Learning

I have been apprenticing at the Birth Place for a few weeks now, and have already learned a ton. The staff is awesome, and my preceptor (the main midwife) has me shadowing several different roles so that I understand the workings of a birth center. I think this experience will really help me in the future. Not only do I sit in and participate somewhat in the prenatal and postpartum visits, but I've also seen what goes on behind the front desk, helped with intake and history taking, and helped with labwork.

Before I write my NARM (to become a Certified Professional Midwife) I need to have a bunch of skills signed off by preceptor. Along with this, I need to have conducted a certain number of prenatal and postpartum exams, baby check-ups, assists and deliveries. I need to conduct 75 prenatal exams on my own. For a lot of students, this would take quite a long time while working with a homebirth midwife - often less than 10 prenatals are done per month. But at the birth center, we had over 45 moms come in yesterday! Can you believe it? This has a lot to do with the fact that the Birth Place has an easy-access clinic for women who are uninsured or on medicaid (government insurance for low-income - for those of you Canadians reading this). Their prenatal care is done at the Birth Place, but they deliver in the hospital (a lot of them are required to because of risk factors).

That being said, this apprenticeship also exposes me to a lot more things than a "normal" midwifery practice would. I take tons of notes all day on topics that I have to come home and look up.

One more thing about this center that is awesome is that the consult doctor (the one who delivers a lot of the hospital women and the one the midwives consult with regarding risk issues) has started coming to the center to do the consult visits with the high risk patients. That way, they are still in familiar surroundings during that visit and get to know the doctor that will be at their delivery. How cool is that!

So anyhow, I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't feel like "time off" at all though - in fact, I feel more busy than when I had my job!

Half-way Through September

Here we are, half-way through September, so I thought I'd give you an update on our goals/life changes that I wrote about a couple of posts ago:

1. TV: Hmmm...well, first of all Obama had to go and decide to give his big speech so OF COURSE we had to watch that! And college football started, so I've seen/heard Jon watching that a bit. And I MIGHT have been watching a bit of HGTV the other day when I was stressed out and didn't even want to think. So there...you be the judge.

2. Being at the birth center is awesome and I'm learning a ton. It's so different from learning out of books, and it's different from when I was in the Philippines because now I actually understand what the women are saying!

3. Thesis writing...needless to say, I should probably be doing that right now instead of writing this post. But, it's coming along. Jon is in Atlanta tonight and I've been very productive in the past 12 hours. I plan on staying up late tonight to get a few more pages out.

4. Marathon training - what? huh? oh ya.... well, I haven't stuck to the schedule EXACTLY, but I don't think too many of you can criticise me for that, so I'm not worried. :) I've already paid for the race, so I'm running it no matter what!

5. Vegetarianism - that goal quickly turned to "vegetarianism when we cook at home", as we have both been guilty of eating meat when we go out. We're still happy with that though, and feel like we're expanding our cooking and taste buds a bit!

So there you have it. Also, I don't believe there has been a CAT update for a while, so here they are! I always wonder what they do when we're not home. The other day I found them perched in these strange spots in the kitchen, and it only made me more curious. Atticus is getting real good at playing "catch" - he catches his toy mouse mid-air -- sometimes in his paws, sometimes in his teeth. Fallujah still likes to play "fetch" - roll a ball down the stairs, and he'll run after it, chasing it to the bottom of the stairs. Then he'll pick it up in his mouth and bring it back. Then you get to throw it again. Sometimes he plays by himself in the middle of the night. We have hard-wood stairs, and it wakes the whole house up (downstairs neighbors included). But we love those rascals and wouldn't trade them for anything!

Vegetarian...but not loving it

So this looks pretty much like a familiar enchilada or something, right? Nope - it's filled with tofu. And in my opinion, there is nothing familiar about tofu. I can't say I loved this meal. But Jon and our friend liked it pretty well. I'm glad there was cheese to help cover the tofu-ness.

This is the lovely bean/mushroom/onion burger Jon made on Wednesday night. It looked good. It smelled good. But neither of us were crazy about the taste.

I think I'm actually having more fun plating the food and taking pictures of it than I am eating it. But hey - it makes the whole experience a little more enjoyable.

September

The month of September is going to be an interesting one.

Why? Because...

1. Jon and I are not watching any TV.

2. I am starting to apprentice full time at the birth center and have quit my job.

3. My thesis is due at the end of the month.

4. I have just begun a marathon training program.

5. We are eating vegetarian this month.

Due to #5, I have been experimenting a bit with vegetarian meals. Last night, I pulled out the ingredients for the dish I was preparing:

sweet potatoes

onions

garlic and ginger

cayenne and paprika

tomatoes

pineapple juice

peanut butter

garnish: beets, carrots and bananas in lime juice

Jon saw all of this and said "What the heck kind of recipe is this???" We were both a little skeptical. But, look at how lovely it turned out. And it tasted amazing!

So, as we experiment this month, I will hopefully post from time to time with news on interesting or delicious meals.

Murder Mystery Party

Last weekend, I turned 30. Instead of letting the moment pass me by, I decided to throw a party. A Murder Mystery Party. It took a lot of preparation (cutting, pasting, imagining, assigning characters, shopping, decorating) but I think it was worth it. We had a blast. It was a 1920's Mobster theme - the party took place at my (Rosie's) Speakeasy. While everyone was having a great time, a murder occurred. Can't tell you who died in case you ever play. Then we all had to figure out whodunnit. Can't tell you whodunnit either.

Props - I printed these covers of 1920's Life Magazine and glued them onto Dwell Magazines.

Rosie's bulletin board - with notes from the likes of Al Capone and Jane Green.


The party takes place during the prohibition.

Bernie Bootlegger and Notorious Nick

Southside Sal and his girl, Natalie

Cheif Cameron and Mugsy Malone

PI Pinkerton and Cy Ramsey

Rosie Marie and Kitty

The dead guy


Diva Dina and Natalie

The whole group

If you ever get a chance to host or attend a murder mystery party, I highly recommmend it. We bought the game online and can definately use it over again to host other games in which Jon and I won't play. Two pieces of advice: 1. You may THINK you have enough beer, but you won't. People drink like crazy during the prohibition! 2. Plan ahead for the "gun shot". Shoes being hit together does not sound like a gun.