After a full 24 hours of travelling we reached our final destination of Marbella, Spain. We are in the Costa del Sol, a place where many Brits come to vacation. This means there is plenty of tea, beer and chips. On which I’m quite confident that Porter would be happy to live on, chips that is. We’re staying at The Marbella Heights hotel which has a Balinese theme. I’m planning a photo shoot with all the Buddah’s on site. My friend Sarah would love the styling here. Here’s the photo montage of the last 2 days.

Dewy spider web the morning of departure.

In the last moment of packing I read a blog that said I should bring at least 2 changes of clothes for Porter. While I thought that was excessive, I quickly found it to be correct when Porter soiled 2 of the 3 outfits I brought before we even got on the plane. I had to go 3rd world at the airport, washing clothes and collecting water (in our water bottles). I then hung the clothes to dry in the airplane. All we needed were our chickens and the picture would have been complete. Needless to say, the clothes were dry in time for a costume change at the Marbella airport.

 

Today was our in between travel day and tomorrow we leave on our big trip! We spent the day hanging out in Capitola with my parents, who will also be coming on our trip with us. This morning Allen came over for breakfast and it was so nice to catch up with our old friend. The weather was lovely and Porter pillaged my dad’s raspberry bushes, much to the delight of them both. Tomorrow is a big day! Stay tuned.

Eating homemade chicken soup, being the center of the universe. It’s a good day.

King Protea in bloom.

For the last day of National Midwifery Week we’ve been tasked with sharing the most shocking results from the ACNM survey  that “was completed by 1,252 women between the ages 18 and 45, of a variety of cultural backgrounds, from across the United States.” I have to say that most of the results should be shocking, and you should read them, but I can’t say that with the nature of health care these days I was very surprised by the results. Here are the two that I thought were worthy of sharing:

Thursday’s Action Plan is to “Debunk A Midwifery Myth.” The assignment says to go to this web page, find a myth that is most prevalent in my community and then copy/paste it on a social media site, that would be this blog post. All the information on their website is really good, but this is the myth that I find many of my friends didn’t know about midwifery care:

True or False? 
Midwives can prescribe medications
and order tests.
TRUE. CNMs and CMs are licensed to prescribe a full range of substances, medications, and treatments, including pain control medications and birth control. They can also order needed medical tests within their scope of practice and consistent with state laws and practice guidelines.

I’m not sure what many people think it is that midwives do during prenatal appointments that is so different from a similar appointment with a doctor, but I can assure you that all of the same measurements, tests, and symptoms are checked and noted. During my (30-60 minute) appointments I always had my urine checked for protein, my blood pressure taken, my fundal height was measured (how big my belly was getting) and the baby’s heartbeat was observed. I, personally, chose not to have it done with a doppler fetoscope (which is an auditory ultrasound) until after the 5th month and they used a traditional fetoscope before that. We didn’t want to find out the gender of our baby before the birth and therefore didn’t feel it was necessary to do a visual ultrasound, although we could have if we wanted.

At one point there was concern over my possibly high blood pressure. This meant a host of blood draws and collecting my own urine for a weekend in a giant container, so that it could be analyzed at the lab. Luckily everything was perfectly fine, and it was decided that the very excitement of going to my prenatal appointments, and driving through maddening rush hour traffic for 30 minutes, made my heart go aflutter. The problem was solved very simply, by taking my blood pressure at the end of each appointment. From the time the tests were run and we made that simple change, my blood pressure was perfectly normal. I also want to say that I chose NOT to have my blood sugar levels tested (for many reasons). My midwives encouraged me to have it done, and I opted out against their advice, but with their education and blessing.

During my labor, they listened to the baby’s heart beat every hour with a doppler fetoscope. Before and after every single push, and sometimes during, they listened to his heart beat to ensure it was strong and healthy. Which it was. They also kept cervical checks to a minimum, but did perform 3-4, because I tested positive for Group B Strep (GBS) and they didn’t want to push any bacteria into the birth canal. The traditional treatment for GBS is IV antibiotics 6 hours before the baby’s birth, which my midwives (out of hospital) could have done. Thanks to their education and my desire for an alternative I opted for a Chlorhexidine rinse of my lady parts every 6 hours, which I administered myself. It was a whole heck of a lot cheaper too. Overall, there was quite a bit of testing and monitoring that went into my prenatal care and birth, all done by my midwives.

The part that made this experience so different from one with a doctor was the amount of education and discussion that went into each test. This resulted in mine and Luke’s informed choices about the health care Porter and I received. In the end, had anything strayed from our original plan, I knew that the responsibility belonged to ME. That’s the only possible way I could feel comfortable delivering Porter from my body in the way I did. My decisions were always respected because that is the nature of informed health care and midwifery. In return, I respected my midwives education and opinions when they really felt a test was necessary or an observation had to be made. The mutual respect that we had with our midwives was the very best foundation for Porter’s birth and for the future of the health care I will choose for us to receive.

Porter is practicing his counting for future games of Hide and Seek with Lucy and Aunt Bug.

He cracks himself up.

Wednesday’s Action plan is to “Join Team Midwife.” You can do this by donating $10 to Team Midwife and/or become a fan of theirs on Facebook. Since I actually donated to my own midwife cause earlier this week, I opted for the Facebook Like. It’s easy, literally 3 clicks of your mouse. Now I’m even more a part of the, “engaged group of midwifery supporters to be the advocacy arm of Our Moment of Truth.” Because if you didn’t know, I think midwifery is important. I’m guessing you knew that by now though.

Porter and I spent quite a bit of time in downtown Boise today running errands. We don’t usually have to go downtown, but today was the perfect day for it. Not only was the Autumn weather delightful, but they’ve started construction on the building at 8th and Main St. This is a BIG deal because for the entire time we’ve been in Idaho (and longer then that really) there has been a giant hole in the middle of the city. It looks like this building is actually going to happen, which means lots of construction. All this building will surely necessitate a really big crane. We were lucky enough to stumble up the construction of the big crane, which involved two other cranes. If you do the math that makes for a total of 3 cranes, which pretty much means it was like Christmas morning for Porter.

Tuesday’s Daily Action plan is to “Share your moment of truth.” Here’s mine:

Since I was a child I knew that I would have a midwife at the birth of my child, and so it was. I loved every moment of my prenatal care, birth, and post natal experience. When a year passed and I needed an annual well woman exam I couldn’t bring myself to go to a doctor, even though it’s what I’d done my whole life. I had come to expect the kind and gentle appointments with my midwives, who really took the time to care for my health. Thankfully, I had learned that Nurse Midwives can do all the tests, exams and prescriptions that a doctor can do when I comes to women care. Hurray! It was at that first (non pregnant) meeting with my CNM that I knew I would forever choose this route for my future health care.

Now, go and share your moment of truth and check out what other peoples moments were all about.

I realize that I am at least 8 days overdue for my October Challenge post, and I have a very good reason. You see, my child is advanced! I’m not just a proud bragging parent, it’s true. He’s 21 months, and 3 months ahead of schedule he’s hit the Terrible Two’s. Oh what fun and joy has been flowing from our home for the last few weeks. Yes folks, that’s sarcasm. It’s clear that our little family is being emotionally tested and the first thing to go was the blog. Le sigh. Today, however, I think we woke up on the right side of the bed for the first time in weeks as tantrums were at a minimum. I actually smiled and laughed and I didn’t want to spend my day wallowing in bed staring at my orange walls. This is progress!

I also made a decision about the October Challenge, and that is…I’m not doing one. The rest of this month, starting next week, is going to make for some REALLY AWESOME posts. So stay tuned. November, I’ll be back on track with a new challenge. I promise.

Onto some midwifery news. Did you know that this week is National Midwifery Week?! How cool is that? I, as you can imagine, am super stoked. The American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) has set up a “Daily Action Plan” for everyday this week to help spread the word about how awesome midwives are, what they really do, and to help empower women to take back their health care. Can I get an AMEN!

Everyday this week I will post my responses to their Daily Action Plan and share it with you. I encourage you to go and participate in this very cool and forward thinking event. You don’t have to agree with all my ideas about midwifery either. This is something everyone can get behind. Check it out, for reals.

Monday’s Action Plan is to take the Health Promise Pledge to become an informed health care consumer. That’s right, consumer. Did you know that when we use health care, weather it’s the ER, a well women visit, or a dental exam that we are buying services? Same as any other service, like paying a housekeeper, child’s preschool, or hair stylist. We have choices and that’s great. Did you know that a Midwife can cover ALL of your well women care from birth control, PAP smears, pregnancy/birth, and beyond menopause? If you’re a lady, and you need your lady parts looked at or consulted, you don’t have to go to a doctor. Midwives do that stuff too! This may be TMI, but I currently go to Treasure Valley Midwives for any well woman needs, and I’m not even pregnant. I tell you this because I want you to know that if you feel a little crazy doing this, then at least we can be crazy together. Crazy about personalized, wholistic well woman care, completely backed with the bells and whistles of science. I’m telling you, it doesn’t get better than this.

Back to National Midwifery Week. Here are the items I pledged to do as stated on their website:

I promise to take control of my own health. I will make decisions for myself based on facts and the type of care that means the most to me in maintaining my health.

I promise to better understand the choices I have in managing my health care. I will learn more about my personal health preferences and explore the care options available that can best meet my health needs.

I promise to be an active decision maker in my care. Medical procedures performed on my body without my knowledge or understanding are not acceptable.

I promise to put my health first. I will educate myself on ways to improve or maintain my high standard of health and talk to my care provider about how they can help me meet these goals.

I promise to improve my health care experience. I will become informed about different health care providers and approaches to care and use this information to improve my own experience as a health care consumer.

I promise to encourage others to take charge of their health. I am a force for change and will inspire my friends and family to better their own health through awareness and action. (I got this one!)

Feeding Honu with an old baby bottle.

Another reason last week sucked, big toe met a can of pineapple. It was neither tasty nor pretty.

We did get in a couple fun park days. At Fairview Park, if you time it just right, you can watch the garbage truck go to every house on all four sides of the park.

I will admit that we had a sick day that involved pajamas and Dancing With the Stars. I am human, despite my aspirations of super women.

Everything looks better through the snotty, drippy, drooly haze of a head cold right? Throw in some 2 year molars and you can call me Willy Wonka!

Fall has arrived. Thankfully, mother nature is right on with her primary colors.

Porter has never had a blankie or binky, but lately he’s had THIS plane. Knowing where this plane is at all times makes a day much nicer for everyone.

Popcorn is always good.

I bought a bike trailer. Can’t say that Porter is super stoked on it, but I’m hoping he grows to love it. I can’t blame him after riding regularly in the iBert.

This gem of a tricycle/push bike is brought to us by Radio Flyer, Grandpa and Tutu.

Foreshadowing. Yes, there will be churros for breakfast!