Back from Idaho

These are the women who all participated in the Motherwise Midwifery Assistant Training Program. Nancy Draznin is on the bottom row, farthest to the left.

Wow, I think I have culture shock! Idaho was absolutely amazing, but being back in Cambridge feels like it's a different country. I stayed in Genesee, ID with Nancy Draznin, an ALACE trainer and homebirth midwife, attended the midwifery assistant training (which Nancy taught) and got a taste of the Idaho culture. I have to say, it was not necessarily what I expected. It was very dry out there, lots of hills of rolling wheat fields that are currently being shaved, burned and tilled for the season. Towns are small and far apart from each other. Genesee's population is 942 or something like that! I really liked it a lot. I felt relaxed and the pace of life is easy, slow. No one really seemed stressed or rushed out there. Life seemed pretty laid back...

It probably helped that all I did while I was out there was hang out with amazing women, lots of midwives and lots of pregnant women. I was so psyched to be a part of the training. I learned how to do maternal and infant vitals, how to take fetal heart rate with a fetoscope and doppler, how to chart, how to give injections and use sterile technique...Spending time with a homebirth crowd was really fabulous, too. Just so many empowered women all celebrating themselves, birth--not much is better for an aspiring midwife. I can't wait to tell everyone more about it. I am back in Cambridge and trying to pick up where I left off here, so I should run for now. I will write more and post some more pics when I get a second to spare.