I think I'm Back

Good morning! There isn’t much better than waking up to bird noises outside. The only problem is that for some reason they are more easily heard from the bedroom than from the dining table in spite of the fact that there is only one window open in the bedroom and several downstairs. Still, it’s so cheerful; just knowing they are out singing and generally making noise is a good thing.

Also, the sun is shining even though it hasn’t risen above the tops of the trees. The humidity is something I’d rather ignore at 83% but can’t. Our high today is projected to be 65° and that is something I can live with.

Yesterday afternoon I met with Katie and Ranee. Katie emailed me Sunday to let me know that they feel I would be a good fit for their practice in spite of the fact that I haven’t finished a complete year of STMI schooling. The fact that I took the Massachusetts Midwifery Alliance introduction to midwifery and that I do doula work and have read hundreds of pages of books about birth and pregnancy and postpartum has made up the difference.

This is from Wednesday, June 1, taken at Crystal Lake Cemetery in Gardner.

Yesterday we met for lunch in Athol. Ranee was there, Katie was running late (children were involved so that’s completely understandable) so Ranee and I were able to chat. Currently my duties will be to attend prenatal and postpartum visits with them at least two days a week and continue schooling. It seems apparent that the life of a midwife can cause marital strife due to the fact that a midwife can sometimes be gone for days at a time. If I can’t handle a little marital strife, I might as well just lay down and die right now. I haven’t gotten to where I am now without it and I can’t imagine there won’t be more. I do have a slight benefit in that my children are as old as they are and don’t require constant supervision.

After lunch, I went with Ranee to Royalston by Tully Lake and Doane’s Falls for a foraging expedition. It had poured there not long before and there were leaves and branches and all sorts of evidence of a pretty wild storm all over the road and as a result, the bugs were awful. Needless to say, the foraging didn’t last long. Still, it was a good opportunity to visit more and I think I’m really going to like Ranee. She and Katie are very different, but both committed to safeguarding birth and women and the process. One of the first things Ranee said to me is, “I have a gun in the car. Does that bother you?”

I laughed. A gun in the car bother me? No. Heck no.

This is also from Crystal Lake Cemetery.

An interesting part of the conversation involved the fact that I am Mormon. Ranee asked if the church is helping to pay for my schooling so I can attend the births of women at church. I didn’t laugh, but I wanted to; I did smile. While I am getting help from church to pay for the school part, I told her that I have taken it upon myself to educate members of my church about birth and the way it can and ought to be in most circumstances. I told her that while faith is one of the basic tenants of the faith, so to speak, and while many women have great faith, they seem to have lost faith in their ability to give birth without medical interventions. In fact, women at church seem to be very mainstream western medicalized when it comes to birth and I think this is incredibly sad. Brigham Young said, “Here is a growing evil in our midst. It will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her.” This has happened. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not completely against hospitals and doctors; they do have their place. I think it is incredibly sad that women who have such faith in so many aspects of life have so little to none in the birth process that they put their trust in a very broken medical system and then come out the other side saying, “I would have died had I not been in the hospital.” Enough said. For now.

This is a flower from the track at Fitchburg State University. Joseph needed to use a bathroom so we were wandering around looking for one. Once we did, I was waiting for him and taking a picture of a flower seemed like a logical thing to do.

I needed to do something last night but couldn’t remember what until Paul had left to go to a town meeting. He got home safely and ready to spend the night in his own bed. I guess so; he went to bed about the same time I did, was asleep before I was, and is still asleep. The town meeting was about filling the sandpit near our house with toxic waste and from what he said, was also filled with all the political nonsense you might expect. I’m pretty sure he said it was voted down which is good. We don’t need tons of toxic anything that near to where we live. We have enough to deal with with allergies and such as it is.

Once he left I remembered I was going to meet the sisters at church so I could say goodbye to Hermana Barney. She’s leaving us for Lowell. I am so glad to have met and gotten to know her. She has such an enthusiasm for life and learning; it’s really a wonderful experience to see. So I did that and when I got home it was time for bedtime routine activities.

Grandma is moving in just one day more than two weeks. I’ve spent a few hours talking to her in the past week and that has been really wonderful. I’m looking forward to her being moved because she’ll be able to be connected, so to speak, via internet and that can make communicating so much faster and easier than writing letters. I am not thrilled that I am so far away that I am not able to be of any help with her move.

I am going to go for now. I may have a picture or two for this. Joseph and I went walking at the rec field yesterday but took no pictures so I’ll have to see what there is that I haven’t posted.

Have a wonderful day!