So my adorable niece (who nursed until she was almost 2 years old) was taking a shower with her mom the other day (who is currently nursing my 3 month old nephew). She looks up at her mom and says,
“”Oh wow mommy, your minnums are so fat. When I was a kid I usually drank those.”
By the way, she is only 2 1/2 years old now. As if she isn’t a kid anymore! Haha! She seriously cracks me up on a regular basis! I especially love the use of the word “usually”. Ahhh, kids….
I have written before about my aspirations of becoming a midwife. The more and more I care for birthing women as an L&D nurse, the more I meet moms out in the community at birth circles, ICAN meetings, etc., the more I read and see and hear about birth and birth politics, the more midwives I meet, the more and more clear it is to me that becoming a midwife is something that I need to do…someday.
I stumbled upon a blog post entitled “Apprentice Midwife Material?” over at Navelgazing Midwife the other day and it really spoke to me. Throughout the beginning of the post the author goes into detail about the many sacrifices that midwives make in order to do what they love to do. While reading them over, none came as a surprise to me. However, no one can really understand what its like to experience them until they become an apprentice and even then your world is still a bit sheltered.
The author then writes:
“I imagine women’s spirits sagging by this point, those sitting in front of me and those reading this, but there are AMAZING parts of being a midwife, too. But if you don’t want… no, CRAVE… all that I said above, then reconsideration of this career is called for.”
I reflected on this statement for a while and I realized that I DO indeed CRAVE it all….the good, the bad, the ugly, the awesome! But it is still undecided when exactly my time will come to put myself to the test. Until then I must continue to form relationships with birthing women through my work as an L&D nurse and through my blog.
Thanks for listening 🙂
Nursing Birth 