I have not posted to this Blog in nearly a year. I don't know if tonight was the best to choose for resuming. Really I am surprised that this spot in cyber space still exists! I have been up to sooo much this last 7 months that it is unreal. My education has taken some turns different than I had expected and it has been really amazing. I have gotten involved with some great groups of women and had life changing opportunities. I will have to write more about them soon.

As for now. It is politics that has me up and roaring. Why? Why does it have to be this way? Why do these people, who have no idea what it means to be the woman making the choices for herself and her baby, seem to think they know what is best?!? AND that they can tell other women who can support them while they make these choices and birth their babies, and when, and how, and where? Don't they know already that the government controls so many of our every day choices and we don't have room for them to step into the very personal, private, parts of our families as well? I feel angry right now, but really it is sadness. Sadness for the women who will end up having to make choices completely outside of their comfort due to regulation.

Currently in the State of Oregon, there are choices surrounding midwifery. Options on how a midwife wants to practice, and options for women and families on who they want to support them. Nationally, the CPM credential can be achieved by certifying through NARM. Oregon adds just a few more requirements to those for NARM certification, takes a few more thousand dollars, and will then give you a "License". It is available to those who qualify, but not mandatory. Midwives still have the option to practice, legally, without either set of letters after their name. This allows women to choose based on their own findings, feelings, references, recommendations, experiences, who may attend their birth. Some choose a LM (licensed midwife) due to 3rd party insurance reimbursement, some because the person who they fit with suits them for all previously listed reasons, some because of letters (completely ignorant, BUT I'm not going to tell women how to choose what is best for them!).

NOW Oregon licensed midwives are facing harsh restrictions that will prevent them from being able to legally attend a VBAC. This is so absurd! There is nothing to prove there are any more negative outcomes with VBAC at home vs. hospital birth. There are almost no hospitals left in the state that will allow a VBAC to take place there, due to malpractice insurance issues, and when they do, it is torcher for mom and baby, and often ends in a 2nd, or 3rd, or whatever c-section. Many times with bogus reasons given at that! But that is a different topic.
What makes this even worse (as if it can get that way) is that this could potentially affect a MINIMUM of 30% of all women in the state. National and from what I have heard, state c-section rate is currently documented at about or just over 30%. True for some hospitals, but many are higher, some significantly. I was recently told by a mom who birthed at the hospital in Tillamook that they quoted her a c-section rate of 73%! Yes, that is 3 out of every 4 babies are being yanked out of their mothers bodies during MAJOR surgery. This is outrageous. This is a huge number of women who will be faced with never being able to have a normal birth. AND with this, will be directly affected when it comes to family planning as well. There are still families out there that would like to have many children. They would love to grow. But the dangers of this surgery are so great, and so hard on the body that after the 2nd one, risks to the mothers health increase greatly. This is not right.

A committee meeting was held today in the state capital regarding the topic. Sadly I was not able to be present. From what I have read so far, it was not pleasant. It was stated more than once that this issue is not about women's choices, it is about what is in the governing boards best interest. One attendant said that it was said that " It's not about parental choice, and they cant please everyone and it's not about women doing what they want-it's about 'the greater good', 'public safety ' and 'the government setting a standard'" WTF!

I will have no part of it. I have a calling to serve women. I will educate myself with the best knowledge I can possible find and learn from as many other wonderful women as possible, and gather every needed skill that I hope to never have to use. I will provide the support women want, the education they deserve about their bodies, trust in birth, and the truth. I will never pay my hard earned money to a government to tell me who I can and can not serve and when, where and how I can serve them. If there are families that do not want to come to me for what I will offer because I do not have those letters after my name, then I am not the right person to serve them anyhow. I am at peace with that.

Check in

Well, just realized my blog is suffering! I have to sleep but will post tomorrow with some happenings from the past month!

May

First, this will probably be long.
I just realized it has been over 2 weeks since my last post! May is already here. I am keeping busy and still not getting done what I should of course.
I have been keeping up and getting really good scores in 2 of my 3 classes at UCC, psychology being the exception. Not that it isn't an interesting class but when time is crunched, I have learned that all before and everything else I am learning is just more useful and interesting, to be blunt.
I have been trying to keep tabs on my Grandma as well, took her to a couple DR appointments to get a feel for what is actually going on. She is doing OK for now and we are now making plans for a very soon return for mom. Meaning I am trying to plan a week in June to fly over an help her, and it looks like I may get to stop for a very quick visit with my dear cousin who has been through hell the last month. I am excited for the whole thing really!

So back to midwifery. I have gotten all the phase 1 emails and such taken care of for AAMI and am working my way through my phase one list to finish the required 15 tasks. I got my Helping Hands workbook from the printer today, only 16 bucks to get it printed and bound, they didn't use the binding I wanted, but oh well, much better than trying to work off the damn computer!

This has all really gotten me thinking. It is amazing. I need to start thinking about my two focuses of study. The subjects I most want to specifically become expert in. One directly birth related, and another related subject. WOW I have run so many things through my head. How do you pick. Do I pick something that will be most useful? Or what I am honestly the most interested in, even if it will not be that commonly encountered? I guess I have a year to really figure that out.
I am about 35 pages into Helping hands and it has already really reaffirmed that I am doing the right thing. I am still feeling a bit guilty in many ways, and not as sure of myself that I will be able to assert myself enough to get through what I need to for my training and educations, but I'm working on it. Goes to show the logical brain and the "reality" brain are not working together too well.

I guess I will try to get some sleep, and maybe be forced to reread this with a clear mind later!

Ahhh, the Weekend

Ever wonder just what a day in the life of Lisa looks like when she is NOT thinking about work, studying, class, or even midwifery, AND she doesn't have the company of her children? .......


......Yes...and don't I have a beautiful world surrounding me? Sometimes it just reminds me that I really should not take advantage of the fact that all this is nearly in my own back yard. How many people can really say that.

April is half gone!

I am so anxiously awaiting an email from AAMI, I hold my breath ever time I check. Goodness!
I know I need to be patient and just wait but it is hard.

I took my first test in Nutrition-Yep, I knew every answer. It is definitely the easy part of the class and it will get harder, but I am not concerned.
This is really an amazing subject. I really have found it to be an interest here and could go forward for more learning on the subject. I would really love to expand beyond this class as I feel the more I could learn, the more details, the better understanding I would have and I strongly believe it is absolutely HUGE in the field of midwifery.
I feel good nutrition in pregnancy can be the biggest key to a healthy mom, baby, and experience as well as making a big difference in breastfeeding as it insures that milk production will be plentiful and nutritious.

So many people take things like medicine for granted. They (including the government-but I don't like to go there) act like our nations problems are with the health care and insurance systems. Frankly it is bull shit. If the people of our nation would take responsibility for their OWN health, their own bodies and what they do to them, then we would not need a fraction of the health care that we need now.
High cholesterol? Diabetes? Digestive problems? Almost all cases can be prevented, avoided and even completely controlled by paying attention to what a person is putting in their body. People are eating highly processed, high fat, high calorie, unnatural foods that the human body was not designed to be subjected to.

So no, we don't need better prescription drug and health care coverage and availability, we need better education on general health and nutrition. This needs to start young and needs to be more available. We also need better regulation on food labeling, as to require honest thorough information. But if we did that, then the Dr. would not have so many patients, the drug companies would not be getting so rich off of limited income people, and the pocket book of Uncle Sam would be a little lighter, but we cant have that.

Happy Easter!!!

Not super exciting but a bit of a break from the everyday normal. Didn't do any studying this weekend until tonight. That may have been a mistake, but oh well!
BBQed with the kids and colored eggs last night. Steve came over, kept me company while I put together Easter baskets, it was nice as we don't have too much time together unless the kids are with dad. It was nice to wake up and have him there on
Easter. Took the kids to their family Easter celebration today as well. Got to visit with people I haven't seen in a long time and now that the kids are older they actually had alot of fun doing the Easter egg hunts and playing with cousins. It was really nice.
I didn't have much for high hopes this holiday, but the weekend really turned out great!

Now to get back to work and start stocking my email for anything from AAMI!

No turning back now

I sent off my AAMI application yesterday afternoon. Including the $2000 down payment and all the information for the payment agreement for the remainder of the balance. Holly crap. That is alot of money, and I feel guilty as all hell.
Seriously, I know I have to do it, that is a student loan and I really need to use it for my education right???

I really need more hours in my life now. I can't seem to keep up. I knew it would be this way. I prepared myself for it, but I'm still tired. It feels good in a way, but right now I just wish my house was clean and I could sleep for a full 8 hours.

But now I am also excited to hear back, I think I better figure out what books to buy first. I need to remember to get ahold of amazon, I am so frustrated, somehow my wish list on their site was lost or delete or something. I had made an entire list on there, took me a long time too!

I better go do something productive!