Mishmashloveyou.

This past week of school felt like we reached a real turning point. We had our final exams and presentations for our Physical Assessment and Normal Prenatal classes, and generally wrapped things up for American thanksgiving (fakesgiving) break. That meant performing a full physical exam incl. pap smear in less than 20 min. as well as a written exam. It's a good feeling of accomplishment and I (we) feel as though we've gained a foothold as baby midwives.

The other day Andriana and I went on a night hike with a classmate's husband and his friend from Switzerland. These two said it would be a pretty short easy hike, and I believed them, not realizing that they had walked accross Europe together. The hike was a little rougher, windier and muddier than I had really bargained for (the hiking equivalent of a memorable bike-ride my sister and I once got suckered into.) but we climbed all the way up the other side of the mountain we live on and got a sweet view out of the deal, though it wasn't really clear enough for good stars....this calls for another time on a clearer night....
There's snow on the ground here, despite the unseasonably warm weather and it's going to be less hiking and more snowshoeing from here on out....some skiing, maybe some tobogganning. And the last day of hunting season is tomorrow, so we need no longer fear for our lives on a daily basis. It's those little things that make it all so rad.

Here's something P Demakos and I were talking about yesterday: social change happens most effectively when people work together to effect change. You all know the Margaret Mead quote about a small thoughtful group of citizens changing the world....Well, we seem to live in a culture of apathy in which many of the strong stories our children are taught and love are about heroes who are endowed with superpowers-- "chosen" or destined to fight evil.  Harry potter, sailor moon, optimus prime, ninja turtles, jesus ....
How is anyone supposed to grow up to observe and object to injustice, to choose to take action for change, when we're taught it's a special inborn capacity possessed by only a select minority?
Let's see some madeline in this piece.

The first sunday of advent today, for those of you who care about such things. I miss the singing. I might just make a point of going to church with people this month, just to feel like part of it all.
Rocks, Bones, Shining Stones....

This is where our dairy comes from. Happy Jersey cows.  Photo shamelessly purloined form Lauren's Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larlar1286/

Melanya has a camera, woop woop!

Dinner last night, clockwise from bottom- Melanya's homemade sauerkraut, my homemade radish kimchi (made with daikon from a dumpster in Montreal), black naturally cured olive, kale, sweet potato and leek stirfry made on the wood stove topped with tahini dressing, sharp New York cheddar cheese, and a fingerling beet from Sianna who was our guest last week.

Melanya makes my bed look even more cozy.

Melanya, Andriana and I went for a little hike this morning by our creek. We wear those orange hats so we don't get shot by a hunter by accident. It is deer/turkey season right now....

Melanya thought the baby leggings I knit would make a good hat. She wore them all day and got compliments from people in town!

Yes, we went swimming. It was cold.

Some people believe it is good for pregnant ladies to swim in freezing cold water. I'm lucky Melanya is one of those people:)

GUEST /gɛst/ [gest] noun 1. a person who spends some time at another person's home in some social activity, as a visit, dinner, or party.

Since the camera kicked it (to my utter dismay) I haven't really been motivated to post....I mean words without pictures, what's that worth?
Worth more than nothing at all.

My housemate, Andriana and I have discovered that we like having guests. We have a floral guest comforter, royal purple guest sheet and a Betty Boop guest towel.  Come use them!

This past week we were graced with th epresence of friend Spencer who is train-hopping North America with his banjo and DIY tatoo kit, as well as new friend Sianna who came up from farm life in Mass. to attend a doula workshop at birthwise.
This coming week I'm eagerly anticipating a visit from dear friend Melanya, who is a pregnant sister-midwife from California.


Having guests is rad because:

1. We get to go out and have adventures we would otherwise be too homework-guilt-bound to do, like visit the farm where we get our raw dairy and go out for dinner.
   
2. They bring gifts of vegetables and bones.
3. They do the dishes, chop kindling and rake leaves.
   
4. They remind us how gorgeous this piece of maine is and how lucky we are to live on it. 
5. They sing and dance and play games with us!

Thanks friends!

And because I really do think pictures are a must, baby midwives on halloween:

Those of you who know my collection might recognise 4 out of 6 of these costumes....thanks to Lauren Romero for the picture:)

Our Bodies Ourselves- pelvic exams

We all know that midwives deal with ladyparts, or "fine china" as our skills teacher says, but how do they learn?
At Birthwise Midwifery School we learn practical skills like venipuncture, blood pressure taking, breast exams and pelvic exams on each other (and anyone else who will let us close enough- thanks mum). We each have a stethescope, blood pressure cuff, an underpad, a steel speculum and a steel kidney basin that we fill with hot water to warm the speculum. If we're really with it, we have a headlamp for seeing inside the darker crevices.

Last week we had our first session of pelvic exams.
The teacher asked for a volunteer that she could demonstrate on and I stepped up to the plate.
There I was, naked from the waist down, legs splayed, cervix exposed for all the world (20 other students) to see. The teacher demonstrated a Pap smear, bimanual exam etc. and I got to watch the whole thing with a mirrir. I felt supported and empowered, too!
And then we practiced on each other.
It's a great way to de-sensationalise naked women and really understand that there is a huge variety of normal..

Not my cervix, but it could be!    See it in context at cervix awareness website: http://www.beautifulcervix.com/

A quick hello

Our internet was down over the weekend, which is when I post, but I wanted to drop a little something here so you can snoop around my current reality some more. My classmate Lauren is a wicked photographer with a sweet camera- Here's a link to the photos she's taken of me in th epast 2 mo.  http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=bethany&w=35553264%40N08&ss=2

Bites of life this past week

We're in America! Let's drive to New Hampshire where there is NO SALES TAX and go shopping!

It doesn't get much more overwhelming than this! Cheese, cell phones and bathmats- what else could we possibly need?

Carefully weighing the relative merits of bathmats for the new domicile.

My partner in crime (consumption, housing and schooling): Andriana.

My haul from a bikeride turned foragefest the other day. The puffballs were delectable, the other mushrooms didn't taste good enough to be worth the stress of being 99% sure they're edible.

What I do with too many apples: woodstove apple sauce plus dried apple tinsel.There's this wicked apple tree about 4 miles down the road- I've gotten 3 quarts of applesauce, one quart dried apples and a pie off it (and a couple other trees) and I've still got a huge bowl sitting on the counter...

Things I like to do: take off without warning to ride a bike, swim, lie out in the sun, find free food out in the woods and fields....I did all these things today. 
I also did some yoga and had a good sweat with Andriana in the wood-fired sauna up here by the house. It's a charmed life. Even with the leaky pee toilet and the cat of unpredictable temperament- those of you who know Marley know what I'm talking about. Molly is Marley's American doppleganger- this tortoisshell has "tortitude".

A picture of Molly, shamelessly pilfered from the website of this glorious piece of land I'm living on.

Maybe sometime I'll write about what I'm actually here for: babycatching school. For now, I'm far more enamoured with the 4 days of the week I'm not in a classroom....

Love
B

Dear You,

I seem to have a wicked hard time staying connected to all my distant dearest.
I have jumped on the blogwaggon  with the hope that those of you who want to stay abreast of my doings and musings can follow along....

In late August of this year I bought myself a little red Honda Civic hatchback named Poppy and packed my tent, books, pet fish, houseplants and a large quantity of honey into the back. I motored through Ontario and Quebec, crossed the border to Vermont and slept in my tent next to a field of cows. Irene had wiped out a bridge in the main highway through New Hampshire so the following day I spent the better part of the morning on a detour through some mountainous national forest on my way to my destination in Maine, Birthwise Midwifery School.
My first night In Maine I pitched my tent in the woods in town.
My first week I camped out in my dear classmate Claudia's spare bedroom, hanging out with her cats and trying to get ontop of the mountains of reading for school and get to know the 16 other inspired women in my class.
My first month I stayed in this sweet cabin you see below, splitting wood, painting signs and cleaning the yoga studio next door in return for a discount on my rent.

Yesterday I moved into the house I will call home for the next 8 mo. It's a beautiful handbuilt home with a residant calico cat named Molly, wood heat, solar electricity, well water and composting toilets (that means poop in a bucket and empty said bucket onto the compost heap periodically).

Maine is a funny place, or "queer" as my landlady would say:
Motorcyclists don't wear helmets.
There are no bars in town, or even in the next town over.
Cop cars are pale blue.
Everyone keeps chickens.
One can expect to drive an average of an hour to get anywhere- a couple of weeks ago a cople of classmates and I drove 2.5 hours to the most hoppingest contra dance I have ever been to (Maine is where it's at for contra- and rugged woodsy young people)
There are little lakes everywhere- on my 15 min. drive  to/from school I have my choice of several to swim in.
The biggest organic farmers fair I've ever been to is in Maine, 3 weekend after labour day. I went to workshops on mushroom hunting, hitching draft goats, choosing and weilding an axe, growing garlic, apple tasting....
Maine in fall is a swell place to be, despite the rain- we're on day 3 of a 5 day downpour. This means hot tea and curling up with some high quality local literature: A midwife's Tale.

That's all for now, my pretties.
Love
B