An Update on Life

The past week was a whirlwind of traveling - first to Arkansas for a wedding, then back for local stuff near home and then off to Birmingham, AL for a midwifery conference. I arrived home yesterday afternoon, just in time to head off to church with my family. :)

And now... I'm spending the next week holed up in a house in the woods a couple miles from where my family lives. I have the delightful job of house-sitting at such a time as this - when I need to study during every spare second. It's just me... and a very annoying Schnauzer who believes that he must sit beside me on the couch, stand beside me in the kitchen, and try to climb in bed with me at night! (I never did like dogs that much... and I really don't like them in the house!)

Today was the first day in quite a while that was dedicated to my stack of textbooks that must be read by mid-August.
But most of the day was spent fixing a flat tire, and running errands, and re-scheduling appointments for tomorrow. My little sisters, Ruth and Joanna, are spending the night with me tonight. I will take them home early in the morning and then head off to my appointments. Tomorrow afternoon looks as though it holds a few hours for study. We shall see if that happens.

If things happen the way I want them to, you won't be hearing much from me for a bit and I'll be deep in Varney and Frye....

Those Blessed Books!

I'm finally, finally studying for the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) exam that is one of the final steps towards becoming a Certified Professional Midwife!

I've dearly wanted to study for the past four years, but my obligations at the Capitol have had to come first, so I've barely cracked a book in years.

But now we've legalized the midwives in Missouri, so I can really and truly become one! I can't wait!

Since I am now free to study, I am trying to carefully guard a few hours of day to do just that. Some days tomato canning consumes the whole day, but other days I actually retreat to my bedroom and pile of books. I don't usually get as much done as I aim for, but it feels wonderful just to be sitting in a pile of books and papers and folders and forms!

Teratogenic effects of drugs, neonatal infections, placental sufficiency, sickle cell traits, endometritis, cystoceles, rectoceles, fetal tachycardia in labor.... and even words like suboccipitobregmatic diameter... All of these need to be far more than words and definitions in my head.

I'm learning again... finally. And I love it!

I hope I am sitting for the NARM exam next August and a CPM by the end of next year!