Born to birth

Hello mon petit frites!

Good news! I passed my NARM exam! It's been a long journey and there was more than a few times that I wished I had never started walking down that road, but I did it, and I'm so pleased. I think I was the most pleased when I just WROTE the exam, so that when I found out I passed it was rather anticlimactic. Weird eh?

I've come a long way though--from being that green little hippie in Boise to a student in Manila to supervisor in Antipolo to today--just a regular girl in Hamilton planning her wedding.

Suturing for the first time. I enjoyed it too much and henceforth continued to enjoy it too much--even with the real deal.

Learning how to give (and receive) subcutaneous injections with Katie.

Studying hard in Manila a couple weeks after arriving. I believe that the stethescope on the text actually helps one to 'hear' the knowledge.

Our last homebirth as a team and as a clinic---in, without a doubt, the worst living conditions I've ever worked in or witnessed. Rats between your ankles, cockroaches on your back, being peed on and delivering a newborn on cardboard.

Helping a mother focus, breathe and push.

With my special survivor Baby Tan--born 8 weeks early and the only one of FORTY premies to survive the Nicu in a Filipino Children's Hopsital.

Albeit, a much wiser, harder-working and disciplined midwife-bride. (Ooooooh these words are rich in Christian subtexts, eh? You could just go crazy with the parallels!)

Thanks to everyone who helped push me (ah...hilarious) to the finish line.

(More on wedding shananigans later!)