Am I gonna be a midwife?

Maybe. The birth bug has definitely got me strong. Today I attended a training session for wanna-be midwife's assistants. It was really great - all like-minded ladies together for a day of playing with instruments, practicing techniques, and talking birth, baby, and pregnancy. The training was offered by several midwives from the Midwifery Access Project in Eugene, OR. Three other doulas from my local Corvallis group went down with me, so it was a great time had by all.

Five years ago, I never had any idea I would become this involved in birth work. I guess it started when I began planning my first pregnancy, long before I actually met the man who eventually became my husband. I just knew I wanted to have a natural, drug-free birth. Over time, I realized my vision was to have my children at home. So once I was married and we were ready to have children, my time had come. After my first homebirth, I knew the hands-off midwifery model was definitely my cup of tea. I became the uber birth nerd that I continue to be, and I got interested in doula work. I still didn't have an interest in being a primary midwife though. Eventually I started to consider being a midwife's assistant. Someday, I'd love to attend some training workshops on The Farm.

Anyway, fast foward to now. I have a handfull of births under my belt and a few more in the hopper. I've had my second child. I've realized that though I intend on a career in academia at some point, I know it isn't where I still spend the rest of my working days. And I'm starting to think about the long path to being a real, primary midwife. For me, it could be a VERY long path though. For now, I'm just thinking I'll soak up any birth experiences I can get - as a doula, as an assistant, as an apprentice, as a friend. I know I can't take an assistant/apprentice role until I finish school. But after school is done, that might be a good time for something like that. We'll see. I think I've got the sleep on this one. In the meantime, I'm gonna make an appointment with my midwife to go over my charts. Now that I've had the class, I think I can read them and understand. I'm sure I might let slip that I've attended this class and could be interested in attending births if she was ever searching for someone.