Lafayette, IN mamas

OK, that's very cool. But, it's even MORE cool that I now have proof that there are actually other crunchy people here in Lafayette!

Well, the new rabbi of Temple Israel had a homebirth I'm told and Wendy1221 is here. So that makes 3 crunchy mamas and 1 crunchy not-a-mama yet.

Julie's husband is a Purdue prof. I think Tom must be the husband of a retired midwife. The one who owns River Knits maybe???

And OK, who are you other people? I know who Sapphire_Chan is, never met, though. irl, I am friends w/ some very crunchy people here in town. Like Chaka, Polly and Jennifer C (who is also on MDC ocassionally--Glamourfaust.) I am meeting more through our buying club. You know about the buying club, don't you? Anything you can get at Sunspot or Nature's Pharm for much much cheaper! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_peoples_elbow/ We crunchy (and not as crunchy as we'd like to be--which is what Chaka and I always say we are. ROFL!) are definitely around Lafayette!

Might I have met you at LLL? I'm the one w/ the baby w/ lots of food allergies. Specifically the nut allergy that Jeni announces at the beginning of her meetings when I'm there. lol. Which I REALLY appreciate, btw. Most people don't get nut allergies and the fact that they can be lethal just from smelling nuts. Don't think Liam is that allergic, but I'm not taking any chances!

I know no one IRL. Tom apparently works for the county, but I don't know at which branch. His wife is retired? Man....

Actually you folks would be good to ask, what's the usual cost for a midwife in Lafayette? I don't know that I'll have insurance when the time comes so I'm trying to figure out how much I need to save up. (In a year or so I'll be asking for names, )

$1650 for the whole shebang, including prenatals and birth. Another I think $150 to rent the tub, although they've been known to give a student discount.

E, I just looked up that article. I see his wife's name is Sharon. I'm pretty sure Sharon was Mary Ann's partner before Julie started working w/ her. So Sharon must have retired about 5 years ago or so. Midwives have a high turnover rate, for all of the reasons that guy said in his article plus more. I think Julie mentioned that they get apprentices every few years and they usually only last 1-3 years before they change their minds. It's very rare for someone to go through all the training and then work for more than 5 years. Kinda sad, really. I think the legal status in this state makes it much more stressful than it needs to be on top of everything else.

Julie is AWESOME! I really enjoyed having her w/ us during Liam's birth. She was a very calming influence. Anyway, like I said, she will often give a student discount (on the cost of the birth and sometimes a free tub rental if it's available and you want it.) Also, if you still have Purdue insurance, 1 kind they offer covers homebirth. If you don't have that one, switch to it before ttc and then right after the baby's born switch back. If you look into it and that saves you money that is. I had Medicaid, so they didn't cover the birth. But I think having a homebirth w/ Julie was well worth the $1600 I would have saved by going to the hospital (I'm not completely comfortable w/ UC. Liam needed oxygen and vigorous suction to get him breathing--tight cord around the neck. He was very blue and limp. I'm not sure he would have been ok if I hadn't had Julie there to do the suction and O2. THe vigorous massage that gets most sluggish babies breathing didn't work.)

Dh has stated that he's comfortable with homebirth with a midwife he likes, so I'm concentrating on figuring out how to find and work with a fabulous midwife. I'm thinking I'll try to get on the good homebirth-covering insurance when we start TTC (actually I should check the enrollment dates now to be sure I don't end up missing some sort of cut off). Since office visits to PUSH are covered and the pharmacy gives reduced cost medications, it hasn't really been an issue and I didn't really look into it yet.

It's very reassuring to hear that people like the midwives in town. Especially coming from someone like you.

Wow, less than 2 years now before we TTC, it seems like a long time in one way and like it's just about to happen in another way. You know?

We used to have a playgroup, but it kinda disbanded. I guess we could always restart it. (Wendy, since you know who I am now...what do you think? Sapphire needs something to do. )

I have no idea about things to do. I'll be in class. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow! But, the grass will probably still be wet. Passing through from IL, you'd probably enjoy Happy Hollow Park. It's not that much off I-65. Take the SR25 exit, turn west onto SR52, and you'll see signs, I think. Take the 43 exit going toward Lafayette off SR52 and that road goes right to the park. It's a really nice park. The park has mulch, so no wet sand to deal with.

T I had no idea the River Knits lady used to be a midwife.

I've been burning CDs at work, which doesn't require any real effort, but does require staying at my desk to switch them out, so I've had basically 8 hours a day to do MDC besides any evening time. I don't really have as much free time as my post rate would indicate.

I'm a co-op student so my schedule is just odd. This semester I'm actually working down in Indy.