Got a call this morning from my teacher and I nearly died. You just don’t expect your professor to call you at home on a Saturday morning. After playing phone tag for what seemed like an eternity, we connected and discussed me filling in temporarily for a fellow 4th year student who needed an emergency leave. So, I was jumping up and down, well as much as my old legs could jump. How exciting! I had never been to the farmhouse, well, I had never done anything with a Wisconsin midwife as of yet and I was excited to be able to help, even temporarily. I called the midwife and she was super sweet and explained that she needed someone to be on-call for births for 4 days and to attend a prenatal day on Monday. ACK. How exciting! And I was just saying I didn’t want to jump into a full-blown apprenticeship, but wanted to start. I guess someone is listening?!
I had lots to do before then. I got right to my homework so I could have that piece of the puzzle figured out. My oldest daughter had to go to a slumber party that night, so if I had to go to a birth, my little one would have to stay at my neighbor’s house. I had to go and figure out those logistics. Plus, my youngest daughter was supposed to go to church the next morning with a friend and I had to drive her. Would I be here to do that? Additionally, I had to hem my daughter’s costume and iron it. Luckily, I don’t mind sewing as it can double as doing something related to midwifery—lacerations, right? I had to pick out my clothes for the morning, make lunch and get my kids organized as I would be leaving be they would be and arriving home after them. Oh and one last item on my list of things to do was to make a snack for my daughter’s class. Fortunately there are only 17 students.
How do midwives juggle their time? This was a lesson in time management, one I need on a constant basis. My goal this week will be to get as much done as possible and stay as relaxed as possible. Can this be done? Thankfully, this opportunity was coming during a week we had no homework in Antepartum. But I was still not able to do everything I needed to do this week as it is grant season in college. This means my husband and his colleague’s send me grants to review and edit. Although they have shortened from 25 pages to 12 in the last year, it is still a lot of work. I only got to my husband’s colleague’s grant and can’t finish his. *sigh*
My Journey as a Licensed Midwife in Louisiana 