Hi Dentonmidwife! You're a birth worker as well. How did you get into that line of work? If you had to have a job outside of your current field, what would it be and why?
I am wondering how it is to be pregnant while practicing midwifery? Do you find it helps you connect more with your clients? Do you find it difficult to get the nurturing and support you need for your own process? How do you maintain balance?
Duchess - After the birth of my oldest son, I decided that there had to be a better way. I knew that I wanted a drug free birth with him, but didn't know how to or that I could speak up for myself. I was 18 and figured the nurse was older and more experienced. She knew that I needed the Demoral or she wouldn't be asking. I hated the way that I felt afterward. I didn't really get to see my baby until the next day and we had all kinds of breathing and breastfeeding issues.
A year and a half later, my friend asked me to attend Bradley classes and her birth with her. The Bradley instructor saw my interest and fed it. She encouraged me to become a doula. We attended the birth of another friend as doulas. It was such a horrific experience that i decided women needed more options. It took awhile but I became a midwife as a result.
Jodi- fortunately my births have not been too long lately. My longest one was not long after the morning sickness started, so I had to make sure I had plenty of food to keep me from getting sick. I have great friends and family who have been helping with my 5yo so that I can get rest when I need it. Which seems to be a lot. Being an older mom in this line of work seems to make pregnancy harder this time.
Each new good urologist report eases my 18yos mind. After the last one, he said that he is still a little skeptical, but is feeling better. My 16yo avoids talking about it and changes the subject.
My hobbies are reading, gardening, knitting, and crocheting. I have done almost none of these in months because of being so tired all the time.
Forest lover - well at my last doula birth in the hospital, all I could think was "please let me not end up here again". My clients are great when they find out. A few found out at their 6 week postpartum, so I have been given maternity clothes, baby clothes, and cloth diapers. It is funny because they become just as concerned about me as I am about them.
I can't say that I am any more connected though. I feel like I already connect with them.
Oh and I am still trying to figure out how to get balance. I am thinking that a partner would be the only way to get good balance. I need to start setting some limits too. Like no texting just to chat about black and blue cohosh after 5pm kind of thing. This week has been super crazy and I don't know yet how to achieve balance of appointments during a busy postpartum period, especially when encapsulating placentas during all that.
I need to start setting some limits too. Like no texting just to chat about black and blue cohosh after 5pm kind of thing. This week has been super crazy and I don't know yet how to achieve balance of appointments during a busy postpartum period, especially when encapsulating placentas during all that.
Sounds like you are a busy, busy, super-mom-midwife (and I can only imagine how much you do as a single mom), so I support you in this BIG time. Set your "office hours" for the non-emergent stuff and use those extra hours (or maybe more realistically, minutes) to set some regular self care time for YOU (when you're not at births)!
Love all this--I think my favorite part is that you were already so connected with your families BEFORE your pregnancy that there hasn't been a big difference now that you are pregnant. But how wonderful that there is this instant outpouring of care and generosity! People are so cool sometimes. Although limits... Yeah, limits are hard.
You're in Denton and more generally the DFW area these days. Have you always been a Texas girl? Where else have you lived? Is there anywhere else you'd ever want to live, if you had your druthers/fantasy dream world?
I have been in the DFW area for 3 years. Before that I was in South Texas. I lived near Corpus Christi for about 10 years. I was born and raised in CA. I would love to visit Australia. I would love to live in the Northwest with cooler, rainy weather.
As a child, I was incredibly shy. I have had to change that a lot being self employed. Especially since I will give talks to try and promote business. I did go through a stage where I was extremely shallow as a teenager. For the most part, I don't think that I am that different though.
My favorite part of being a midwife is that "I did it" look a mom gets when she got her homebirth or her VBAC. My least favorite is paperwork. Some days, I think I should go to e charting to ease things, but I am such a paper person.
The most important part of a successful unmediated birth is support. You need to have your entire birth team be supportive and believe in you and your body. Including yourself. If your mom has doubts or your doctor, you are going to pick up on that and doubt yourself.
My favorite books.....hmmmm....... Everything. Just kidding. I love to read almost anything. I read a lot of Christian and historical fiction. I recently got the newest book to the Outlander series. I also like to read on whatever natural living topic has currently sparked my interest.
I only watch Netflix, so I have no idea what the current shows are. Right now I am watching Parenthood. The newest season of New Girl just came on Netflix, so I will be watching that soon.
I kind of go in spurts where I won't watch much tv for awhile and then I will marathon watch.
We don't have cable so we only watch netflix and sometimes hulu. I love parenthood! I just started watching that and so far i've enjoyed it. I haven't tried new girl yet.
I grew up in the little town of Ridgecrest in the Middle of the Mojave Desert. Most people in CA not in the surrounding areas have never heard of it, so it cracks me up when people in TX think they are going to know it.
I know ridgecrest! I am from Bakersfield, and we live in the Pacific Northwest now. I always feel like if I got to leave California, I'd probably be pretty happy in Texas.
Ridgecrest!! I don't KNOW the town, but I recently seriously considered applying for a job at China Lake! We are desperate to return to California, and it was a dang unicorn job--a federal government post in a position I'm actually perfectly qualified for, and would have stood a real chance at landing!!--but we talked it over and talked it over and concluded that there would be no point in moving to a spot that was so far from our support network. Disappointing, though, because sometimes I think that job was THE ONLY fed job in the entire state of California that I was ever, ever going to get.
Aaaaaaanyway. Ridgecrest! What did you like and not like about growing up out there? Was your family military? Doubtless you spent plenty of time interacting with military out there?
I love all the Texans in the DDC. Are you a Friday night football fan?
The Bradley Method, which you mentioned, was a total game-changer for me. A lot of friends discouraged me saying it was too "hard-core" but it really was the best preparation I could have had.
Ridgecrest is a hole in the wall town. I loved the community of a small town, but hate the desert. The base is what keeps that town alive, so yes we have a lot of interaction with it and military personnel. I worked at Taco Bell starting at 15. I have been hit on by many a Navy guy. Gotta love a guy in uniform. My stepdad was not military anymore when he married my mom, he just found a better job in Ridgecrest than the job he had in the even smaller town we lived in before that.
I love the Outlander series. It take place in Scotland during the 1700s. I have a lot of old west style romance novels. I also live Amish novels.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mothering Forum
16.5M posts
285.1K members
Since 1996
A forum community dedicated to all mothers and inclusive family living enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about nurturing, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!