The little things I couldn't live without...

...regarding pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, and child care, that is. There are quite a few things that are on my list.

* Red Raspberry Leaf tea

* Papaya Enzymes

* Floradix Iron & Herbs

* Evening Primrose Oil

* Rice packs

* Birth ball

* my chiropractor

* Birth tub

* Arnica

* Herbal bath

* Bravado bras

* Undercover Mama tanks

* Motherlove Nipple Cream

* Medela Pump-in-Style

* Cloth diapering supplies

* A variety of slings and wraps

* Amber necklace for teething

* Simple Wishes pumping bustier

* Bamboobies nursing pads

Some sites that I couldn't live without:

* Mothering

* Diaper Swappers

* Pin Stripes and Polka Dots

Just thought I'd share.  You're welcome.

Whew!

Boy, life has a way of sneaking up on you, doesn't it? I'm now in my third of four semesters to finish my Master's degree, then a couple of years more after that to get my certification in midwifery. I passed Statistics! Woohoo! It was the second time I've taken that class, once in nursing school and again over 10 years later as I work through this program...and I dreaded it both times. And somehow I passed both times. And not only did I pass, but I got an A. Imagine that. This term is Theory and Research and Community Health. Theory and Research has my tummy in knots. It is an area that I'm passionate about, but this course just seems daunting. But I know I'll get through it with the help of my Frontier sisters, just as I have the last two semesters.

Connor is growing so fast...I can't believe he's already over 13 weeks! He is such a charmer, always smiling and chuckling. His brothers love him to pieces, as do we. I look around at my three precious boys and just can't understand why God has blessed me as He has. Three gorgeous, smart, healthy boys...

I'm looking at minimalist living these days. As busy as we are, we just have no patience for clutter. So we're looking very seriously at this concept of intentional simplicity. I'm really enjoying the website Becoming Minimalist as the author is a believer and ties in an individuals spiritual life with minimalist living. I'm not talking about anything extreme like each person having only 100 belongings or anything like that, but just not having anything around that isn't essential to living. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long journey. From what I read on blogs written by those who have taken a minimalist approach, it is often done in layers, starting first with the things that you are not using, that are broken, etc. Then after that, start addressing what you can live without. As I look around my house, the idea sounds more and more appealing. We move frequently, and are a busy family, so paring things down a bit sounds just fabulous.

Connor's Birth Story

My official "due date", for what it's worth, was December 26th. I didn't go on maternity leave until I was 37 weeks because I figured that I'd go around a week past my due date, as I had in the past. The end of the school term came and went. Christmas came and went. New Year's came and went. Friends and family were speculating as to when he would be born...my sister's birthday was January 3rd...maybe that day? Both of my boys before him were born on a Tuesday. I commented to my doula that I thought he would be born the Tuesday after Christmas, since it was after my due date and, of course, a Tuesday. But he didn't come on anyone's schedule or particular day! He did, however, come on a Tuesday. On Jan. 2nd, my midwife came by the house to talk about post-date issues. She discussed large babies (potentially over 10 lbs) and the possibility of me having polyhydramnios. I'm not the professional (yet!), but I felt confident that, although I was huge, I didn't have either. I was measuring smaller than I was with Gavin, who was over 10 lbs, and I had only gained a total of 20 lbs the entire pregnancy. Despite my gut feeling that all was well, I let my mind get the better of me, wondering if everything was alright in there, hoping that my baby was healthy, etc. It's stressful to go not only past your due date, but then past the latest point that you've ever given birth! That night I had a breakdown, crying and stressed. I woke up the next morning, and just had the feeling nothing was going to happen that day. I prayed and asked God to please keep my baby and my body healthy, and to let me deliver safely at home as planned. And I had peace. I knew He would let it happen in His time. I went to bed that night and told Travis "It'll be tomorrow. It's Tuesday!" Despite my feeling that it would be the next day, I stayed up and watched "Inception" with Travis, then went to bed at around 11:30pm.

I woke up at 3:30am on Jan. 4th at 41 weeks, 2 days with a crampy uterus. I had been having prodromal stuff for a couple of days, so initially I didn't think anything of it. Then I felt wetness. I had to pee, though, so I wondered if I hadn't peed. Then more wetness, rapidly growing. I rolled out of bed faster than I had in months, trying not to get the sheets wet...success! I wobbled to the bathroom as fast as I could, and by the time I got there my pj pants were soaked. I checked the fluid...clear. Yay! It WOULD be today! I changed and went and woke Travis up. "Babe, my water broke!" "Is this a dream?" "Nope, it's for real. He's coming today!" I was having mild, achy contractions every so often, but nothing really laborish. I called my midwife, Detrah, at about 3:45 to let her know my water had broken, and let her know I'd call when things kicked up a notch. Then I called my doula, Melanie, to let her know the same. Travis and I double-made the bed with a plastic sheet in between, then he laid on the sofa and I sat in the recliner to try to rest. I dozed off and on between contractions, and eventually fell asleep.

At around 7:00, a contraction woke me up. They were getting stronger. Travis was still asleep. I got up and drank some water and made coffee for Travis. I woke him up, and the first thing he said was that he felt sick to his stomach. I asked if I should make him some tea and toast, and he said "No". I told him to speak now or forever hold his peace, because pretty soon I won't be giving a hoot how he feels! I made him some tea. Detrah sent me a text asking how things were, and I told her. She said she'd be over shortly. Melanie arrived at about 8:00 as I was starting to make my Groaning Cake. I had a cup of yogurt for breakfast. We talked and I contracted from time to time, stopping to lean on the counter as Mel rubbed my back. Then it was back to cooking and chatting. Travis, however, was having a miserable time. He actually vomited, then went back to bed for a little while. Detrah arrived at about 8:30 just as the boys were getting up. When I got the cake in the oven, she took my vitals and listened to the baby. All was well. Only thing was that things weren't really intensifying. In fact, they seemed to be slowing a bit. Despite all of my attempts to get him to turn, he had remained posterior for the last couple of months...a fact that really influenced the course of this birth.

Travis and I walked around the block, briskly as I had only one or two contractions the entire time. I sat and rocked on my birth ball. I was given blue cohosh and acupressure. "Holy cow, is that stuff tinctured in vodka?? That burned all the way down!" I drank and ate some cake (which was fabulous!), but didn't feel much like eating. I took some Goldenseal. I took on several contractions with my foot up on a chair in a modified lunge. I joked that I felt like the guys in those Captain Morgan commercials. :) Detrah lifted my belly with a rebozo with contractions. THAT made a difference, as it had with Gavin's birth. He didn't turn, but things began to feel different. We walked around the block again. I commented when we got back "Yeah, there was NO power-walking this time!" I had several really decent contractions during the walk. Detrah went home for lunch, as my contractions were still on the slow side. She recommended that I do some positional things to help him turn, like elbows and knees with contractions and/or with a leg up a la Captain Morgan. She also measured out some black and blue cohosh and left it, with the instructions to take it if I felt the need. I took the tinctures shortly after she left and did the positions during contractions, and noticed more changes. Things were definitely starting to pick up. The boys mostly played quietly or watched cartoons, and occasionally came out into the main room to see what was going on. Trav and Mel took turns catering to them...they were bottomless pits that day!! They ate CONSTANTLY. It seemed that they were less interested in the fact that their brother was being born than what they were going to eat next! :) Lord help my grocery budget when they're teenagers...

When Detrah got back, she checked me and the baby again...and again, all was well. I was really glad that my labor was picking up, but it was really uncomfortable. As soon as contractions started intensifying, I noticed a big difference in these contractions and the ones that I had with Gavin. With Gavin's birth, being vocal was distracting to me. I was very "in myself", and quiet. This time I felt the need to be vocal. Mel was right there all the time, reminding me to relax my jaw and relax my mouth, and make low sounds. It helped. Trav and I decided to go for another walk. This time I was contracting every 2-3 houses! I had to stop walking and "slow dance" with Travis with contractions...there was no walking thru them. Trav explained to our 2-doors-down neighbor that I was in labor, as she laughed and said that she figured. She asked if we would be going to the hospital soon. No, we're having him at home. That was her next question, she said, then wished us luck as we waddled along. Our mail lady saw us on the next street over. When she reached our house, I was sitting at the desk with my head in my hands...she rang the doorbell and talked to Travis for a minute, then also wished us luck and headed on her way. My favorite place to be was sitting in this very chair at the desk in front of the computer. When I had a contraction, I stood and leaned on the nearest person or the desk in front of me, rocking and moaning away. Lots of drinking water, tried a graham cracker and almost vomited. Food = bad idea. They got me a barf bucket. I labored on. Detrah asked if I felt ready to get in the water. Not yet, I said. I didn't want to get too relaxed like with Gavin's birth. I was on a roll, and didn't want it to slow down again!

At around 4:30, I had a couple of really rough contractions, accompanied by more dry heaving. As I stood and leaned on a person, my legs were actually shaking with the intensity of the contractions. During one, I heard the door open but didn't think anything of it. When I looked up after that contraction was done, I saw Alex looking at me, the other midwife who works with Detrah. "Oh, hi!" was my only greeting, as I sat down and resumed my position at the desk with my head in my hands. After the next one, I announced that I was ready for the water. I had asked Travis a couple of weeks ago to get a hose ready for attaching to the sink to fill the birth pool. He said after the fact that he didn't know what got into him, but he went out the front door and brought in the hose attached to the outside spigot! He got three blank stares from three bewildered women, then Detrah said "We need HOT water." Travis said "I knew that!" and went and got the other hose from the backyard and brought it in. For the record, the high was in the 50's that day! By about 4:45, the La Bassine was filled and I got in. It felt SO good! I remember saying "Oh, Lord have mercy!" with a huge sigh of relief. But OH, did labor pick up! Sitting in the tub felt miserable, so I leaned over the side of the tub instead, which felt only slightly less miserable. I just cannot get over how different this labor felt...like bone on bone, not necessarily more painful, just more intense. As I leaned over the side, Trav and Mel were right there, reminding me to relax, to breathe, to make low sounds...all things that I needed reminding of.

Since my water had broken, I hadn't had my cervix checked at all. But somewhere around 5 pm, I said something along the lines of "Against all reason and practicality, do you think you could check me? I said I didn't want to know, but I'm not sure how much longer that I can do this." I got a couple of chuckles, and a check. I was 9 with a lip. I was given some arnica to help with any possible swelling. A little while later, another doppler check of the baby, who was still doing great. Around 5:35, another contraction came, and what started as a low moan ended up as me yelling "PUSHING!!!" Now, I don't know if it was because of his positioning, or because of a cumulative effect of herbs or what, but WOW. I had one pushing contraction, a brief break, then what seemed like the longest contraction ever. Voices around me told me not to push unless I was having a contraction and to bring the energy down, but it felt like one never-ending contraction, and I told them so. I'd push and breathe and push and breathe, yelling while pushing, Trav telling me in a slightly panicked voice to breathe...I wanted to tell him that if I was making sound then I had oxygen, so don't worry, but I couldn't talk...just breathe, then push and yell. I could feel him moving down, but it seemed like it was taking forever. I asked if his head was out yet...he was crowning. There was no "ring of fire" or anything like that. It all seemed to be happening so slowly yet so quickly and I didn't want to tear but it felt like back-to-back contractions and the only thing that made sense to do was to keep vocalizing to keep from holding my breath and pushing with all I had...that might slow things down. About 10 minutes into pushing, his head was out and I had a break in the contractions. Hallelujah! Then one more contraction...a quick move to my hands and knees...I thought one push would do it, but nope. Without even thinking, I went to a half-crouch like kneeling a la Captain Morgan (left leg up felt totally wrong, but right leg up felt right, so I stayed that way), a push, a yell, and at 5:48pm voila!! Baby! I reached down and pulled him up out of the water, then sat leaning against the side of the tub. We did it! And he was beautiful! A full head of hair, Apgar of 10 right off the bat, gave couple of little cries, but then just looked at me. Love at first sight? Absolutely. Travis was a bit teary, the boys came in and checked out their brother and pronounced him "really cool". Gavin kept saying "Connor came out of your tummy?!" over and over again. A couple of minutes later my placenta separated, but it was a little stubborn in coming out. I took some herbs to help it come, then when the bleeding got to the point of making Detrah a little concerned, I got up and out of the water and headed to the bed. A lot of uterus massaging, a shot of pitocin in the leg, and about 15 minutes after Connor was born, our placenta came as well. After the family checked him out, Trav cut the cord and he snuggled up and started nursing. After he nursed on both sides, Detrah checked me and the bleeding status. Not a tear in sight!! I couldn't believe it!

Shortly thereafter, I took a shower and used the bathroom and then headed back to bed. I remember that strange, empty feeling and how weird it felt to just breathe without a baby in there. After I was settled in, Detrah did the newborn exam, which checked out just fine. He came in at 9 lbs, 10 oz and 20.5 inches long! Thank God for a baby under 10 lbs! While he was getting checked out, Mel heated up some shepherd's pie that I had made and made sure that I was eating and drinking and the rest of the family was fed. Then Connor came and laid on my chest to get warm while everyone finished cleaning the house. Before everyone left at around 8:30, Detrah came and sat on the bed and prayed with us, thanking God for a safe birth. So far, this has been my fastest and easiest recovery. Connor took right to nursing and we haven't had a single problem.

Looking back on this birth, it taught me a lot. Occasionally I get comments and questions asking why I choose to birth at home as long as the pregnancy is healthy. When I give my answer as to why we feel that it's the right choice for us, I almost always end my comment with the fact that each birth is as individual as the baby and the mom involved (and hence what works for me might not work for someone else). That really hit home to me this time. I think that I had sort of assumed that this birth would be even "better" than Gavin's...that I could tweak this and change that from last time and have a "perfect" birth. Well, it turned out to be just a totally different birth, individual in it's own right. Different baby, different position, different time in my life, different birth. With Gavin, I was in hard, active labor for what seemed like an eternity (only about 10 hours in reality). With Connor, labor was very stop-and-go for a majority of the time, and I was really in hard, active labor for only about 4 hours. I had practiced up on my Hypnobirthing, and it just wasn't feeling right this time. The bottom line...you just can't predict birth! I love the fact that his birth was different, though. I can't even compare it to my others, each one is very different. And I love the fact that I just trusted my body and did what felt right, be it vocalizing or position changes during pushing. Detrah said after the fact that he was a little "sticky" coming out, and I have no doubt in my mind that my feeling the need to change positions quickly was just my body telling me what to do to get him out safely. It's a good thing when you know that you can trust your baby, trust your body, and trust birth.

Of puppies and parvo...

As I had mentioned in a previous post, Ziggy and Delilah had a litter of pups several months back. She had 8 puppies!! Four little boys and four little girls, with two of them looking very Australian Shepherd-ish, one looking like a true mash-up of the two dogs, and the other five looking like some variation of Ziggy...black with a random white marking or two. When the pups were about 4 weeks old, Delilah started acting differently. She wasn't eating much, and was acting tired. Postpartum depression? Worms? We didn't know what was going on, so we got some canned food to mix in with her dry and she ate more...then abruptly stopped eating a couple of days later. At the same point in time, she started ignoring her pups. Her pups started having really foul-smelling poop. We took her to the vet no knowing what to expect.

She had parvo. Apparently there had been a bout of parvo running around Fresno that was effecting an extraordinary number of dogs, both vaccinated and unvaccinated alike. The vet said that she had about a 50/50 chance if we did subcutaneous fluids every 4-6 hours and gave her medications. The pups, however, were a different story. He said we'd likely lose the whole litter, that they had already gotten it and they were too young for the shots anyway. He said we'd just have to sit back and watch as they died, or we could bring them all in to be put down. This was devastating news. We weren't sure to tell the boys as puppies started dying, or if Delilah died. We had to treat the yard, and do three separate quarantines: Delilah, Ziggy, and the pups. We had plastic totes all over the utility room, trying to separate the pups who were really acting sick from the ones who weren't. We called around to different societies and shelters for advice...was there anything that we could do? Put the pups down, they all said. There's nothing that I can do. I was defeated and angered at the same time. Surely there is SOMETHING that I could try!

I talked to a friend who is as into herbs and alternative remedies as any herbalist, and asked her advice. She steered me into a couple of directions as suggestions...she had an idea of what worked well on humans for intestinal ailments, but wasn't so sure about dogs. It gave me a little hope, though. In the meantime, the pups had been started on "puppy mush", essentially puppy food soaked in puppy formula and blended to the consistency of a thin pudding. They were eating a little, but it was hard on their weakened guts. I went to the local health food store and picked up a bottle of raw colostrum and started syringe-feeding the little buggers about every 4 hours, coming home on my lunch breaks to help my husband with the never-ending tasks of starting Delilah on her bag of fluids (he didn't like jabbing her with the needle...this is where being a nurse came in handy), giving her the medications, cleaning up the nasty parvo poo, starting a load of laundry to wash the blankets and towels that the pups were laying on, and feeding them.

A couple of days into the ordeal, I found a gentleman on the internet who had a similar experience as ours. He had given his pup turmeric. Yes, as in the spice found in curries, etc. I read about it in depth, investigated turmeric, then decided to give it a try. I went back to the health food store, picked up more colostrum, a bottle of turmeric capsules in the most pure form I could find, and went home. The ladies at the store were fabulous...one had lost her pup to parvo, and really took an interest in our situation. The capsules were large. I couldn't poke them down the pups throats. So I sterilized one of the needles from Delilah's fluids and used it to puncture the capsules. Then my husband would hold the pup, I'd squirt the turmeric (which was in an oil base) down its throat, then follow it quickly with the colostrum. My fingers were yellow for about two weeks...they looked like the fingers of a 40-year chain smoker. We gave turmeric to Ziggy just in case, even though he wasn't acting sick. We gave it to Delilah, who was so weak that she could barely lift her head. We thought we were going to lose her and the pups. She wasn't making urine for about two days...I was sure she was just shutting down. Then slowly she started turning around. She lifted her head. Then sat up for a minute. Then peed!! Her kidneys were working! The pups were starting to eat a little more mush, and the poo stopped smelling foul. There was no more blood in it. We were turning a corner!

We continued with the treatment plan...Delilah on her meds, fluids, and turmeric, Ziggy on prophylactic turmeric, and the pups on colostrum and turmeric 4-5 times/day along with the mush. After about a week, Delilah ate some boiled chicken and broth. The pups graduated to soaked kibble from mush. Everyone was alive, and about half of the litter was actually thriving. And my fingers were very, very yellow.

One of the shelters called us back to check on us after about a week and a half. We gave them the update, and they couldn't believe their ears...both mom and all eight pups had not just survived, but were doing great! They asked for the breakdown of what we did, and we told them. They were a no-kill shelter, and this was exactly the kind of thing they were looking for to try. Our vet called and asked if we lost the litter. We told him about the colostrum and turmeric, and he called it coincidence, then yelled at us and said "Don't you know you're not supposed to give dogs milk?!" We won't be going back to him. The ladies at the health food store said they'd pass it on to anyone who asked. Eventually we found homes for all but one of the pups, who we kept for ourselves. Delilah and all of the puppies made a full recovery!

It was a very, VERY long two weeks of treatment, sadness, frustration, then ultimately, triumph. We had defeated the odds by looking back to nature to heal. So if there is anyone out there who does a search for puppies and parvo, I hope you find this page and give the treatment a try. I was skeptical at first, but took the approach of "can't hurt, might help"...they were all on death's door with no options, so why not give it a try? And it worked!! Pass it on. Log it away in your memory in case it happens to your dog or a friend's pet. Here's the basic breakdown of what we did:

* Turmeric capsules, one per dose, 4-5 times per day until the stool is no longer bloody or diarrhea. Then decrease dosing to 3 times per day for at least a week. Linked is the turmeric we used.

* Raw colostrum, 10 ml, 4-5 times per day after the turmeric. Linked is the colostrum we used.

Hahaha...back from vacation??

Yeah, I suck as a blogger here lately. I'm just so incredibly tired. I'll get my whining out and be done with it...I'm over 30 weeks pregnant now, working full-time, going to school full-time, and trying to relieve my hubby at home when I'm off. He works so hard trying to keep the house and kids under control and presentable, and I know it's a never-ending and thankless task. We're homeschooling this year, so I'm trying to help out with that when I'm not working, but the fact of the matter is that I need to do MY school! *sigh* Well, it's not forever. I just need to plow on through these next three years and think about my goal...midwifery.

So I'm in my first semester of school, working toward my Masters' then ultimately to be a CNM. It's really good, I'm just trying to balance it all and retain as much as possible. I LOVED our time at Frontier for orientation! I got to meet all of my classmates and teachers, and really appreciate the wealth of history behind the area and the school. It's truly amazing, and Mary Breckinridge was an amazing woman. I feel honored to be a part of the school.

Work is going well enough...I'm not doing the back-up supervisor thing anymore, so I'm back on the floor. I was also offered a "desk job" being the Neuroscience/Spine Center coordinator. I haven't accepted yet. It might be nice...less physically demanding, 8-hour days, weekends off. But do I want to deal with all of the politicking? It would be good for me in the long run...good for my resume, good experience for when I'm starting my own practice and/or birthing home. I just don't know if I want to expend the mental energy that I know it's going to require, get off the floor, etc. I like patient care. I don't know...I guess I'll make a decision soon.

I can't believe my baby is six years old!! He's such a sweet kiddo, and I'm truly blessed to be his mommy. Speaking of being a mommy, we found out that we're having another boy! We've chosen the name Connor. He's an active little guy, and we're looking forward to seeing him soon...my due date is right around Christmas. I found a wonderful midwife, Detrah Hele. She is a wonderful lady, and I'm so glad I found her! I'm at my every-two-week appointment stage now, and I enjoy seeing her more. I'm planning a homebirth this time around, and we'll have a birth pool as well. Whether or not he's born in the water will be a down-to-the-minute decision based on what feels right at the time, but I'm sure I'll be soaking in there for a while at the least. I've been bulking up my cloth diaper stash, selling the stuff that we didn't use much and buying more of what works for us, which seems to be BumGenius One-size and gdiapers with cloth inserts. Daddy likes them and will use them, so that's what we're going with. I've bought some wipes from my pal over at Stitches in Cotton to replace my worn-out and dog-chewed ones. I'm almost ready! Only think is that I think all of my newborn clothes are still in Florida. I'm going to have to have my family go check the storage unit for me and ship them if they're still there.

Our Delilah had a litter of pups several months back. We ended up keeping one, a little guy that the boys named Charlie Jack the Pirate Dog. No, I'm not kidding. That's his name. It's on his tag. The whole thing. But we just call him Charlie Jack. A few weeks after she gave birth, she and her whole litter came down with Parvo. I'll write a separate post about that, but the long and short of the story is that we used turmeric and cured them all! Only Delilah had antibiotics and IV fluids...she was near death's door when we took her to the vet, we just didn't know how sick she was! But that's another story for another time.

Homeschooling. Wow. I want to say kudos to my mom and every other homeschooling parent out there...this is no easy task, and he's only in first grade!! We have a throw-together curriculum that seems to be working nicely. We're using Math U See, Handwriting Without Tears, McGuffey Readers (which I learned to read from), and The Story of the World. I'm looking for a science curriculum that I like, then we'll have the bases covered. In the meantime, we're just doing it free-style. Deklan is taking very well to it, and does a great job most days. He mostly just has to learn to take his time and do things right the first time...he's a hurrier. Gavin is jumping in and learning a bit here and there, and he loves it! He's a smart little cookie, and we'll start kindergarten a bit early with him, starting next year. As it is he can say his ABC's, count to 14, and is tracing shapes and letters (not very well sometimes, but he sure tries!). Now Trav just needs to start school and we'll all be in learning mode!

Time to go make supper...I made a huge pot of gumbo and have eaten it three days in a row. As much as I like gumbo, I am not eating it four days in a row. :)

Back from my blogging vacation...

I had to take a little time and refocus. I'm sure I wasn't missed much!!

An update from my last couple of posts...my Etsy shop is doing better than I thought it would, and I only have a couple of pieces left in it as of today. I need to get back to work! Also, Colleen as made a wonderful recovery! Something to be truly thankful for!

A few things have happened since I last posted. First, we found that we're expecting our third munchkin! I am currently 13w5d, and have just this week announced my pregnancy to the public. Something weird happens when you have a miscarriage...like no pregnancy is safe. I wanted to get past the point of my prior miscarriage, which was 9 weeks. I passed that, but still wasn't comfortable. Well, now that I'm a couple of days away from my second trimester, I figured it would be as good a time as any! I've contacted my midwife to make an appointment in the next couple of weeks. It's all starting to seem real. I've had a different pregnancy this time. I've had lots of exhaustion, quite a bit of nausea but with only one vomiting episode...the kicker is the migraines. I have had migraines several times a week and headaches every day. I normally get a migraine once or twice per month at the very most! So I've been a little dysfunctional.

About a week before I found out I was pregnant, I sent in my application for Frontier's Certified Nurse Midwife program. I've been talking about doing that for the longest time, but I finally DID IT. Whew! So, weeks of waiting and waiting ensued. Yesterday we took a little trip to Pier 39 in San Francisco to go to the aquarium with the boys and escape the Valley heat for a few hours. While we were there, my phone alarmed indicating a new email...it was from Frontier. I've gotten several emails since I sent in the package, some for updates, some with general info. This was my acceptance email!!!! I was one of the 25 blessed people to be accepted into the program this go-around! I fly to Kentucky the end of August to have the 3.5 day orientation, then back home to officially start school. Oh, my! I don't know what to think! I'm so excited and a little nervous, and now wondering how this pregnancy will play into things...I guess we'll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, I am overall totally STOKED. I can say that I'm working toward my dream!

At work, things are plugging away. The economy has chipped away at our floor. We've lost staff to layoffs. We've had hours cut and pay cut. But we still have jobs, hurray for that! We're just waiting for things to come full circle, as they always eventually do. I had applied for a supervisory position on my unit some time back, but the person who I would have been replacing decided to stay. So I was placed on the "farm team", filling in when supervisors are on vacation or in meetings and so on. One of the supervisors is going on maternity leave in a week or so, and I'll be taking her place. It's a different world in that office! It's been a long time since I've been in a supervisory position, and this unit is far different from the one that I supervised back in 2004! But it's good experience and I'd like to think that I could do a good job. We'll see how it goes.

I guess that's about it for updates. I have a headache so I think I need to stop staring at a screen. But now that the cats are out of their bags, I'm sure I'll be on a bit more. Wish me luck!

Please...

...go check out my Etsy shop! I know it's not much to look at, and my inventory is quite small for now, but I'm going to be adding a little more and it's for a good cause! See my previous post for information on the family who will be getting the proceeds from anything I sell. I've made a couple of sales, and I'd like to make several more before I send off a check. Go have a looky, and if you don't find anything you like, feel free to request something custom! My shop is called All Things Birthy, and will have a bit more than pendants after a little while! Thanks for stopping by!