Birth Certificate

Last night, I got a very nice email from the client whose baby arrived in her bathroom last week. She thanked me again for being there and for being so calm. She said I was amazing and that she wanted me to sign the birth certificate instead of her doctor. Aww, you guys.

Today, the birth certificate office at the hospital called me and I went down to sign my very first official birth certificate. Yay!

Tonight, I hosted a group of aspiring midwives for our monthly gathering. Papa Murphys has a Tuesday special where you can get a family size pizza for seven bucks, which worked for me. Next month I will try to actually make something. Our meeting was good, though. We talked about midwifery and disaster preparedness and I fielded a bunch of questions from the group. One of the questions I've been asked a few times is how much the whole process cost me, and how I managed to pay for it all. The answer I came up with is that I spent about $25,000 cash on school, Casa, and supplies, but the lost income and credit card debt I racked up during my apprenticeship adds up to a good $100,000-ish. I got a $5000 loan from my parents to enroll in school, which I still need to pay back, and I'm just trying to make it day to day.

Dang. It sounds so intense when I actually say it. They just looked at me with their mouths open. Yeah, way to scare the next generation.

Oh, but it has been worth it. I have to believe it has been worth it. I don't have regrets. There isn't any other kind of work I'd rather do. I put my time (and money) in and now it's going to pay off. I know it will. I mean, really. I signed a birth certificate today! I'm so official.