It Is Starting...

My midwifery course, that is! I am attending the first day (half day today) of orientation wherein we will learn about non-violent communication, which is the model they use at Birthingway. Tomorrow we'll be learning about the school and how it functions, policies, library use, the citation method used at Birthingway, etc. and will have a community potluck lunch! And on Tuesday I begin classes! Woohoo! I'm looking forward to every minute of it!

And now, I still have a bit of reading to do before Tuesday....and not enough time to do it unless I crack down. Okay, I do have enough time, it just doesn't feel like it.

Rockin' Chickens

Several weeks ago, our hens got scared by a possum in the henhouse. They are very dramatic when this happens--the one who is being chased loses a bunch of feathers and you can see them *everywhere.* It makes it look like someone's a goner for sure....when the hen isn't even as much as scratched. As far as I can find on the internet, a possum won't kill a chicken unless it is exceedingly hungry, but it will eat eggs. But the hens do not like possums and are always nervous around them.

After the possum came to visit they've been not wanting to go in the coop at night. Usually chickens are homebodies--when dusk falls, they are ready to tuck themselves in and go to sleep. They like their home and are creatures of habit. But now they've been roosting in other places: on top the fence and on top the support between the porch canopy and garage. We've had to go out and retrieve them manually and put them inside every night. Sometimes I can get out there right at dusk and lure them in by sweet-talking them and tossing a bit of feed into the coop.

But the other night Carissa and her rock band were practicing in the garage. (Yes, it's true: we have a true garage band in our midst!) And I went out there to try to lure them in....and found four already in and two loitering by the door ready to go in. I had no idea that chickens liked hard rock music! But they went right in without a fuss. :-)

Come see Carissa's band, Pyroclasm play this Friday (March 20) at Audio Cinema, which is located at 226 SE Madison (under the Hawthorne bridge) at 6 pm. The $5 fee goes right to helping more girls make screamy music.

Zac's new blog!

Zachary wants everyone to know that he has a new blog. Zac definitely has a sense of humor. His blog is called Son of a....Priest?

Go visit and say hi!

Live!

Butterfly Birth is now live! Go check it out! Pregnant mamas, especially. For now it's all about my doula services (and Blessingway services too) but when I complete my midwifery training it'll be a website for that too.

Full credit where credit is due! My wonderful friend Maria is the creator of my website and she did a beautiful job. Thanks, Maria!

Love It!

Baby Blues addresses the functionality of breastfeeding. :-)

My Doula Website!

Tada! I have a new website! It's for my doula services and eventually I can add my midwifery services to it. It's not much yet, but it's mine and it's up! Check back to see updates. :-)

Butterfly Birth

Beginnings, begun

I had no idea when I posted my Endings and Beginnings post that I'd get so much attention!  The first day it was up my blog got 133 hits, and the next day was well over 200!  My numbers remain at least double of what they were pre-divorce.  Huh, I guess the way to get people to visit your blog is to do something extraordinary!

Clergy divorces are big news.  I'm told that my blog is the talk of our Metropolis (like a diocese) and perhaps even of the archdiocese.  I didn't make this announcement in order to gain popularity, but you are all welcome to check in here!  Seems like clergy divorces are usually messy and one partner was very hurtful to the other and it causes a huge scandal and he who was set high on a pedestal is now brought down low into the mud.

First off, I want to say that I am doing very well.  We are a week into the "rearrangement" and it's gone fine so far.  I am happy.  Yes, I am HAPPY!  It's been a little disconcerting to me how many people expect me to be sad, upset, angry, even distraught.  Yes, there are moments of sadness and anger.  But mostly I am happy.  

I wonder: is it a *bad* thing for people to remain friends when they divorce?  It seems that some are upset that I am happy and that Paul is happy.  We can't just look at this for what it is, decide that we have grown apart, and decide to move on?  Would it be better if we were at odds, always fighting, and became enemies?  I get the feeling sometimes that some are looking for someone to blame.  One of us must be to blame, right?  Well, no.  We both share "blame" if blame must be assigned.  But mostly, no, we don't assign blame and are content to leave it at "we grew apart."  We just aren't the same people anymore and we don't fit in a marriage anymore.  But hey, we still make great friends!  

I just really, really think this way is so much better for all involved than if we were fighting and hating each other and making life miserable for all those around us.  We still function very well as co-parents and I think the kids do appreciate that.  I would be eaten up by guilt if I felt like we were ruining our kids' lives by being enemies.  

In all honesty, we did have months of fighting.  We had a very difficult year.  We did our misery, and the kids did get dragged into it.  But now, we are no longer in that space and I am so very glad.  

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In other news, my student doula practice is finally starting to pick up.  I have a doula partner and we are attending one birth,  a woman who is due this Sunday, and we're talking to another tomorrow about her birth.  I'm so excited to be back into the birth scene!  It's one of those things that has been suppressed in me for so long.  I was very interested in birth after Carissa was born and the power of birth just washed over me.  Even more so when Zac was born at home--then I saw homebirth as even more empowering to women.  And I wanted to enter that world, to help other women to have an empowering birth, but I had two small children, so that dream was put on hold.  I am so glad it's no longer being put on hold!  On the flip side, I'll need to get used to long wakeful nights.