Merry Christmas to Me!!

Well, I said in an earlier post, that a customer of mine was going to check and see if his mother still needed to get rid of her books she used for her midwifery practice! It was quite a while ago, and I had pretty much thought that he was just being nice! When I got to work this afternoon, I found a Wal-Mart bag with birthing books inside! There were seven books inside, ranging in different ideas on birth! I was shocked and so excited!
Today has been a good "book day" for me! Not only did I get those books, I also bought a book I have been wanting to read called "Folks do Get Born". It is a recommended book from AAMI, but it is out of print, and hard to find. The lowest I found it was for 50! But, I found a place that was selling it for 39!
I am finding all kinds of opportunities to talk to women about birth. Everytime that I do get so happy! On the plane ride home from Florida, I was able to talk to alot of people about midwifery. I was kind of suprised at how many people had not heard about midwives! I hope that I have planted some seeds!
Well, Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you have a very Blessed Christmas day! Let's all remember why we celebrate CHRISTmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Y'all! It has been a while since I have posted. My fall semester has just ended and I did really well. I have also made a big dent in my AAMI work. I am well on my way to becoming midwife.
My birthing group is also starting to pick up! We have had two girls come to two meetings! It encourages me that there are people who need a birthing group like ours! Well, I have to head to bed. I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

What it Takes

My studies have been going great!! I have been working really hard, and I am very proud of myself. I am doing well in both colleges, and work is going good, too. I just have so many good things going on in life! Thankyou God!
I wish that others could see how hard I am working. I know alot of people who think that midwives are not as knowlegable as "Dr.'s" are. I think that if they saw how much work and time that I dedicate to the study of this, that maybe they would change their mind about midwives.
I was talking with Adrian on the way home from Edmond the other night, and I was trying to explain about the work that midwives do. I believe that the reason why most people think midwives are "simple" is because all they can picture are old women "catching" babies. Delivering a baby is only about 5% of the work that we do. I have to have knowledge in Anatomy and Physiology, I have to know about Nutrition, and some Biology, I have to understand about family dynamics, and in some cases about other cultures in how they work and believe. There is just so much more work than "catching" a baby.
With ever little bit that I learn, and believe me I am learning so much, I know that I am supposed to do this. God has called me to do this work. I will say it over and over again, because I am just so happy and amazed with this!
God Bless You All!!!!

Woo Hoo!

I am so excited, because I talked to Margarett and Anne at Heaven Sent Births, and I can be an apprentice with them!!! I am going to get back with them closer to December, and see when I will start. I need to wait until this December because I need to free up some time away from classes at OSU. I am going to go and talk to my advisor tomorrow and get enrolled for next semester. I hope that I can just get classes on Tues and Thrs. that would be ideal!
Anne was asking me why I was still in school if I knew I wanted to be a midwife and wanted to get out of school. I told her that it was because I had alot of money invested into it and I didn't want to leave with alot of money in it. It would feel wasted. She told me that she didn't agree with that and that that was a bad reason to stay in school. The reason I am talking about this, is because it really made me think about why I am still in school. Why am I really still in school? To be able to fall back on it if I need it? For the past little while I have been mulling it over in my head and I think that I have figured out why I am still in school.
There are two reasons:
First, I really do love to learn. I may gripe about it but I am really happy when I am learning, And lastly it is important to me to finish something that I started. I want to follow through on something, not just quit in the middle because I had an ADD moment with some other thing that I enjoy doing. If I can finish this, then I know that I will follow through with the midwifery and being a good mom. It is not just about taking full advantage of the 25,000 dollars of debt I have accumulated, it is more about being a responsible adult! LOL, who knew ;) ? So rock on Amy and finish that college degree, by this time next year, I will be done :)

Just an Update

So nothing new has really happened lately. I have been going to work, going to class, and doing the midwifery studies at home. I am kind of proud of myself with keeping up with it. I am doing a lot of stuff, and so far I am not behind!! Woo hoo.
I have been very careful at being as organized as I should be with the assignments from AAMI. For those of you who do not know, AAMI is a correspondence Midwifery course that I am doing. It is very self directed, and supports the apprenticeship model of becoming a midwife. You have to be VERY self driven to do it. I think it helps alot though that I am in a small study group. It is really only 2 girls, but just talking to them and being able to work on stuff and have goals together really helps.
Tomorrow, I will be in OKC meeting with the people at Heaven Sent Births. This is the birthing center that I really hope I can apprentice with!!! My friend Camie is going to be there, she is already apprenticeing with them (I am so jealous of her right now, too!! She just attended her first apprentice birth!!! LUCKY GIRL!) and I get to meet her.
Well, it is way too late again and I should go to bed. Tomorrow is also Homecoming and we are going to take Caroline to the parade :) I will have to wake up a little earlier, so that my bread can bake for the meeting tomorrow! Until Next time :-D

Life as an aspiring midwife

Sometimes I feel discouraged beacause I feel like no one really wants to know the truth about birth and trust their bodies...but then it seems like God is reassuring me that I am doing what is his will. Today, I talked with a lady who was very excited to know about midwifery and didn't know that it was available to her. I gave her my number and told her that I could get her some resources that would allow her to be able to find the help and support she is looking for. It is nice to know that there are people who need us, all it took was letting her know that it was available...I wonder how often people do not get a midwife because they just do not know how to find one? I want to make it my mission to really get out the word to people and let them know ALL of their alternatives for birthing.
Ohhh, also another neat story of affirmation for me. Today, at the store, I was talking to a customer about health and trust and (as usual, lol) I told him about me attending AAMI to becoem a midwife. It turns out that his mother was a midwife and has been trying to get rid of her library of books and he said that he was going to talk to her and let me know if she is still looking for someone to take her library!!!! I am trying not to get too, excited, because it is really a long shot, but maybe this could work out!!

Frusterated

One thing that I am having to learn to deal with, is the unwillingness of people to know the Birth Truth. The thing that I think I am most surprised about are the women who do not want to know about birth. We, as women, are blessed to be able to experience something so wonderful and beautiful as pregnancy, I sometimes don't understand why you wouldn't want to take full advantage of this privilege.
It's funny, when I talk about birth I get so excited maybe a little, too excited. When my enthusiasm is not met, I get confused...Why wouldn't everyone want to know about birth and talk about it all the time? But this is actually a good thing because it helps me remember that a good birth, is the birth that you want. I want to encourage people to learn about birth and then make their decision about what birth is best for them. When a baby is born it is bringing in a new family member, it doesn't matter how they are brought into this world, it just matters that you love them.

More about me

So I have started reading Carla Hartley's Helping Hands. In the very first part of the book, Carla has written responses to questions form various midwives. Questions such as: What is midwifery, How has it changed your lifestyle, etc. I find some of the responses to be a little surprising, to tell you the truth. All of the women seem to feel called to the profession, but some of the comments made me really think about what Midwifery is.
One thing that I want to remember, is that midwifery is about families, and this should include my own. Women were talking about not being able to spend as much time with their families and I want to make sure that my family still knows that they are important to me. In fact they are the most important thing in my life. I hope to find a balance between catching babies, and being a mother and wife.

Quote

I am beginning to read Carla Hartley's Helping Hands The Apprentice Workbook. As I have said, I have enrolled in Ancient Art Midwifery Institute. Carla Hartley is the founder of this school and I have had the privilege of getting to speak with her over the phone twice. I really respect her and agree with her philosphy on birth!! I am so excited to be able to learn from her school.
In her book, she quotes a midwife talking about her reasons for becoming a midwife:

"Something deep inside me feels a connection to women in the birthing process. I feel if I am part of the few who can assist a woman in birth, advise or watch from afar and contribute when asked-from whatever position I am in that birth."

-L. Kathy Johnson

Everytime I find another quote that sums up how I feel, makes me realize more and more that this is the path that I am supposed to follow.

Affirmation

I am constantly reading. I think that I am reading atleast 4 books right now. Sometimes it feels like I just can't get enough information. I see books and think "I have to have that, if I don't get that then I won't know!" This is a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because this means that I am working hard at becoming an expert. But it is also bad because you just can't buy everybook and read them in one day :)
Anyway, I was reading one of my books today and I thought that I would share something with you. It just embodies what I have been thinking in my head about being a midwife. This comes from the book: Obstetrics Myths Versus Research Realities: A Guide to the Medical Literature by, Henci Goer. In the very first chapter Henci describes what she thinks is "good care", I also thought that it described what I wanted to do for my mama's when I practice.

"I am not antiobstetrician, and I personally know and know by reputation some very fine obstetricians. Here is what I think defines good care. Good doctors and midwives:

• Believe that childbearing to be a fundamentally healthy and normal part of a woman's psychosexual life.
• Treat women holistically, taking into consideration their thoughts, feelings, concerns, and priorities.
• Respect the right of women to make informed decisions for themselves and their babies.
• Respect labor as an expierence with its own lessons and rewards.
• Offer supportive rather than interventinve care.
• Evaluate individually and do not treat by rule.
• Start small when intervention becomes necessary.
• Keep abreast of the medical literature."

I just thought that this just hit the nail on the head for me. Anyway, I thought that I would share this. My hope is that someday all obstetrical care will be like this. All it will take are some determined mamas, that aren't afraid to stand their ground. I hope that I can be one of those ladies!

Remeber

You know? Sometimes it is hard to remember that not everyone believes the way that you do about birth. And sometimes, even, I think that people do not want to know the truth about birth. That can be a bit frustrating for me.
I feel that birth is a spiritual journey, that we are privileged to experience. When I was pregnant with Caroline, I felt the most beautiful, safe, and empowered, as I ever have before. When I went into labor with her, I felt very in control and was very proud at how hard I was working. I wish that everyone was able to feel the same thing that I did. But alas, not everyone will be able to do that.
Tomorrow is my first meeting with the group that I started for natural child birth. I hope that women are able to use my group as a support group and are able to learn to trust what they can do. I want to be that little voice that tells them that "You can do this." I have a friend who does this for me all the time, and it is my turn to do it for other girls!

The beginning.

Hello! For those of you who do not know me, my name is Amy and I have just enrolled in Ancient Art Midwifery Institute. I am a wife to Adrian, a mother to Caroline, and also a student at Oklahoma State University working on my BA in Political Science. I have decided to create a blog so that I can talk about my feelings as I work towards becoming a midwife.
Some people are wondering why I have decided to become a midwife...well I feel that women need as many people who are 100% confident about birth, and women's abilities to give birth. There are so many people out there who do not know what a women's body is capable of doing, and therefore are fearful of things that they do not know. I do not want to be considered anti- ob-gyn, but rather anti-birth managment. I also want to be a supporter of a woman's choice on how she wants to give birth. Whether it is in a hospital, or a midwife attended homebirth, or even an unassisted birth, just so long as she knows that truth about birth!! "Birth is Safe!"- Carla Hartley.
I want to become a birth expert. My dream is to know everything there is about birth and labor. I hope that someday I will be considered one of the greats, like Ina May, or Dr. Odent. I want to be the pregnant mother's ally. I want her to know that I am there to assist her and not to manage her labor. Someday....someday!!