Week 5

 2 babies in 5 weeks... slow on the take off, but amazing none the less! 38 more to go.  During my hour and a half drive home this morning, I was thinking this leg of my journey seems so surreal.  During each visit with women, the knowledge in my head is like swiss cheese with 'holes' of data missing.  I love filling the gaps.  I really do love learning... listening to the midwives I'm with, looking up evidence to support a practice or treatment, and learning from the women I meet.  Here's a synopsis of the last few weeks (my intentions were to keep up weekly = fail).

To receive the encouragement from my husband & boys to go and catch a baby is both humbling and empowering; metal speculums ARE better than plastic; menopause sucks (it was news to me that, generally speaking, women in their 60's are either not having sex any more or not very often - reality check); I found every cervix this last week - they can be a bit elusive sometimes; a small snip to the hymenal ring during 2nd stage can make a big difference (this is NOT an episiotomy, which should rarely be done by BTW); I've never seen so many shades of purple & blue inside a vagina after birth - it looks like a war took place in there!; LOVED spending a day with the Amish...they may have some interesting rules, but they exude peace, have a simpler way of living to be respected, and know how to tolerate labor & birth with little complaint; on the day I caught my first baby, on my drive home there was the biggest letter V front & center in the sky made by the paths of jet planes... Vivian knew how big of a moment this first 'catch' was for me; packing a lunch is wise; the warmth of a newborn baby in my hands feels like... love magnified.  I am blessed.