Phew! Is it possible that I have not posted since last April?! I recently began to write in my journal to record some tid-bits about my pregnancy (yes it is true:) and saw an unfinished entry in my journal from around the same time as my last post...last summer arrived and I abandoned my blog, my journal and somehow have managed to make it to January with a baby in my belly and about a dozen births to show for it all! Well here we go, it is catch up time...I am currently 21 weeks pregnant at 36 years old. This is a long awaited baby for me, I have always been clear that around 35 would be the time to go for it. I love babies and have been excited to experience pregnancy and childbirth for myself, but my love for attending births has kept me on the sidelines. Honestly, the thought of NOT attending births for any significant length of time makes me mortified. I mean, my idea of a vacation was going to Bali for 6 weeks and catching 62 babies. So I have been very aware that becoming a mother myself was going to put a serious damper on my midwifery practice. I have waited long enough and the time is right, I have a wonderful partner and I am ready to put my practice on hold for several months while I adjust to motherhood. I am ready to take a break from births...whoa! Did I just say that?
As for my current birth scene I am currently waiting for a very special client, a woman who has helped me at births in the past and I had the honor of catching her first baby. Her first one was a beautiful "sort-of-water birth" because she was in the water until the head came out, after which I discovered there was a nuchal cord. I thought it was tight at first, so being the relatively green midwife I instructed the birth team to lift her out of the water so that we could manage the cord. It turned out to be much looser than I had first thought and little Violet's body was easily born as mama stood outside of the tub, triumphant and ecstatic. This baby was born into my hands with the help of student midwife Marlene Bergman (now a licensed CPM) because our "teacher" had gone out for pizza (literally) thinking, "Aww, this first time mom will take a while." Nope! We walked and squatted as we paced through the mama's garden-and she progressed quickly. In the picture above you will see Marlene, who is now my midwife, holding little Penelope (a baby she helped me with this summer). Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of Violet and her mama...but I know the birth was video taped. Maybe I can post that some day!
