Classes

I survived the weekend!  On Friday I went to peer review and then a four hour charting class.  On Saturday, I went to an all day class on suturing.  Not only did I survive, but I loved (almost) every minute of it.  Being at the classes and peer review meant that I am now officially back to work as a midwife.  It felt so good to be back among my peers again, laughing and learning about midwifery.  I felt like an adult, like a competent person, and like a professional midwife.  I totally appeared to have my act together.  It's like most of the brain fuzz that had built up during pregnancy and early postpartum is gone now and I can function again!  T and I got to catch up on the long drive down and then gossip about everybody on our way back home.  It was so great to be back together like old times.

The hardest part of both days was that I had to leave Olivia, who stayed with Louis.  On Friday night I rushed home to her as soon as I could, but on Saturday Olivia and Louis were at a wedding and came home hours after I did.  I missed her so much!  It was the longest we've been apart and also the farthest distance.

The main challenge due to being away from her was that I had to pump every few hours during each class.  I felt really self-conscious at first, taking my big black bag into the midwife's back office and then emerging 20 minutes later, but I just had to get over it quickly.  I know everybody there understood.  The crazy thing was that I think my domperidone really kicked it this past weekend, because every time I would pump, the milk would just pour out.  It may also have been due to the fact that I stopped at Trader Joe's before class and picked up a 1.5 liter bottle of water and downed the whole thing during class.  Either way, I pumped enough to cover all the milk Olivia took in a bottle while I was gone.  That means that I have a full milk supply for the very first time!  Finally.

Both classes were taught by my midwife and it was so great to see her again.  I still can't get over how much of an honor it was to have her attend my birth.  She has so much wisdom and knowledge to share.  I soak it up like a sponge whenever I can.  The classes were definitely worth every dollar and inconvenience.

During the suturing class, we practiced on beef tongue.  Surprisingly, I wasn't at all bothered by the smell.  I came away from the class feeling like I had a solid grasp of the techniques I learned and like I had much more confidence about my suturing skills.  I've already been scouring eBay for some affordable instruments so I can practice my knot tying as much as possible at home before I have to suture for real again.  I need to work on speed now and making the repair jobs as pretty as possible.  Suturing is definitely an area I would like more practice with, but I feel so much better after taking this class.

Olivia was very forgiving when we were finally reunited on Saturday evening.  She was a little bit extra clingy that night, but so was I.  We snuggled in bed all night and late into Sunday morning and now we're back to life as we know it.  Now I know what people mean when they talk about the struggle to balance work and motherhood.