April Catch Up

Good morning! Thursday I didn’t write because it was a busy morning getting ready for soaping at 9:00. I had to go for my walk and shower and get the kitchen ready. By the time I was all done with all of that, there wasn’t a whole lot of time even though Julia didn’t get here until sometime around 9:30 I think.

Friday I really wanted to write but there was need of a doula at the hospital at 7:00 so I had to get ready for that and go.

Saturday morning the boys and I had electronic recycling at Hubbardston Center School for scouts. By the time we were ready to go for that there wasn’t time for anything else.

Sunday morning was Sunday morning. I had an early meeting at church which meant no time for writing.

And now it is today. Although I have many things on my agenda for today including a trip to the chiropractor and a walk this morning, I am going to get you up to speed. It will take a while because as soon as the boys leave on the bus, I’ll be going for my walk and then showering. Once that is done, I have to check my email and get a couple of things in the mail. If there is time before I have to leave for the chiropractor, I will write more then, otherwise when I get back will have to suffice.

As mentioned earlier, Thursday morning Julia came over ready to make soap. She brought as many of the ingredients as she could and made two molds. She was pretty excited about that. Kim Trivett and her mother came over sometime after 11:00 so I could look at Kim in different wedding dresses she’d tried on. I told her that this is definitely a project I can take on. Since she and Adam think it won’t be until August that they can get married due to various circumstances, there is plenty of time in which to work and make sure that things are right. I’m kind of excited about this—I love making wedding dresses.

Thursday evening I went over to visit with Elizabeth and Jonathan about pregnancy related things. They had an appointment Monday at Heywood for an orientation-type thing where they were given a lot of information and another appointment for two weeks from then.  I reiterated much of the information they’d given them about morning sickness and such without realizing it. I think that was a good thing. The one thing that Elizabeth would like is a water birth and that is one thing she will not get at the hospital here. In Greenfield, yes, Gardner, no. So, I’m going to talk to midwives for them about pricing and payment plans and see what would be a good fit for them. At that point, they can determine which direction they will go.

So, at 1:13 I am finally getting back to this. I’ve done all but one thing on my list and returned from the chiropractor long ago. Relatively speaking, of course; everything is relative.

As you may recall, I sent three letters to midwives Monday. Thursday before I left to go see the Shakespeares, I needed to stop at the library to return the long lost book of Joseph’s and Staples to get some boxes in which to put soap that is cured and ready to go. In order to do these things, I wanted to leave no later than 4:30 because I wanted to arrive at their house a little after 5:00. Well, at 4:15, I got a phone call from a name and number I did not recognize. In spite of this, I answered. Guess who it was? One of the midwives!!! She asked if I had time to chat. Because I only had a few minutes, she gave me her numbers and I wrote them down.

When I got back from visiting with Elizabeth and Jonathan, I got children fed and we did our before bed routine and then bedtime routine. Then I looked for the paper on which I’d written the numbers. I couldn’t find it. I sent Joanna messages because she had class. She finally called and said she’d taken some of the papers that had been on the table to her room so I went and looked and there it was (I don’t know why I wrote the numbers on Joanna’s papers other than proximity to where I was, but I did)! I proceeded to call and we had a lovely visit.

She is fairly new to the area as she just moved to New Hampshire from southern California about a year ago. She has a student midwife but she’s about ready to move up to senior student midwife and when that happens, she’ll be ready to take on another student. She told me about another option for midwifery school in case the Midwives College of Utah doesn’t work out which is really cool. And we set up a time for us to meet in person because, like she said, if you are going to be working closely with someone, you really need to know that it will work. So exciting! The wait until tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 has been excruciating but is now almost down to a 24-hour wait.

Pretty exciting, eh? That’s why I really wanted to write Friday.

And then there was Friday at the hospital with a woman whose water broke and another who was being induced. Pretty cool as well other than the fact that they were slow labors. I got to meet one of the new doula’s who just completed training the first weekend of this month. Friday morning was her very first shift.

Friday after the boys got home from school, we went walking. Joseph just about died and decided that if I was going to walk for half an hour, he wasn’t going to go again. In the evening Paul and I went out for Thai with Devon. That was nice.

Saturday was the electronic recycling day for Hubbardston Cub Scouts. We went from 9:00 to 11:00. I did take Cedric over to the rec field at 10:00 so he could hang out with some friends. Dominic, another friend who still does scouts showed up shortly after that and was disappointed, I think, that Cedric wasn’t there. The day turned out to be very successful; the boys netted over $1,300. I am impressed.

Sunday was Sunday. I decided Sunday that I am very allergic to hay. I hadn’t figured out why I have a rash on my arms, neck and lower face. Then I realized that I’d been feeding the goats hay with short sleeves for the past few days since it’s been nice enough out to not wear long sleeves or a jacket. Mistake! The rash itches like crazy and consists of little bumps that have a white raised center (until I scratch them; then it’s red). I think I should either wear a jacket when I give them their hay or wait until I’ve done my walking, feed goats, and take a shower immediately.

Saturday I took an ibuprofen because my head hurt and yesterday evening I noticed that my ankles, especially left, had swollen up. They weren’t bad, but they were noticeable. Today when I went to the chiropractor he noticed even though it wasn’t as bad as it was last night. I don’t know what the deal is but it certainly isn’t due to high blood pressure.

Anyway, that’s been the past few days. I am looking forward to meeting with Katie McCall and her student midwife tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, have a spectacular day!