International Day of the Midwife

I went to a birth the other night.  After having some time off, I could really appreciate the beauty of it all. At 2am the two of us sat in the bathroom.  Laboring Mom in the tub, me sitting on the edge.  The room was dark except for one candle flickering. Between contractions the candle was dim, her body still. But as the contraction would build the flame would be fanned brighter by her deep breathing and her rythmic swaying. It was a lovely picture of effort, and life, and courage, and rising up.  It is always aparent when I am with a woman who is an athelete. This particular woman was strong. So strong. It's inspiring to witness the level of commitement that women have to their bodies, their babies. 

We sat there together for a few hours. Both of us longing for our sons. Hers yet unborn, mine waiting for me/hopefully sleeping at home. That Boy is never very far from my thoughts. I don't leave him much so I occasionaly have these brief moments of panic when I do. Moments when the missing of him gnaws at me. The labor continued and I eventually had to bow out. I missed the happy ending. Again.  One of these days I am going to actaully see a baby when I go to a birth!

(taken a couple years back at a homebirth I attended)

Did you know that today is International Day of the Midwife?  Visit this site to see what it is all about and say a prayer for all the Blessed Souls out there who catch babies. It is a noble calling to be a midwife but not always an easy one. These women are heros. We owe them a lot.

The First Year

It's Ian's Birthday today.  I don't know why, but I'm feeling so emotional about it.  Where does the time go? Where have all the babies gone? How do you wrap your mind around a suprise pregnancy, a beautiful homebirth, a sweet sweet SON? I guess you don't...that is where your heart comes in. Mine is full today.

Untitled from Libby Patterson on Vimeo.

 

a bowl of borscht

Let me just start out by saying: I AM NOT A FAN OF BEETS. I have never liked them.  My grandmother pickles them, and bless her heart for doing so, but I just think they taste like stinky feet or something. Not that I've tasted stinky feet- but you know. Gross.

However, I can do borscht.  And we did do borscht.  And I LOVED borscht.

Laurel loves cooking and I've been trying to give her more responsibility in the kitchen. She is so proud to serve a meal that she had a hand in preparing.  She is also more likely to eat it (Laurel will pretty much eat anything except tofu. She hates it with a passion.)

She peeled the carrots and potatoes and I took care of the beets. Beets are so beautiful!  They leave the most vibrant color behind everywhere.  Even the sink filled with peels was mess of magenta. Ian hung out in the girasol wrap for about 15 minutes and then he was down on the floor dragging out all the pots and pans and kitchen towels.

What I like about this recipe was that the majority of the ingredients were shredded up.  I think this helped them to cook more quickly and not be so overpowering (ie, stinky/gross beets).  I chose not to add the sausage and just left out meat completely.

In the end, I added about 3-4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar. I liked the sour zip that it added.  I also dumped quite a bit of dried dill in, and sprinkled just a dab of chicken bullion in. I completely left out the sugar.  Sour cream would've been heavenly, but I have cut out all dairy from my diet. No matter, I thought it was delish.

Laurel wasn't a huge fan, and neither was Carl (who came home for lunch). So, when I got paged to the birth center I took the rest with me. Isn't it pretty in a jar like that?  I wonder if you could can it?

I made it to the birth center just in time to see the mama and dad with the baby in their arms! Ugh, I just hate missing that moment of birth.  I am starting to take a few sporadic days back on call. Mostly weekends when Carl is available to hold down the fort. I've yet to catch an actual baby though. So frustrating!  I'm missing it bad.