Deep breath. Or diving back in...
After almost a year of self-imposed blog exile I have had enough folks e-mail me asking for access to make me reconsider and so, with this post, after a couple of months of no blogging at all, anywhere (much needed hiatus) here we go again!
I know many of you followed me to Vanuatu, and for that I'm most grateful. To say that those few weeks were life changing, doesn't quite touch it, but it certainly went a long way to changing the way I look at what we as midwives do, and the privilege and comparative good fortune of those of us living in first world settings. When you need another dose of just how fortunate we are, I encourage you to visit the writing of the extraordinary BabyCatcher, whose experiences in Ghana remind me strongly of some of the things I experienced in Vanuatu. She manages though, to write without the despair which occasionally gripped me when I was living amidst the swirl of joy and beauty and sometimes extraordinary suffering and grief.
As I write I'm 35 and a bit weeks pregnant. Pregnancy isn't my strong suit. I'm not the worlds most glowing, lovely pregnant woman (unlike Rixa:)). All being well we will welcome this babe into the world in our living room at some point in May. Much to everyone's surprise I suspect I shall birth a waterbaby. I'm still a convert to actively managed third stage (for my own births y'hear, never going to force it on anyone else) after my experiences in Vanuatu. On that I vaccilate too, so you never know. Pregnant women are inherently changeable creatures, pregnant midwives (or perhaps it's just me) are simply batshit crazy.
My senior paper is all but finished. Final revisions are in the works, but for all intents and purposes my Case for the Use of Nitrous Oxide in Out of Hospital Settings is complete. If anyone is interested I'll be presenting it in June along with my fabulous classmates and their papers somewhere in Seattle. I have to date completed all of the requirements for state licensing and (with one irksome, contested exception) also the extra requirements for SMS. I'm - probably necessarily - pretty zen at this point. "Not one atom opposes me" is what I whisper in my head at three am when I lie awake contemplating the agony of (perhaps not) graduating on June 13. I have three more births to attend between now and May 1 when I am (please God) officially off-call as a student midwife forever.
How sweet it will be.
Then on to three months of maternity leave, to enjoy the ride of my own first homebirth, welcome our new little creature, and work rabidly towards August's state licensing examinations and the NARM, constructing my practice before returning to life on call (to assist my midwife) and begin taking my own clients.
At which point I suspect this blog may be archived and a new chapter begun elsewhere. I have come to believe that student midwife-hood offers a degree of safety which practicing midwife-hood does not here in the blogosphere... I've been fortunate to be able to stand over here on my soapbox and process things out loud, and by and large I've been encouraged and supported in that. That may shift a bit though, as I take my place among the fully fledged. I suspect there will be less tolerance for error once one has a license. And that is probably the way it should be. It's been an exciting time to watch the lives of midwives and budding midwives swirl about the ether. I have days when I feel like we midwives and believers in normal birth stand on the cusp of great and equalizing change which will benefit women and babies all over. Midwifery care is no longer the cryptic term it was a few short years ago, it's being studied, and recognized as the best form of care for pregnant women and their families. CPM's and LM's are gradually attaining greater recognition and respect. Occasionally they are even being offered hospital privileges and are able to follow their clients to whichever site of birth they choose.
I'm so excited about this new chapter of mine. Of building more and stronger bridges between my practice, my clients and the other providers and folks in my communities. I'm looking forward to getting to know the EMS folks in my area, the OB's and FP docs and the Peds. I'm planning a meeting with the local hospital OB nursing staff with an L&D nurse friend. I labor under no false assumption that any of this will be quick, or easy, or will not be met with some resistance or suspicion or perhaps just bemused curiosity. I have faith though that with excellent care, gentle persistence, trial and error, and hope, good intentions and lots of love, that we can all do better in our service to women and their babies.
It'll be nice to be a piece of that.
Thanks for joining me again.
Peace.
Morag.
I know many of you followed me to Vanuatu, and for that I'm most grateful. To say that those few weeks were life changing, doesn't quite touch it, but it certainly went a long way to changing the way I look at what we as midwives do, and the privilege and comparative good fortune of those of us living in first world settings. When you need another dose of just how fortunate we are, I encourage you to visit the writing of the extraordinary BabyCatcher, whose experiences in Ghana remind me strongly of some of the things I experienced in Vanuatu. She manages though, to write without the despair which occasionally gripped me when I was living amidst the swirl of joy and beauty and sometimes extraordinary suffering and grief.
As I write I'm 35 and a bit weeks pregnant. Pregnancy isn't my strong suit. I'm not the worlds most glowing, lovely pregnant woman (unlike Rixa:)). All being well we will welcome this babe into the world in our living room at some point in May. Much to everyone's surprise I suspect I shall birth a waterbaby. I'm still a convert to actively managed third stage (for my own births y'hear, never going to force it on anyone else) after my experiences in Vanuatu. On that I vaccilate too, so you never know. Pregnant women are inherently changeable creatures, pregnant midwives (or perhaps it's just me) are simply batshit crazy.
My senior paper is all but finished. Final revisions are in the works, but for all intents and purposes my Case for the Use of Nitrous Oxide in Out of Hospital Settings is complete. If anyone is interested I'll be presenting it in June along with my fabulous classmates and their papers somewhere in Seattle. I have to date completed all of the requirements for state licensing and (with one irksome, contested exception) also the extra requirements for SMS. I'm - probably necessarily - pretty zen at this point. "Not one atom opposes me" is what I whisper in my head at three am when I lie awake contemplating the agony of (perhaps not) graduating on June 13. I have three more births to attend between now and May 1 when I am (please God) officially off-call as a student midwife forever.
How sweet it will be.
Then on to three months of maternity leave, to enjoy the ride of my own first homebirth, welcome our new little creature, and work rabidly towards August's state licensing examinations and the NARM, constructing my practice before returning to life on call (to assist my midwife) and begin taking my own clients.
At which point I suspect this blog may be archived and a new chapter begun elsewhere. I have come to believe that student midwife-hood offers a degree of safety which practicing midwife-hood does not here in the blogosphere... I've been fortunate to be able to stand over here on my soapbox and process things out loud, and by and large I've been encouraged and supported in that. That may shift a bit though, as I take my place among the fully fledged. I suspect there will be less tolerance for error once one has a license. And that is probably the way it should be. It's been an exciting time to watch the lives of midwives and budding midwives swirl about the ether. I have days when I feel like we midwives and believers in normal birth stand on the cusp of great and equalizing change which will benefit women and babies all over. Midwifery care is no longer the cryptic term it was a few short years ago, it's being studied, and recognized as the best form of care for pregnant women and their families. CPM's and LM's are gradually attaining greater recognition and respect. Occasionally they are even being offered hospital privileges and are able to follow their clients to whichever site of birth they choose.
I'm so excited about this new chapter of mine. Of building more and stronger bridges between my practice, my clients and the other providers and folks in my communities. I'm looking forward to getting to know the EMS folks in my area, the OB's and FP docs and the Peds. I'm planning a meeting with the local hospital OB nursing staff with an L&D nurse friend. I labor under no false assumption that any of this will be quick, or easy, or will not be met with some resistance or suspicion or perhaps just bemused curiosity. I have faith though that with excellent care, gentle persistence, trial and error, and hope, good intentions and lots of love, that we can all do better in our service to women and their babies.
It'll be nice to be a piece of that.
Thanks for joining me again.
Peace.
Morag.
posted by Louisa at 9:01 AM
6 Comments:
good to see you back in the blogging world. <3
Welcome back, can't wait to hear how your journey continues xo
good to see you here again...
glad my persistent checking has paid off :)
Been thinking of you lots lately - and frankly, it's a relief to hear that your own work/child-bearing schedule is on a similar insanity-path as mine ;)
Must remember to send you that scan report copy! Have envelopes, stamps, report right here on my darn desk. Sigh. I'm sorry - it's coming.
Horrrraaayyyyyy! You have returned!!
Ok, congratulations on your baby in the belly, returning to blogging, finding me on facebook, and i am also a beast when i am pregnant so i understand, hang in there, so excited for you all!
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