Movin' and Groovin'

Sorry, I know, it's been a while since I posted. I have been neglecting my blog, as well as my journal, over the last few weeks. I have just had so much stuff going on. So let's start with my first day back after the conference:

Day one back, Tuesday.

On this day I slept the entire day pretty much. I was apparently very tired. I did not get very good sleep at all while at the conference, mostly due to my sleep space. I am a bit of an insomniac anyway (have been since leaving my husband) but am generally really sensitive about my sleep space, partly due, I am sure, to some abuse issues in my past as well. Andrea and I shared a room with Linda, and that turned out to be problematic. Linda seems to have an aura of negativity surrounding her which made it very hard to sleep near her for me. Also she gets up at insane times in the morning which doesn't help either. Andrea and I *both* were quite pissy by the end of the trip. Linda called me at the end of the day on Tuesday but I ignored the call.

Day two back, Wednesday.

On this day I found out that Andy got engaged the day after he broke up with me. That was sweet. Really. At least I know his true colors now, vs later. I was dealing with this news which left me in an emotional mess when Linda called and said she needed to see me. I drove to the clinic and she gave me a letter, two pages, in a sealed envelope, that basically stated how much she thought I sucked and how she could no longer keep me as an apprentice. Even though I *knew* that pretty much everything in that letter was some messed up version of the truth and that it is not true that I suck and that I will suck as a midwife, it still really bothered me. I had to work through the letter with several friends before really feeling better about the whole thing. This process took several days.

Day three back, Thursday.

On this day I left to go down to Florida. I met fellow MTB student Jenn in Atlanta and picked her up to car pool with me down to Florida. It was actually a really fun trip, it was nice to share the trip with someone else instead of making the long trip alone. We got to know each other quite well on the way down and decided that we really got along great! I dropped her off at Kelly's house that night and then headed to Jimmy's to stay with him (where I prefer staying).

Day one in Florida, Friday.

On this day Kelly and Jenn and I drove around looking for apartments for Jenn and her family. We did that only part of the day and then I left them to go take care of some of my own stuff locally. Friday night we went to my friend V's birthday party and had a blast, we were there until four in the morning!!

Day two in Florida, Saturday.

I spent a good bit of day two asleep, I was exhausted. There isn't much exciting to report about this day.

Day three in Florida, Sunday.

I went to Mass on Sunday. I was planning a beach trip but couldn't make it. Otherwise, again, not much exciting to report about this day.

Day four in Florida, Monday.

Interview day!!! Read the next post to hear all about the interview!

Day five in Florida, Tuesday.

Jenn and I went back to the apartment complex so she could put in an application, however they rose their rates over the weekend so she opted to wait and see if they get a new special first. Then we headed home. There was no bad weather until I dropped Jenn at her car (which was in a parking garage in one of the *FINEST* parts of Atlanta! LOL!) and we parted ways. Then it was hailing tiny little hail stones and raining like mad. The rest of my drive home was uneventful and boring. I wished Jenn was in the car with me. I felt like I left my sister in Atlanta. It was sad.

Day one back home, Wednesday.

Today I had lunch with some of my favorite Huntsville women. I cherish my friendships with them and though they will be far away when I move back to Florida, I feel very blessed to have them in my life!

Aw Bummer! and Day Seven in Sarasota

Well I was disappointed this morning when I woke up and discovered that Harmony was trying to reach me over night at the birth center because she had lost my cell phone number, and she had another woman in labor. So I missed the birth, but the confusion has been straightened out now and everyone has my cell phone number so I shouldn't miss any more. There are plenty of births happening around here this month, but it still would have put me one step closer to coming home, so I am a little disappointed that I missed it. I am home sick and 7 more births just seems like a *lot* to me, especially since I have all this down time just waiting. It probably wouldn't be as bad if I were in or nearer Orlando because there I have a *ton* of friends whom I'd love to be visiting with and such, however I am here in Sarasota and just not willing to go that far away with all of these births pending. Of course, I have my wonderful blog, facebook, and work on MTB Moodle to also help distract me.

So this is day seven in Sarasota, and my day is looking pretty uneventful. I will spend much of today working on MTB Moodle and trying to get that all finished, and then probably practicing my suturing. Might venture out to look for the Walmart, haven't decided yet. I do need to buy some more motor oil for my van before I head back up north, I just emptied my last 5qt container, and I try not to go without having some in the van for when I need it. I think I may also go through my NARM paperwork and see if there is anything left that Linda can sign off on for me, as I'm trying to make sure all my ducks are in a row.

I'd like to try to get home sooner rather than later, as I also have the Midwifery Today conference in April that I am going to, and I'd like to try to make sure I get to see my guy before then, and I'd like to love on my kids a bit before then too. It's hard to believe that by the time I get back home it will only be around 8 more weeks before they go stay with their dad. Time sure is flying in some ways, and dragging in other ways.

I got an update from Andrea, and our only "due" mom is doing good. She is due on March 13 so I will probably miss her birth, which is a bummer. But I traded one birth for 8, I think I got a pretty good deal LOL!

So, as it is, back to work on MTB, and I'll write more if my day becomes interesting!!

<3

First Day Back "On the Job" in Sarasota

Today was my first official day back in training here in Sarasota. I have *always* remembered how different it was working for Christina than it is working for Linda, but now the differences are very stark to me, since I am now refreshed about the workings of the birth center here at Birthways. I am such a blessed student, to have been able to work under midwives with such contrasting points of view on so many things, it helps me to find the medium that is myself and how I would run my own midwifery business one day.

I am, I have to admit, breathing a big sigh of relief upon returning to Birthways. Part of the relief is seeing that not a whole lot has changed. Some new furniture, new fun gadgets (go massive fax machine copier thing!! and scheduling program on the computer instead of a paper book, and YAY wireless internet!) but other things are still exactly how I remember them. Nice thick charts with good notes written in them, organization everywhere, office help, no clutter, it's just beautiful. I am surrounded by midwifery that is so much closer to how I envision myself practicing (not exactly, but at least much closer!)

Today I spent the day at prenatal visits, a home visit, and in the spare minutes in between Christina has been teaching me suturing, beginning with tying knots. I will spend the rest of the night tonight tying knot after knot and practicing suturing on a square foam. Suturing is something that I have really been intimidated by, I always feel very clutsy when using instruments like needle holders and hemostats, and Christina assured me it just takes practice and getting used to using them. And so I will spend the month practicing suturing over and over on foam, then on meat, and then I will come home to Tennessee and teach Andrea all that I've learned about suturing so that she also can feel confident in her ability to suture as well.

I'm back to taking more of a passanger seat position in the prenatals room, which is a weird switch for me since I am so used to doing prenatal appointments alone, or with Andrea. But I am happily taking blood pressures and feeling babies positions after Christina is satisfied with her on palpating. I doubt I'll do any blood draws while here, but I do not need practice in phlebotomy, what I need practice in is suturing, and of course I am here for births!! And I am getting both of those things while here.

I am already homesick :( That was something that I was not anticipating feeling so soon. It mostly kicks in at night, even last night, when I was trying to go to sleep. I think this is going to be a month full of long nights when there aren't any labors to distract me. At least my guy called me last night, and I am hoping he calls me tonight, because I am lonely. I might not have been missing him as much had I gotten to see him before I left, it's now been like three weeks since we managed to see each other, but he was so busy with crunch time for robot, and then I had to leave. And it doesn't help any that it is the Lenten season and I am spending it away from my kids. But I do have some distractions, and a very gracious hostess.

I can tell you that it is *hot* down here. And humid. Don't let anyone fool you into believing that Alabama/Tennessee is humid. THIS is humid! Now I remember one of the key reasons I moved out of Florida!!

now...***IMPORTANT NEWS****!!! There is a CRISIS in the state of Mississippi, where they are about to pass HB 695 which will OUTLAW CPM's and any other NON NURSE midwife in the state of MISSISSIPPI!! See the Citizens for Midwifery blogspot for more information!

NURSE-MIDWIVES and Certified Professional Midwives tend to be two *completely* different models of care, and limiting women to only the access of CNM's or OBGYN's is a major restriction and in my opinion a violation of the rights of childbearing families to have a competent care provider in the form of a CPM. All this bill does is further limit the ability of Mississippi families to make decisions for themselves about who and how they want to bring their children into the world!! If you live in Mississippi or have family or friends who do, please ask them to speak out to their congressmen against this bill!!

ok, stepping down off of my soap box.

Finally, A School Day!

My kids have been out of school and were "blessed" with a four day weekend this past weekend, due to weather. Though I know they thought it was super cool, their mommy, on the other hand, has become behind on her work as a result! Oh what I wouldn't do for high speed internet at my house so that I could work while home with the kids!

So today they are all finally back in school (yay!) and their mommy is back to work here at the clinic. Today we have the final ultrasound for our twins mommy before she has her babies (which should be some time this month!) and then just cleaning and organizing around the clinic. I should be working on MTB MOODLE today, but I just feel swamped with things here to do, so I am going to put it off for a few more days. Once I get working on it, I will probably finish getting it all live within a day.

Tomorrow I believe Andrea is going to come to the clinic so we can practice our skills for the skills assessment that we will have to take later this year. It is day one of practicing, we'll see how it goes! I will probably look through the book today and see which skills we will practice tomorrow, I am super organized and it works out for both of us that I am, because we can be very efficient with our time. We don't have any clients to see tomorrow, but we do have another *very* busy Thursday, as we have so many people do in the next few months and it is filling our clinic days very fast.

I think I am going to suggest to Linda that we offer an alternative clinic day to, at least during this busy part of the year, as we are booking up every week pretty much with clients, and it seems that we may end up with overflow here in another week or two!

I am watching the clients keep coming in, and hoping that we manage to get all of our numbers in time to sit for our exam in February of next year, but I would appreciate prayers, and referrals to the clinic! LOL!!

My baby's birthday is coming up. He was born on Valentine's day of 2005. And no, I was not induced! I am going to post his birth story on here in a few days, when I manage to track it down online. I'll have to ask the mothers from the parenting group in Florida that I founded to see if one of them will look it up in the group archives.

We are still waiting on a baby, who is due this Thursday, and I expect the baby will come Saturday or Sunday. We also have one mom who is teetering on the edge of labor but we're all praying she keeps the baby in for another 13 days, so she will be 37 weeks. Prayers for her would be appreciated.

Updates to my blog!

So, MOODLE was driving me crazy today (or rather, my firefox on my netbook was) and so I decided to spend the day fussing with my blog. For a self-taught website designer, my blog looked pretty shabby, and shameful! LOL! So now, introducing my new and improved "look" with my very own custom made header even!! Yup, those three cuties up there *insert up arrow* are my kiddos, the littlest is Bobby, the middle is Tori and the oldest is Tommy. That picture was taken outside of St. Jude Catholic Church in Chattanooga on Tommy's First Communion day last year.

I will be back at MOODLE as soon as I can figure out what is wrong with my firefox. Might have to have my guy look at it.

Tomorrow Andrea is coming to the clinic, mostly because she misses us LOL! She had been sick so has been gone for a few weeks. But now she's feeling better!

Thursday we have a busy clinic day. Yay for busy clinic days!!

countdown till the next workshop? 10 days until the next workshop!

29 more clients needed for Andrea and I both to sit for the NARM! 18 more for me to sit!

(what an exciting post! LOL!)