver who needed to be OFF the road as he was weaving crazily back and forth across two lanes of the road. We reported him and followed him at a distance for several miles until he finally turned off at an exit with a truck plaza. Hoping he was planning on staying there for a while and sleeping!

Arrived back in Atlanta around 5 AM (I think?). Erin did all the driving and did beautifully. We slept for a few hours and were shocked to awaken around 8 AM with so much to do to get ready for Wesley's graduation. Showers had to wait, we just threw on some clothes and tried to look presentable and get there. We were a little late because of the traffic and parking/walking situation but we were present for everything but the graduates marching in.

LONG graduation ceremony but finally it was Wesley's turn to walk across the stage and receive his diploma.

Afterwards, we all went to eat at the Corner Bakery, then Erin went back to her house and I eventually made my way to Luke and Kayla's house, where I took a nap. Kayla cooked a great dinner, I got to visit with 3 of my grandchildren and then called it an early night.

Tom had carried my dog Bennett over to their house Friday morning and he remained there until I headed home. After the kids went to bed Saturday night, I looked for Bennett and couldn't find him. Kept calling him and no response. Maybe someone had opened a door and he was outside? No. Maybe he had climbed the steps and was upstairs? No. He's not in his crate. I kept calling him. Then I heard Olivia yell down from her bedroom upstairs. "He's in the cabinet in the bathroom downstairs!" We check and yes he is in the bathroom cabinet. Of course he didn't go in there by himself and we all know the guilty party was the one who revealed his whereabouts. Bless his little heart, he was just sitting there waiting for someone to set him free. It did make for some laughter though.

Sunday morning, Olivia and Noah came and snuggled up with us in the bed. Then we went out to breakfast with Erin/Wesley/Lucy and his parents. Headed back to Luke and Kayla's afterwards, packed up my belongings and headed home.

It will be good to sleep in my own bed tonight.

Here is a picture of Kayla and I taken today.

The car story continues...

2010-05-04T22:41:00.002-04:00

So, after driving on my new battery all weekend, I received a call late Monday afternoon from last week's doula client. Breastfeeding was not going well and it didn't sound like baby was getting much milk, so after I did some calling around and found a breastpump, I headed over to Valdosta (an hour away) to weigh the baby and assist mom in getting some food in this little one's tummy and see if we could get her milk to come in (she was 5 days postpartum with no real milk yet).

Had a good visit with them and hopefully established some things. Headed back home. On the outskirts of town, all the sudden the electronics in the car started flashing again.

Not again! I notice the battery gauge shows it is not charging the battery. Call my husband and he wants me to turn around and head back into town. I know that with all the traffic lights back in town, I won't make it far before it shuts off. But, I am getting very near the road to my sister's house in the country.

I literally JUST make it into their yard before the car shuts off. Obviously, this is not a battery problem but my alternator.

My brother-in-law offers to go get an alternator the next day and install it for me. But how to get home. I am supposed to be seeing a client the next morning and I've left the dog running around the house and the back door unlocked.

Not good.

So my niece, Ansley, tells me she has no classes the next day and is happy to loan me her car so I can get home. Her dad will repair the car the next day and we can make the exchange when he finishes.

So, I have a repaired car for just the cost of the alternator! Yeehaw!

Just in time for my trip to Atlanta tomorrow to go with my daughter, Erin, on her trip out to Mississippi for her graduation.

I can't wait! I get to help out with her month old daughter, Lucy, and attend graduation.

Another year

2010-05-02T19:12:00.003-04:00

Today is my 55th birthday. Wow, that means mid-fifties which is a very slippery slope to 60 if you ask me.

It was a rough week.

Back to back births in which I barely recovered any sleep before being called out at 11 PM to another birth. Was gone until early afternoon (without sleep for 34 hours), slept three hours and then my daughter Kayla arrived with her three children. I have been missing them, so their visit was very welcome but it wasn't conducive to catching up on sleep until nightfall.

Next morning woke up achy feeling. Kayla, the three children and myself ran several errands including a trip to Tallahassee. Enjoyed it all but just wasn't feeling myself. Body aches. By nighttime I was running a temperature.

By the next morning, fever was gone and I had my breastfeeding support group mommies. Lunch out with Kayla, the kids and a friend. I was going to try and catch up on the postpartum visits that had been postponed in the afternoon.

Battery dead in the car.

Kayla and I were both heading to Valdosta that evening for a graduation party for a family friend and she was heading back to Atlanta right after the party so that meant we needed to take separate cars. But mine wasn't working. Had to cancel and reschedule both postpartum visits yet again. Kayla offered to jump my battery with her car and cables but I was worried that I might get over there and not be able to get home. So she headed over there with two of the grandchildren. We had already arranged for Olivia to spend the weekend with us.

Had to order pizza delivered because I really didn't have much food in the house and now had no means of transportation.

In the mean time, the rain started....in earnest.

Tom arrived later on and jumped off my car so I could at least make a WalMart run for some grocery items. Took Olivia with me and it really started raining hard. When we came out of the store, the car would not crank. Had to call hubby to come out in the rain to get me going again. He was miraculously able to find a parking spot right beside me, car started but would stay running only long enough for me to back out of the parking space before dying again. He gets it going again and I make it out of the parking lot and through the first light but lights are flashing and all the electronics are going crazy in the car. Next traffic light is red, car shuts off and won't start again. Tom is following me and was able to pull close enough to jump the battery again.

It is POURING rain now. He tells me not to wait for a green light, to just run the red light. All my windows are fogged up and I can't run the defrost for fear of pulling too much power on the battery but somehow we make it through that light. Next light, car stalls again.

This time hubby's patience is growing thin, he can't understand why when he walks over to my door I can't roll the automatic windows down to talk to him (battery is dead, remember?) Tells me to turn everything off (everything that has an actual control is already off) but this car has so many bells and whistles that are automatic and can't be turned off. He waits in the rain for the battery to absorb enough juice from his to hopefully make it home this time. Yells at me to not worry about the light but to gun it and get home.

It is total chaos! I can hardly see out the windows, it is pouring down rain, everything in the car is flashing off and on as it drains the battery yet again but this time, we had finally transferred enough power for me to make it in my driveway a few more miles down the road.

He is soaked to the skin, we still have to unload the bags from WalMart and no one is speaking to each other. I'm wet (not as much as he was) from opening the door in the rain each time he needed to tell me something.

It was not a pretty picture.

The good news is the battery was only 6 months old and they replaced it for free.

After we got our wheels restored, Olivia and I went to a ceramics place for her to try a project. That was fun for her and a fun thing to do together. Brought her home to nap while I did TWO out of town postpartum visits since I had been postponing them too long anyway.

Later that evening, we had rented a movie for Olivia and Tom noticed her pink cheeks. Fever of 103 degrees. Tylenol and a bath brought it down and by the next morning she was acting like herself again.

So, for my birthday, we took Olivia to her favorite breakfast spot Waffle House.

Yes, we know how to celebrate in style.

Got all her clothes washed and packed and she and her PopPop packed up and headed back up to Atlanta.

Take out for my birthday supper....alone. There's this Gilbert & Sullivan song that keeps playing through my head. :)

Another day, another baby

2010-04-27T08:27:00.002-04:00

Yesterday's birth went well but was a long day. I had predicted a 9 lb baby and it was indeed a 9 lb. 2 oz. baby boy. Birth went well but mom needed suturing. I work very hard to prevent tearing so I don't have the opportunity to suture very often. But the 'after' sure looked better than the 'before' that's for sure!

So I had about two hours of sleep when a doula client that isn't even due for 3 more weeks called and woke me. Her water had broken and they wanted her to come to the hospital. This client really wants a natural birth and it doesn't sound as if things are working out for her to go in that direction. No contractions just yet so they will pressure her into an induction if things don't get going on their own soon. Please pray that contractions get going soon so she can labor naturally. And while you're at it, I'm going to be needing some energy to support this mom today....

Labor!

2010-04-26T09:10:00.003-04:00

My slightly post due date mom is in very early labor. Baby was very posterior when I examined her on Saturday (baby facing up with back towards mommy's back instead of the more efficient way of facing towards her back) Pray that baby turns around so labor will be easier and that we have a nice, uncomplicated birth.

Then maybe I can see some grandbabies of my own!

Life on hold

2010-04-23T08:45:00.002-04:00

I don't know if most folks realize when you are a midwife, just how much your life revolves around the women you serve.

I have a mom who is a week "overdue" right now. I use the term loosely because I believe term is anywhere from 37-42 weeks, but this mom usually delivers pretty close to her due date and she is 41 weeks now.

My husband has been working up in Atlanta and Columbus and isn't going to come home this weekend. Wants to know if I could join him up there.

Can't until baby comes.

After this baby arrives, I don't have any anticipated births until the middle of May, so I was hoping to have the opportunity to perhaps get a visit in with all 5 grandchildren.

Can't until baby comes.

I have a cousin that I rarely see who lives in NY state. He is down here for one of his rare visits and I would love to see him. He has invited several of us cousins for dinner tonight, but the place is a little over an hour south of me and the mother that is due is a half hour north of me. That would mean an hour and a half to get to her if she should go into labor while I'm away. She tends to labor fairly fast.

Not sure I should.

My next door neighbor, who has frequent LARGE outdoor gatherings, has warned me in advance that she is having the biggest party to date tonight, complete with DJs and loud music and a yard full of people tonight until the wee hours of the morning. Offered to put me up in a motel for the night. My husband is out of town and my equipment for births is in my office at my house. Do I really want to spend the night in a hotel room alone and take along all my birth equipment and dog for the night? Do I want to stay at my home alone tonight with a loud, raucous party going on next door either?

There would be no question if I wasn't waiting on a baby.

Twins

2010-04-18T17:19:00.005-04:00

No, I'm not catching any. I've not had enough experience and wouldn't attempt on purpose without other, more experienced midwives in attendance with me. But we do have a relative, of sorts, that is expecting twin girls in June and there was a baby shower for her today.

I wanted to do something different....not your typical gift but something that reflected the fact that there were TWO babies and make it kind of fun.

I have a friend who I first met as her doula and childbirth educator, then later she was very active in the breastfeeding support group. She works full time, but enjoys sewing and started a unique custom embroidery gift company for babies. She has always been tolerant (eeeks!) of my last minute decision making, thankfully!

So she made this just in the nic of time for today's baby shower:

Get it? (Hint: if you use word processing on a computer much, you will)

Heather's website if you'd like to have anything custom made is here.

So the mommy, Elisabeth, grew up in our neighborhood and our families have been friends for many years. She is the first cousin of one of my son-in-laws and her husband is the first cousin of my other son-in-law. I know....only in a small community in the south do you have such a short family tree.

Another good one

2010-04-14T21:36:00.003-04:00

A sweet waterbirth last night. This was baby #6 for this family. All the children have names that start with "S" and the new addition was no exception. 8 lb. baby boy named Shepherd. Mom's first waterbirth which she loved.

She wasn't due for a couple more weeks but called yesterday morning and moved up her scheduled prenatal because she was having some contractions. Examination showed she was already 4 cms dilated and baby was low. But she had a history of what we call "prodromal labor" or practice labor. Since contractions were only lasting about 15-30 secs and were not real regular it sure had that feel to it. But later in the day she called to tell me things had not stopped all day and were now picking up.

Momentary panic for me because she does tend to deliver quickly and she lives an hour away. The route between our homes had a large truck overturned and they were rerouting traffic, so I had to go a different way which cost me some valuable travel time. But fortunately I arrived in plenty of time. She was 8 cms. when I arrived and contractions still were only lasting about 30-45 seconds. Crazy! Baby made a rapid descent once she was complete, so he was a little shell shocked when he got here but came around pretty quickly.

All in all, a nice, sweet birth. I needed one like that.

In the garden

2010-04-07T10:13:00.005-04:00

I LOVE spring! It seems this year that the temperatures have rather skipped straight ahead to summer but at least the flowers and trees haven't seemed to notice.

I started a garden this year. Got one of the young men that sometimes works with my husband to come and till up the space, 20x20 feet.

After spending the week in Atlanta with my daughter and new granddaughter, I arrived back home to some rich dark looking garden space, just waiting for me. I had to lay out the rows the old fashioned way with a garden hoe....backbreaking work but low-tech.

I planted corn, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, carrots, squash, radishes, spinach, onions, canteloupe. It's all planted now, so it's just a matter of me keeping it watered and weeded and nature will have to do the rest.

I am SO enjoying having a bird feeder. It seems to be attracting quite a group of songbirds with beautiful coloring. Thinking I should add yet another hook and feeder and perhaps a hummingbird feeder too. Pics will follow, as soon as I figure out a sneaky way to capture them on the camera.

Here is a burst of color from one of the bushes in my front yard.

I would upload more pics, but when blogger takes 2-3 minutes per picture, I grow impatient.

Becoming a parent

2010-04-02T09:23:00.002-04:00

Becoming a new parent seems like sweetness personified. What could be more precious than this little bundle of pink (or blue) blinking up at you in total trust, dependent on their momma for their very sustenance? The smell of newborn skin, and oh yeah, those poopy diapers.

But along with all the sweetness comes the sleep deprivation, sometimes sore nipples, the realization that you are now 24/7 ' on call' from now on. The responsibility can be overwhelming. Former timid women can become a roaring lion when their offspring is threatened. The love you feel for this little person is both a gift and a heavy load. From now on, the whole world is looked at a little differently, and potential dangers are evaluated in the light of how they might affect your little one. Is the room too hot, too cold, too much light, too little? Should we vaccinate or not? Is it normal for them to have hiccups this often? Should we really let Aunt Bessie kiss them? Then later on, homeschool, public or private? What do you mean they talk too much in class? WHO pulled your pigtails on the playground? I hope they don't get picked last for the team! Who is that kid who keeps calling on the phone? No, I really don't think you are ready to get your driver's license yet......

Yes, from the moment of birth on....parents lives are forevermore changed. You want the best for your children, good health, good looks, good smarts, good education, good friends, good job, good mate, good faith.

Life isn't always like that. Challenges come. God allows some to head our way so we can become more dependent on Him and less on ourselves. If life was always perfect, we might get cocky. But challenges, especially the kind the render us helpless to solve require that we trust in someone more powerful than ourselves. Sometimes that's hard for a parent, but necessary for our growth.....AND that of our children.

Such is the case for my daughter Erin and her husband Wesley. They waited to find each other, waited on their first kiss, put school and a secure financial future on the front burner and children on the back burner for a while, now that both have their degree, little Lucy came into their lives. Perfect pregnancy and birth.

But Lucy has a challenge. The sutures in her skull fused prenatally instead of waiting until she was older. This won't give her brain the room to grow and expand as designed and the areas which are not fused have expanded to compensate. Fortunately, this can be fixed but it will require surgery at a very young age. Very hard for a parent. You can't make it better, you just have to walk through it.

So my daughter and son-in-law are getting one of their first lessons in parenthood. You can't always pave a smooth path for your children. You just have to be the steady force for them to run to, instilling in them the faith, confidence and courage to navigate life. You love them through things but you can't always take the hard things away.

The newest granddaughter, Lucy

2010-03-31T13:44:00.001-04:00

This free digital photo book generated with Smilebox

The most recent baby

2010-03-25T09:13:00.001-04:00

A picture slideshow by Smilebox

This is one of the marathon births that actually ended up in a cesarean. Beautiful baby, don't you think? I visited yesterday and took these pictures.

Time to garden

2010-03-22T15:34:00.003-04:00

These few 70 degree days have had me thinking of the outdoors and gardening. I have a couple of guys that are supposed to come today (?) and till up an area of the backyard so I can start some seeds. Got some tomato plants started for transplanting. I'm going to also plant some corn, carrots, beans, onions, radishes, cantaloupe, lettuce, spinach, and squash.

I also want to get a few egg laying chickens this year but I can't purchase them until the grandbaby arrives. I wouldn't be able to keep them warm and safe while I'm gone, so they can wait a few more weeks. I did finally get a small birdfeeder to attract some birds to the yard. Hope I'm not just providing the cat with snacks....

Last one before Baby Fielding

2010-03-18T08:53:00.002-04:00

So, the last birth that needed to occur before I can head to Atlanta when my next grandchild is due happened yesterday. Not quite the way we'd hoped, but we have a baby boy, safe and sound.

The mom had a very long, very slow labor over a two day period. I went on Tuesday but she was only 1 cm when I arrived and only 2 when I left to go home late in the day. I was called back around midnight and upon arrival was about 3 cm. She actually made better progress the next day but we could not resolve a swollen lip on the cervix, and no progress was made after that. Transported, she received an epidural in the hopes she would not feel that intense pressure to push and the swelling would go down, but delivered by cesarean later that afternoon. 8 lb 15 oz baby boy who is quite adorable.

So....now if Baby Fielding will arrive on schedule and not dip too far into April, I should be able to be there when she arrives and help her mommy out a few days afterward.

After 3 marathon births this week where I completely missed whole nights of sleep, my body really needs a rest and my brain needs a vacation.

Two down, one to go

2010-03-15T18:35:00.004-04:00

Two babies arrived this week. The last one came Sunday morning at 5:53 AM (compensated for Daylight Savings Time), a 7 lb. little girl to a couple with a 17 month old daughter that I also caught. A little longer labor than I thought it would be for a 2nd time mom, but still cut in half from her last labor.

Now, just one more needs to arrive very soon, so I will be free to head to Atlanta for my daughter's impending arrival of her firstborn. This one is 40+4 today, so maybe it won't be much longer. Right? Right??

Trust

2010-03-10T16:50:00.003-05:00

You remember from my last post about having to trust in God for this birth?

We really did.

Mom went 42 weeks before going into labor but she had a 37.5 hour labor so she was actually 42+1 when she delivered. Posterior baby made for stalled progress for a very long time. Large baby made for a very long pushing stage--6 hours. Yes, 6 hours. Heart tones were always very good and there was excruciatingly slow progress but still progress, so we kept at it. Baby got stuck after his head delivered and it took some major work and prayer to finish delivering him and he needed some resuscitation to get him breathing after he finally was born but it had a good outcome.

Baby weighed 10 pounds and 8 ounces and was 22 3/4 inches long.

I had tried everything I know to do as a midwife to get the baby to turn from his posterior position before advising the couple to transfer to the hospital. There she would most likely have ended up with a cesarean, once they realized how large he was. I went home to take a quick shower after going without sleep for 27 hours and had made some phone calls to some other midwives to pick their brains and they both had given me one more thing to try before giving up. I decided to check her one more time before trying this procedure and when I checked her I discovered the baby had turn anterior (face down), probably in my absence. I know God did this at this time so that only HE could receive all the credit. Otherwise, others and I might have been tempted to credit one of my previous maneuvers.

It was one of those births in which part of you wonders why you didn't get a job as a checker at WalMart, part of you rejoices in seeing such a miraculous birth and using your skills, and ALL OF YOU knows that only God brings and preserves life and that I should always trust Him.

By the way, the entire 37 1/2 hours, I never heard this mom complain even once. Not about the pain, not about how long it was taking, not ever doubting or questioning her lot in the birth lottery, nor whether she should be at home or the hospital. She was nothing short of AMAZING!

Even midwives need to be reminded

2010-03-04T15:59:00.003-05:00

Today my overdue client is 41 weeks and 3 days. She's been taking cohoshes for several days now with no real results. This is a couple that lost their first two babies by early miscarriage and everyone is so happy they have carried a healthy baby full term. Boy, is he full term.

As much training as I've had, as many workshops as I've attended that remind me that postdates is not the end of the world....as much as I understand that we must trust the process, as much as I remind myself that just a generation ago before we induced everyone that mothers frequently went 42 weeks plus, I still struggle with trusting postdates baby situations the most. I don't know why, really. But sometimes even we midwives need to be reminded to trust.

A couple of things came across my path just today that have helped me put things into perspective. I was watching my Beth Moore Bible study on Esther and she talked a lot today about trusting God's timing. At this point in our study, Esther has just gone before King Xerxes, her husband, after asking the Jews to fast for 3 days. She knew that if she appeared before him without him summoning her, he could command that she be put to death. But he extended his scepter to her and spared her, then asked her to tell him what she wanted. Esther invited her husband and Haman to dine with her. You'd think at that time she would have stated her request--to spare her Jewish people, after all Xerxes said he would do anything for her, including give her half of his kingdom! But she chose NOT to mention it at the time, instead inviting him to dine with her again the next night too, along with Haman. Overnight, Xerxes had "God inspired insomnia" and requested that someone read his historical scrolls to him. While he was listening, they just "happened" to cover the story about how Mordecai (Esther's Jewish uncle who raised her) had uncovered a plot to murder Xerxes and saved his life, but he had never been rewarded for his good deed. Do you think it was a coincidence that he had insomnia or that that particular scroll was the one chosen to read out loud that night? I think not!

Beth makes the point that sometimes, even when we think all the pieces are in place, our time may not be God's time and we have to obey that still small voice that says to hold your tongue or to wait on Him. She reminded us about the verse in Isaiah which talks about how those who wait on HIM will have our strength renewed. She said when we wait on an EVENT our strength will be weakened, but when we wait on GOD, our strength will be renewed.

Then today at lunch I ran into an acquaintance who really believes in natural birth, but has always had hospital births with a very accommodating OB. As I shared about my overdue client, she mentioned that one of her children had been 19 days "late", and that was while under the care of an OB. Coincidence that I ran into her? I think not.

Thank you Lord for reminding this midwife that it's not about the event, but it's about trusting in You and your perfect design.

Birthdays and other events

2010-02-28T10:52:00.002-05:00

Today is my grandson Noah's 3rd birthday. I'm missing it. That's one of the negative aspects of being a midwife---missing important family events because there is a baby due and you can't go too far from home.

I have three moms in the "due zone" now, one past 40 weeks and the others hovering around 37 and 38 weeks. My next grandchild is officially due in 4 more weeks, so it's important that everyone sticks to their due dates and doesn't venture too far from the norm in order for me to be able to get to see this newest grandchild and help my daughter out for a few days afterwards.

It would help if I just had a backup midwife somewhere nearby but I don't.

My husband has been working in Atlanta for a while. Last weekend, even though he came home, he left again to attend a men's retreat for the weekend so I didn't see him much. This weekend he didn't come home at all. It's not too bad except for the evenings. I've even had a week where I've been out and about and seen people---prenatals, breastfeeding support group, brunch with a fellow lactation specialist and church fellowship, but I still have to come home to an empty house. Empty except for my dog Bennett.

He doesn't talk much but he is very happy to see me.

Calm

2010-02-22T09:37:00.002-05:00

I've had a relatively peaceful few weeks with no babies. Well, none born anyway. But I have a mom whose due date is today (just an estimate!) and another who is due in a couple of weeks, yet another due in 3 weeks. So, it's about to get busy again.

The one that is due today thought maybe her water broke or at least trickled over the weekend. I didn't hear about it until Sunday night so I paid her a visit. I carry something called an amnicator which is basically a long stemmed q-tip coated with litmus chemicals. In the presence of amniotic fluid, it turns dark. Hers remained orange so we know her bag is still intact. Baby is getting some weight on him though.

Next weekend is my grandson Noah's 3rd birthday. As usual I will probably have to miss the celebration because of pending births. I never thought I would miss so many birthdays because of midwifery.

Hubby was home very briefly this weekend. He arrived Friday evening and then left Saturday morning for a men't retreat with our fellowship group. He got back home middle of the afternoon on Sunday and we went down to Tallahassee and he indulged me in an hour of browsing at Books-a-Million, then we went to eat some dinner together. He left this morning already and said he probably won't be back for a couple of weeks again now.

I'm sorta getting used to being alone.

Routines

2010-02-17T08:53:00.002-05:00

I think I've finally figured out that I'm a night person. If I have a project going, I can be so productive in the late afternoon, evening and night. There has been many a time that I would find myself realizing that it's way past midnight and I really SHOULD be heading to bed.

Problem is, I don't seem to know how to sleep in very well, so I just have had to learn to run on steam for many years.

Maybe that's part of the recipe for a good midwife. The sleep deprivation thing....

I tend to rise pretty early in the morning and eat my breakfast while checking out early morning emails and Facebook. Then slowly, the email checking fades into getting something done on the computer....a little research, forwarding an interesting study to the appropriate people, printing it out for my files, answering phone calls and sometimes doing additional research to problem solve, etc.

The first thing you know, I'm getting hungry and realizing it's lunch time and I still haven't showered or dressed.

Such was the scenario this week on Tuesday morning. I had run by the doctor's office on Monday morning to have the stitches taken out of my arm, grabbed lunch, then had to head to Fitzgerald for a home visit prenatal for a couple who is now 36 weeks. My mom had surgery in Valdosta that day and after the visit, I head to Valdosta and stayed until about 9:30 then drove back home, arriving about 10:30. Long day and I was exhausted. Too exhausted to take a peek at my prenatal calendar.

My usual morning routine prevailed that morning because in my head, I thought I had an appointment that afternoon. Imagine my surprise when they rang my doorbell, along with my apprentice at 11 AM? I greeted the door still in my jammies and slippers.

One of the nice things about having an apprentice is having them take over for a few minutes while you run throw some clothes on and try to pretend you are pulled together.

Lesson learned: Always check the next day's calendar before heading to bed.

Did you have a good Valentine's Day?

2010-02-14T16:34:00.002-05:00

Our fellowship group meets usually on Saturday evening for a meal and Bible study together. Not a weird cult, we just prefer it that way because then Sunday becomes a real day of rest and family time, rather than a frantic rush to get somewhere. It's kind of nice and very informal.

Since today is also Valentine's Day, I made my husband a nice lunch. Grilled scallops, corn on the cob, carrots and garlic/cheddar biscuits.

Then he promptly left to head back to Atlanta for the week.

So, what should I do with the rest of my Valentine's Day?

Just a little "c"

2010-02-10T15:19:00.003-05:00

Well, the growth on my arm did turn out to have a center that was a squamous cell carcinoma, but my friendly doc reported that the pathology report indicated it had all been removed. Just needs to heal and not come back at this point. Bears watching, but not fretting over.

I get to puppysit for a friend beginnning this evening. She has the tiniest little chihuahua puppy you've ever seen. I'll try to take some pics and post them later. His name is Muffin.

I'm participating in a Beth Moore Bible study with a handful of other women in my fellowship group. It is the one on Esther called "It's tough being a woman" and it has been excellent. I can hardly wait each week to see what is revealed and how it relates to me. I can only attend twice a month because it's on Friday mornings and my breastfeeding support group meets two Friday mornings a month. But I can download the videos online and watch them on my computer. That's almost more fun, except that I enjoy the interaction with the other women in the group.

Had lunch with a long time friend yesterday. It's always good to catch up. She recommended a good move, which I watched last night. It's called "New In Town" with Renee Zellwiger and Harry Connick, Jr. in starring roles. It was a good movie. Those are few and far between.

Showers

2010-02-08T08:51:00.005-05:00

Not the kind you take every day, but the kind you give for expectant mothers.

We gave my daughter her first baby shower this past weekend. Her little girl is due the end of March. They already have a crib and changing table, the car seat/stroller system, dresser, etc. The hostesses bought her the glider rocker she had picked out. She got LOTS of little girl clothes at the shower. The little pink tutu in the picture was given to her by a fellow dancer friend. This little girl simply HAD to have one.

My youngest daughter Kayla and her littlest one Kate came down for the weekend and the shower and stayed with me. It was nice to have them around since I'm by myself now for most of the time. I cooked homemade lasagne for lunch on Sunday and had both of the girls here along with my son-in-law, Wesley. Then they all headed back to Atlanta in time for the Super Bowl.

I was supposed to start a new session of my childbirth classes tonight though the adult education division of the local technical college, but the newspaper never printed the media announcement so we didn't have enough people to sign up to offer the class. So now I am stuck offering it to the ONE couple who did sign up. I'll have to have it in my home. Not ideal.

I had a growth on my left arm removed last Thursday. It required 8 stitches to close up. The growth had been frozen and cut on before by my friendly doctor, but this time he decided to just go ahead and remove the thing and do a biopsy. Hopefully it will be benign. Trying to get it all healed up before having to stick my arms down in a birthing pool, which could happen at any time now. Don't look if you're squeamish...

Interview

2010-02-03T21:54:00.005-05:00

My meeting with Mrs. Arilly Smiley was this morning. She is the ONLY living granny midwife left in the state of Georgia. She was adorable and sweet, but at age 83 she was a little fuzzy on her facts. She was delighted to be able to share her experiences with me and another midwifery friend.

Mrs. Smiley probably delivered more than 1000 babies at home during the the 1950s and 60s. Most were rural and black, but she caught a few babies for white families too. She did not offer prenatal care as that was covered by the nurses and a doctor at the local health department, but if a mother checked out as being low risk, they were given a green light in the form of a green card they could show Mrs. Smiley when they went into labor. As long as they had their green card she was allowed to catch their baby. At that time, they did not consider multiples or breeches to be high risk so she did a few of those at home too.

She said she answered a direct call from God to become a midwife even though it wasn't something she would have chosen for herself. There were many times she felt His guidance and heard His voice instructing her hands. She said she could proceed without doubts then because she knew God was the one doing the work. She never lost a mother or a baby. Mrs. Smiley apprenticed under her mother-in-law, Mrs. Beatrice Borders, who was a 3rd generation midwife herself. When it came time for Mrs. Smiley to get licensed, she studied with the health department for 3 months and took a written exam, scoring the highest grade ever on the test.

Mrs. Smiley couldn't quite recall everything that she used to carry in her little black birth bag, but she knows she never put anything in there that wasn't "regulation". She was a stickler for the rules. She said she was never tempted to catch a baby for a mother who wanted to deliver at home but didn't have her green low risk card. She said she knew there was protection for her and the mother and baby in the restrictions, so she would send them to the hospital if they tried to pull the wool over her eyes.

Mrs. Smiley usually drove herself to births, unless it was in the middle of the night. Then her husband would drive her and stay the entire time, waiting outside until she had done her job and was ready to head home again. He must have been as committed to her midwifery calling as she was. He was a disabled Navy man, so he was around the house and able to help her.

She said one of her breech births required God's guidance. This one came feet first and God told her how to go up and pull down each foot separately. That baby did just fine. I asked her if she had any births that stood out in her mind and she had one little boy that wasn't doing very well at birth. He didn't breathe right away so she called an ambulance. They took the baby to Mitchell County hospital, where he was transferred twice to other hospitals with higher levels of care. She never did hear what was wrong with him but said he ended up being a right fine baby and was a healthy man now.

Mrs. Smiley said sometimes she'll answer a knock on her door and it will be a grown man who wants to tell her that she delivered him when he was a baby. They'll give her a hug and be on their way. Most of the time she will remember their mother, but the grown up babies don't look quite the same as they did last time she saw them!

Loved our little talk. Mrs. Smiley shared some breakfast muffins, ham, grapes and orange juice with my friend and I before we left. It was a sweet midwife's brunch with a legend for sure.

P.S. Yes I do own more clothes than this blue sweater. Just coincidence I had it on in both pictures.