Why I can't talk to hospital moms anymore.

I have a friend that just delivered a beautiful, long-awaited (10 years in the making!) little boy this week. I'm of course beyond thrilled for her, but I got a look at her birth photos today and spent the next hour steaming mad! Here she is, with this so desperately desired little boy, and her first sight of him is her husband holding the baby near her face while the docs sew her stomach up. She's not home yet, and it's been awhile since we were super close, so I'll leave it alone and just try to avoid learning anything about her birth and doing anything but congratulating her on her sweet baby because she doesn't need to hear me rant about the huge c-section rates at the local hospital and how hers was most likely unnecessary, etc. I'm not what you would call a feminist, but I can't understand how a woman (generally speaking now, not aiming this at this particular person) can turn something as important as their reproductive rights and future over to someone else without taking any hand in the decision making process! Too many women nowadays seem to revert to childhood (unquestioningly allowing someone else to make their decisions) when it comes to having a baby..well, the doctor says this and the hospitals brochures agree so it must be right. How can a 32% c-section rate be right, when according to the World Health Organization it should be less than 10%? I could go on forever on this particular subject, but I won't. It will just get me all riled up again, and John shouldn't have to deal with that:)

Remodeling

Is it just me, or is remodeling a job that could last forever? We are on our, supposedly, last run through the house. You know, doing the last bit of paint touch up and in some cases completely repainting the rooms (even added some accent walls in our bedroom), replacing carpet, etc. On a good note, I have now added "Can change electrical outlets" to my list of skills. Who knew I would eventually be able to do minor (very minor) electrical work? That can be added to another list, my "What I never imagined I would be doing as an adult" list. Have to say, it ranks much higher than shaving the dog's butt.

Baby news

Not mine, so don't get excited. My clients baby arrived this morning by c-section. 9lb 1 oz girl, both are doing fine. And that's all I want to say about that.

The joys of midwifery

This truly has been the worst year I have ever had since I started working in the midwifery world and today just capped it. I have one client left, ONE, before we move to Idaho and have been really looking forward to this birth. It's a young couple with their first baby, and there's just nothing like being a part of that joy and excitement. Well, the excitement is now gone. The baby has been consistently breech for quite some time and has resisted all efforts to move him. We've gone ahead and prepared for a vaginal breech birth, but I got a call from the parents today announcing that during their doctors visit they had scheduled a c-section for tomorrow morning. As a midwife, I'm heartbroken. I just don't know if I can take one more not so great ending. As their caregiver, I disagree with the decision, but as a fellow member of the church (we're both LDS) I have to accept it for what it is and in this case it's a father with the right and privilege to receive inspiration on his families behalf. This father feels that they have been instructed to accept the offer of a c-section and that it is, against their hopes and wishes, the right thing to do for his wife and baby. And who can, or should, argue with that? They aren't going into it blindly, I've made sure that it is an informed decision, and they are insisting on an ultrasound before the c-section to see if the baby has turned. If, miracles of miracles, it has turned they will say, "No thank you, we'll wait" and come home. It's now out of my hands; all I can do now is hope and pray the baby has turned (and not just from the mothers left side to her right, which is the only reaction we got from the Webster!).

I'm sick of sawdust.

Someone or other (I blame John) came up with this crazy idea of sanding down all the wood work on the upper stairs (the house is a bilevel), instead of recarpeting it, and varnishing it to match the wood paneling in our basement and to go with the laminate flooring. We will hopefully finish today. It's going to look amazing, but I have to say that I am heartily sick of sawdust.

New house?

I just got a new listing from my realtor that looks promising, so she's going to take pictures of it and one other house in Hidden Springs for us tomorrow. It's the size we need, and has the stucco John likes and the room count we need as well. We'll see how it goes!

Free at last! (Almost.)

I just paid off the last bit of our equity loan and a year and a half early at that. Man, it feels good to be free of that debt. We still have the credit card to go, but it's manageable and will be gone as soon as the house sells. It's been a long time coming, but there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. Now all we have to do is sell the house! We'll be replacing more carpet soon and the linoleum in the entry way is going to be replaced with laminate to match the kitchen, lv room, and hallway so hopefully the house will sell quickly after that (or before, either works for me).