On the Way!

I am lining up an apprenticeship as we speak. Lets cross our fingers that my last obstacle moves out of the way...my car. We have someone coming to look at it tomorrow, and he thinks that it will be an easy fix at this point. I sure hope so. I need that baby to run well so that I can drive all over the place for births and prenatal appointments.

Finding this apprenticeship just sort of fell in my lap, which was a surprise since so many midwives say the hardest part in becoming one is finding an apprenticeship. I am in an area where midwifery is available but border line illegal. So midwives sort of practice under the radar and cross their fingers a lot.

I had emailed this particular midwife a month or so ago, and got a good response back, saying that she was looking for an assistant in my area (she covers a HUGE radius). I wanted to meet with her, but had not gotten a response. I went to my midwifery class a week ago (which was awesome BTW), and they all told me that the midwife I contacted was awesome and that I should jump on the chance to work with here. A few emails later, and we are lining up a meeting and hopefully I will start to work with her by the spring. Yay!

She has even said that due to her not having any help close to my area that she wants to put me on a fast track so that I will attend births sooner than her assistants in more staffed areas. She is also totally on board with signing off on NARM skills and helping me get ready for that as well. I am hoping in 3-4 years I will be sitting for the NARM exam and be an independent midwife.

I am very, very, very excited about all of this. I have the feeling that this is what God intends for me...after all, why else would it all fall into place so easily?

Sorry for the wait!

Sorry for the break from writing! It has been nuts around here. As an update:

I have been getting crafty thanks to Pinterest ideas, like this melted crayon art:

Very fun to do, and I have an itch to do more. Great way to recycle all those broken and messed up crayons from the kids.

In a week or so I will be going to my first midwifery study group/class. Lets cross our fingers no one goes into labor the day of the class (which is what happened last month so it was canceled). I got my first midwifery text book in the mail last week and have almost read the whole thing...I am so ready to go!

I ordered our chickens, we are getting 1 barred rock, 1 black australorpe, and 3 "easter egger" hens. I am very excited. They will be here around Feb 22nd. Baby chicks! We should have eggs by the spring/summer (when they are 5/6 months old). A long wait for eggs...but after that we have at least two years worth of eggs, so I figure I can wait.

I have started a birth/breastfeeding/baby lending library out of my house. If you have any books you would like to donate...just comment below. I will be using them and saving them for the day I have my own office as a midwife. For now, moms in my community are picking them up at my house to read. Education is so important to birth...and having books available for free helps so many mothers learn their options and educate themselves and their partner. Education is a huge goal for me in my area where midwifery has been "dead" for several generations (as well as breastfeeding).

I hope to be able to post more often over the coming weeks. Hang in there with me. If you have any ideas for new posts, please post below!

Chicken Fever

Sort of like Chicken Pox, only better...and no one is going to want to vaccinate you for it.

Chicken Fever normally hits when you realize that your deep down wish in life is to be a self-sustaining family with a small farm to support your family and maybe make a little money on the side. This is normally followed by Chicken Fever - wanting to put chickens in your own backyard (even in the middle of town) so that you can have farm fresh eggs and have a little bit more self-sufficiency.

I have Chicken Fever...I am ordering chicks soon, and building a coop in the fenced in part of our backyard. We live (literally) in the middle of our town...but I'm not going to actually see if it is allowed. I am just going to do it...we are not getting a rooster, so I don't think anyone will even know they are there (we have no neighbors next to us). If the city gets mad, I will offer some fresh eggs.

More on this soon - as well as lots of exciting news about my advancement in finding a midwife to apprentice under.

Plan for the New Year

So, I totally forgot about a great opportunity not far from me.

I need to start taking some midwifery classes or at least meet with some midwifes in the area (closest are an hour or so away). I emailed those midwives in November and they informed me that not only would they love to meet me with me, but that they do a midwifery series once a month. The midwife I contacted, and a midwife from The Farm (!!!!) holds the classes each month. Even better...they only cost $100 per class. That is not bad at all considering that if I were to go to the series at The Farm it is going to cost me about $1000.

So after we get our transportation squared away, I am going to try to get to those every month.

Yay! for a plan.

Co-Sleeping Over?

Well, I think that our major co-sleeping days with our little guy are over. At exactly nine months old, he slept through the night for the first time. He has been sleeping through the night in his crib since. He wakes up at 7am or so, and then comes to bed with me for a few more hours (since I still need my sleep!) but he sleeps on his own for 11-12 hours a night.

Honestly, I think I am mourning the loss more than he is. The first few nights I could hardly sleep because I was waiting for him to cry and need me. That has only happened twice. But I look forward to it since I can go in his room, rock with him, and have some quiet, still moments in the middle of the night.

He is so mobile and active now that quiet moments are few and far between with him during the day.

In midwifery news for me, I found a midwife in a town close to me (where I still attend college) and I have contacted them to see if they will meet with me over coffee or lunch. I really need to speak with someone in the profession face to face and bounce off my ideas about how to go about entering this work/calling/profession. I hope to hear back from them soon.

Now I need to go do laundry, finish cleaning, and make food for our football party tonight.

An update and the Musings about Becoming a Midwife

Oh goodness. Life is moving at such a pace. Our little boy is 9 months old now and let me tell you, he never stops moving. I can not turn my back for a second or he is into something or finding some lonely piece of fuzz on the floor to eat, or trying to turn off the cable box. We invested $200 in baby gates that are way beyond baby proof just to give me piece of mind to go to the restroom.

Our house is moving along at a snails pace now. We got about half the painting done and now we are at a stand still. I think we will paint the kitchen next, but we haven't bought the paint yet. We were about to, but then the hubby decided he didn't want to get it from Wal-Mart, he wanted to get it from Lowes, and well, the process just sort of stopped there.

I am really looking into beginning to contact local midwives so that I can find out my steps to becoming a midwife in this area. I really do not have access to a school near me that teaches midwifery, and we can not move to be near one (we just got done moving!). So really I want to look into doing a traditional apprenticeship (which takes about 6 years). I do have classes that I can take at the famous "Farm" (Ina May Gaskin's place) which is only an hour or so from here. At the very least that could be a starting point and then I could try to find a midwife to take me on.

I think that most of family thinks I'm nuts, and honestly I wonder if I am. I have a young baby and I really want to have more within the next 3 years and beyond (we want 4 total). However, looking at a six year run, I should start now. I was planning to become a doula to "tide me over" till I became a midwife, but I am ready to jump in. My calling feels strong and I just know that this is what God meant for me to do. So God, I am listening, promise. Just help me figure out how to go about finding a midwife crazy enough to take me on, or at least meet with me.