Wild times

Phew - where has the last week gone?

I am back on LBS now for a short time and it has been extremely absorbing. I've resuscitated two babies, one born at term and a bit stunned, and the other a prem following CS who had suffered placental abruption. I've cared for a succession of primips who have laboured with amazing strength and determination. All have achieved vaginal birth, one by the skin of her teeth - but she was the first of her sisters to do so - the rest have all had CS. She was rapt, and was sitting up in bed with a grin on her face when I saw her the next day. I helped her to attach her baby who went on well - it was also a first for the family as her sisters felt unable to breastfeed after their experiences.


We have all been moved by meeting a young woman earlier this week who birthed alone at home unexpectedly. She presented to us in a bit of a daze with a baby in her arms, and proceeded to become very unwell within hours and ended up needing extensive treatment for high blood pressure. I will never forget her or her lovely son. She was a pleasure to care for and we all felt very protective of her, and celebrated her birthday the next day with cake in intensive care!


I had a lovely birth last night at the end of the shift. Third baby, looked a bit dodgy on trace as she was overdue, induction, meconium - sailed out and was vigorous once we got all the cord off from around her neck and body! The woman laboured fantastically, only looked fussed for the last 10 minutes. A beautiful birth kneeling at the end of the bed, then jumped into her clean unused bed whereupon baby saddled up for a long feed immediately. Perfect.


I have done some compulsory in-service training, and had my performance appraisal - it felt like a big assignment I had due! I have yet to finish the quite extensive breastfeeding component but that will be done soon, once I have minutes out of the way again. I have even caught up with my mentee.


I have wrapped up my sessions with the counsellor for now. I feel I am in a good place but it was well worth seeing her for a while for a tune-up.


In addition to multiple work engagements there have been birthdays, and dinners and I am getting stirred by the thought of our upcoming travel and some creative pursuits.


It was my sister's birthday last Monday and she had requested a Wild Woman so I set to work to meet her request for a greenish one with surface detail. This is April.
My sister plans to put her in a box frame. (for the record, WW are all around 4 1/2 inches tall)



April is the latest in a series of WW I have been working on behind the scenes. This one has been a WIP for a while, but I'm fairly sure she is finished now. Her name is Magnon. I love her encrusted dome and translucent face, and earthy feet.



The next is a flibberty-gibbet. She's quite young I feel. Her name is Nymph, she tells me. She seems to be emerging from a sweet pea bud. I'm not sure yet if she is fully formed but she insisted on being photographed with the others nonetheless. I bow to her wishes.


For the last of my craft show and tell I introduce my Midwife Warrior. I made her about 3 years ago. She came to me in a meditation, similar to No More Plain Jane,(pictured towards the end of the post) in fact it was also on a journalling weekend.
In the meditation we were moving to a chakra spirit trance piece Did you realize I liked that sort of thing? I don't get to do it very often but I feel amazing when I do. Anyway...we were dancing with our eyes shut, feeling whatever it was that came, and I was swaying quite broadly, slowly, side to side. I had an image of being in a group and swaying in a square-like fashion facing the 4 winds in turn, protecting something behind me. I felt strong, solid and sheltering like an elephant. Once I had turned all ways, in a distant corner I had a sense of a woman dressed in white trailing robes billowing as if in a breeze. She felt strong and purposeful and immmensely wise. I breathed in her presence and absorbed such a feeling of calm connectedness. We were brought back to the room by the facilitator speaking quietly, urging us to move to our workspaces and to write or draw what came to us. Later that day we learned how to take a flat piece of cloth and shape it and bind it and wrap it and let it speak to us as it connected with or meditation. Mine became the woman in white.
She has ended up with a pregnant belly, and breasts. And is anatomically suggestive of a birthing woman. She has amethysts for wisdom and emotional healing. She has a patchwork papoose on her back to carry her babe. She has rose quartz and butterflies. She has bandolier style embellishments to guard herself and those she protects. She has flowing white robes. She has a carved bone elephant hanging from one arm. I've since found out that female elephants do stand in a circle with their backs to the labouring female to protect her from predators in all directions. Howzat?!!!! She has an ancient chinese coin to symbolise wisdom. She has a carved wooden owl for wisdom and a nursing symbol. She carries a beacon in her right hand because as a new midwife I was being 'passed the torch'. She is a warrior for midwifery, for women. One of her most poignant touches is the lighthouse charm around her neck - a friend brought it to be part of the art supplies that weekend, and it was then that I realised that I was the lighthouse. It was about me spilling light into the world. It was the perfect finishing touch to her.


So there you have it. I am feeling light-filled at the moment.
It is good to be in this place.


Happy Easter to you all.